Question

rose sucker??   QUESTION: Could you tell me if this shoot is a sucker or not. Its kinda hard to tell, but it seemingly appeared out of nowhere! This shoot has 7 leaflets, but unfortunately so does the rose bush (floribunda, rhapsody in blue) Leaflets are similar in shape to orig rose bush, but lighter in colour, and stem is pink (white beneathh soli level. Its coming from the rootstock, but very hard to tell whether below bud union or not. Help appreciated. If i leave it to see whether it buds, how much damage would it do if it was a sucker/what would be symptoms on rose bush??

Thank you,

Mark

ANSWER: Some rose myths die hard and the advice that if the cane has 7 leaflets on it is a sucker is a myth and still written up in modern rose books. Your photo shows very normal, healthy growth. Suckers usually shoot up very tall and have lots of thorns on them.

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floribunda - rhapsody   QUESTION: Another qusetion on this bush if i can. Having over 100 blooms, im finding that the canes are barely able to support the extra weight, and im staking out affected canes to stop them drooping. Will the canes thicken over time, or should i prune affected thin canes next spring? Many thanks, Mark

Answer
If your canes are not sturdy then cut back on the fertilizer as it contains too much nitrogen and is making weak canes. The rose will do fine with only one application of food around  June. Nitrogen activates green growth and if the fertilizer has a high amount of it in the formula, then you get lots of good growth but it will be soft and weak. Don't prune back the thinner canes unless they are thinner than a pencil as a rose bush needs lots of leaves to support all those flowers. If at this time, the flowers are bending the canes, I would nip off some of the flower buds to help strengthen the canes as the load will be lighter.