Planted three months ago and they have done well. Recently with hot temperature the buds have dried up, leaves turning yellow and everything starting to fall off the plant. What could be the cause and what should I do?

Answer #2 · Gardenality.com's Answer · It's been my experience that when established, Drift Roses can really take the heat and have fairly good drought resistance. However, with younger plants, I agree with John that it is most likely environmental stress based on heat or overly wet or dry soil conditions. Water only enough to keep soil moist but not constantly soggy or wet. Don;t fertilize plants when they are under stress. You might want to give the roses a trimming, which can help to take a load off the roots supplying water and nutrients to the rest of the plant. If the plants defoliate, or if you prune a lot of the foliage off, keep in mind that the plants won't need as much water until they've flushed some new leaves out. Keep us posted as to hwo your roses do. I've got my fingers crossed for you that they'll pull through.

Brent)

Answer #1 · Maple Tree's Answer · Hi Denise-I'm thinking these roses being newly planted are being stressed with the hot weather. Newly planted they haven't had time to develop a strong root system to help supply the moisture needed all of a sudden to sustain the amount of new foliage and flower buds. Inspect the plants closely for any signs of insects, spotting of the leaves, or any type of gray mildew looking substances on the leaves and buds. If there are no signs of insect or fungal diseases the problem is most likely too little water. If there are any signs other than the yellowing of leaves and drying up of the buds it could be too much water. Too much water can not only cause disease but drying up of the buds also as the roots setting in saturated soil are unable to absorb water and oxygen. I believe the buds drying with yellowing leaves is due to the plant not being able to supply the water that is being lost due to the hot weather. Normally the blooms will show heat stress and dry more quickly than the leaves that will first turn yellow and eventually drop. The drying up of the developing flowers, yellowing of leaves and dropping is a survival reaction with many plants. Developing buds take a lot of the plants energy and dropping them and some leaves help to keep much of the rest of the plant surviving. I would first check to see that the plant is getting enough water. Dig down 6 to 8 inches in spots around the plant and check the soil. The soil should feel cool and moist but not wet or too dry. Sometimes surface watering every day may not be enough to moisten the soil deep enough to wet the entire root ball. A slow soaking once a week in the summer may be needed especially until these plants are more established. If the soil feels wet you would want to hold up on watering allowing it to dry out somewhat.

If you haven't yet you can mulch around the plants with some bark chips or other mulch. This will help to keep the soil moist and not dry out quickly in the heat. Too hot a soil evaporates moisture quickly. Bark chips, leaves, and pine straw works well. I wouldn't use any black material such as plastic or the rubberized mulches as they absorb the heat and cause the soil to heat up a lot more quickly. Although the drift roses need at least 6 hours of direct sunlight a day some relief from the hot afternoon direct sunlight when they are young can help if possible. Are these roses planted in full sun all day long? If not this can also affect the leaf coloring and flower development.

Check the soil moisture and let me know what you find. I'm still thinking the problem is most likely heat stress on these young roses and most likely with the correct amount of moisture and some time for the root system to mature they will look better as the temperatures cool somewhat this year.

Please ask if you have any other questions.

John)