Hi,

This is my first post. So please go easy.
But I have a three-year old I believe "Heirloom" rose bush. I cut her
back
this year to encourage the new growth.
I also spray regularly for the rose aphids and other stuff.
I noticed however, on one of the bottoms of the stalks I cut back a
quite
wide area of discoloration. It starts like in the middle and moves out
of
the stalk.

Red turns to black.... I don't know how to correct this, and should I
just
cut it off?...


Thanks in advance,
Scott

P.S. To reply directly or in general just remove all the periods and
put an
[at] symbol where called for. I've been getting WAY to much spam :)

"bvegaswww" <scott [at] blountsvegas.com> wrote in message
news:1141254032.241276.311510 [at] i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> This is my first post. So please go easy.
> But I have a three-year old I believe "Heirloom" rose bush. I cut her
> back
> this year to encourage the new growth.

Welcome!

How much did you cut it back? That is, how
many inches did you leave above the
bud union? By the way, about where are you?
We don't need a street address, but a general
location (city, country). Garden advice varies
depending on weather, among other factors.

> I also spray regularly for the rose aphids and other stuff.

I don't. I do get some aphids but hose them off
or let copious amounts of lady bugs take care
of them. That's an individual choice, of course.
A lot of local rose people who know more than
I do spray regularly.

> I noticed however, on one of the bottoms of the stalks I cut back a
> quite
> wide area of discoloration. It starts like in the middle and moves out
> of
> the stalk.
>
> Red turns to black.... I don't know how to correct this, and should I
> just
> cut it off?...

In roses they're called canes.

Do you mean the inside of the cane is
discolored? Healthy canes should be white/cream.
They turn brown when they're dying/dead.
(That said, I have some old garden roses that
bloom like mad on canes that have discolored
pith. <g>) I'm not sure where the red is
coming from...

Usual practice is to prune down to the point
where the pith (interior of the cane) is
white/cream colored. Sometimes that means
pruning down to the bud union.

Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8

Hey Gail,

Scott here... I'm from north central Alabama. About an hour north of
birmingham and a hour south of huntsville.

There are 5 canes total on her. I cut all back but one which is about
as long as a half-yard stick.
The rest are cut down to around 10" or so.

The red and black discoloration is on the outside of one of the canes
at the bottom of it. I'll have to take a photo and post it on my
website which I'll do tomorrow and send you a link to it if that's
alright.

Thanks again,
Scott in Alabama

"bvegaswww" <scott [at] blountsvegas.com> wrote in message
news:1141351866.395410.144930 [at] i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Hey Gail,
>
> Scott here... I'm from north central Alabama. About an hour north of
> birmingham and a hour south of huntsville.

Should be a good area for growing roses. :)

> There are 5 canes total on her. I cut all back but one which is about
> as long as a half-yard stick.
> The rest are cut down to around 10" or so.

That should be ok. I just did a light pruning on
some of my roses and left most canes fairly high.

> The red and black discoloration is on the outside of one of the canes
> at the bottom of it. I'll have to take a photo and post it on my
> website which I'll do tomorrow and send you a link to it if that's
> alright.

Red canes should be new growth and are good
for the plant. Black could be dead or just an
older cane. The key is inside. If the inside (pith)
is white/cream, the cane is healthy. If it's
brown or partly brown, it's not healthy.

Links to websites are fine.

> Thanks again,
> Scott in Alabama

Good luck.

Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8

Hey Gail,

I checked the "pith" as you said and they are all a nice cream/white
color, don't look discolored. I'll have to get a hold of a digital
camera. Thanks again, and I'll get those pictures up.

"bvegaswww" <scott [at] blountsvegas.com> wrote in message
news:1141688227.684316.212930 [at] i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> Hey Gail,
>
> I checked the "pith" as you said and they are all a nice cream/white
> color, don't look discolored. I'll have to get a hold of a digital
> camera. Thanks again, and I'll get those pictures up.

Healthy canes - good! :)

Gail