Spade Work: Petal perfect

In the plant kingdom, even the kings need help and relief. Yes, we are talking about rose, the King of Flowers. Considered to be the symbol of love, it fails to bloom or the flowers open half and are of poor quality at times. Some problems are man-made while some come from nature.

There are thousands of rose varieties. The name of some of them are very interesting, unusual and absolutely unrelated, but funny. Some of these are Deepak Rag, Bull’s Eye, King’s Ransom, Cabaret, Lady X, Careless Love, Whisky, Ben Hur and Champagne. The beauty of the flower is so eternal that one enjoys both — the name and the nature. However there are certain problems attached with it and we try to solve them.

For the major debacle in rearing rose, it’s our own doing. I don’t know how and who started the practice of exposing the plant roots ‘to feed the plants and open the roots to sun and wind’. It causes major damage to the plant. In doing so, we damage the fibrous hair-like feeder roots that are very near to the surface of the soil. This tremendously shortens the plant life. You realise it after a few years that the plants start dying one by one. Stop this practice at once. You can add fertiliser and manure in the bed only. Mix it well with the upper soil and give water. You do not need to spoon feed the plants in the roots. All the manure and fertiliser nutrients are water soluble and are available to the plants on their own. Secondly, the roots in case of roses are photo-negative — they like to go deep in the soil against light. They do not need exposure to sun or light.

When it starts blooming, you want to have more and more of it. But the complaint is that the blooms at time do not appear and when they do so, they are substandard or are very less in number. Look at the developing buds, you may find some black or green, tiny devils sticking to the buds in hordes. These are aphids that suck the sap and devitalise the blooms. Get rid of these by spraying the plant with Rogor (Dimethoate), dissolved at one-and-a-half milliliter to a litre of water. Repeat the spray after a week. When you get good quality blooms and you want these aplenty, keep removing promptly the near dying or dead blooms. Do not let the plant waste its energy in seed formation. The faster you remove these, the more number of healthy blooms you get.

Imagine lice in the head; so are the scales on the rose plants! If you find dull coloration of twigs, and your plant looks ‘tired’, see for scales that attach to the stem and twigs. Scratch these and you will see healthy green twig beneath. These stick to the stems and devitalise the plants. Apply phorate granules (Thimet 10 G), at 10 gram per bush, thrice, at monthly interval. You can even split your rose mix fertilizer dose and give it along with granules, thrice. Do not forget to mix these well with soil and give water after application of fertilisers and insecticide granules. Do not handle the insecticide with bare hands.

There are at times tiny insects in fold of petals; you unfold and can see them jumping. These are thrips. They also suck the sap and shorten bloom life. Those who grow desi rose to make gulkand can handle this problem by spraying rogor.

(Narula is Chandigarh-based horticulturist. He retired from Punjab Agriculture University)