@peteS It was me, I only applied it once as it stained the leaves white, which didn’t disappear for a very long time despite heavy rains. I haven’t had much problem with BS this year so maybe it helped despite only applying it once. Perhaps something to try is a weaker dilution to avoid the white spots, but may still have some effect.
@Omori...how unsightly were the white stains, because although the BS spray seemed to work on most of my plants, oddly it didn't have too much impact on my 'Dusky Maiden' which had been a star performer all Summer, but was ravaged by BS and rust late on and has ended up looking in a very sorry state, and it proved hopeless on my two HT's. So a second option would be worth having I think.
@Pianoplayer .....ok.. I hope you find this of use.. I'll be brief for the first part, and add a bit more in the next..
...essentially, choose your node you want to break, which will usually be near the base of a long cane... if it's a thick brown or grey wood then the cut should be a bit deeper than in my photos.. if the cane is thinner and green as shown, then the slit can be less deep, but both ways it should go across the shoot from left to right, about half the circumference of the shoot, being careful not to cut through it of course, we're just cutting through the outer layer, that's all.. it takes less than a minute with a sharpish knife...
..after a few weeks you hopefully will see a bud start to break and quickly grow from that, but no guarantee..
..I have found it's best done in summer, after the first flush of blooms are over and you are deadheading or pruning your rose for later flowers, but up until mid September is worth a try..
the idea is to make the bud think it's now the leading shoot on the cane, instead of right at the bottom, so the notching interferes with the messages it receives from hormones up and down the cane..
..you may or may not find this of interest, I do as I think it's quite fun, but if you look at a cane on a rose that's full of leaves, you will notice how they spiral around the stem..
see this photo of rose 'Kew Gardens', and you can see the leaf stems spiralling around the cane...
this formation in roses conforms to what is called the Fibonacci sequence of repeat spiralling. Roses have the fraction at 2/5 [the same occurs in Oak trees and Apricots].. which in simple terms means for every 5 sets of leaf nodes on a cane, there will be 2 sets of leaves making a complete circumference of the cane..
..this is useful to know for notching purposes because it means that, as you notch node no. 1 which you have chosen, you can then follow the nodes on the stem upwards, counting past 2,3,4, and 5, finding node no. 6 which should be identical to node no. 1 i.e. facing the same angle on the stem... because nodes 1 and 6 are interconnected.
... this way, you can notch both node no. 1 and no. 6.. but you should avoid 2,3,4 and 5 as they are on the spiral and not connected.. if node no. 1 breaks, then so should no. 6 the theory goes.. that's if you want to cut 2 nodes..
..here's a photo of a cane I broke off for illustration purposes, with each node numbered... you can see the spiral formation as nodes 2-5 twist around the stem, but nodes 1 and 6 are the same, facing outwards...[nodes 2 and 5 may not be visible as they are at the back].. you can see the 2 sets of nods 2/3 and 4/5 are spiralling around the stem [imagine them with leaf stalks, as in 'Kew Garden's above]...
...the spiralling stops at node 6 when it returns to the vertical line... this is why you can notch 1 and 6... if you wanted to notch no. 2 you would repeat it at node no. 7 and so on.. it's the angle of repeat the node is sitting on the cane..
Fascinating and useful info about notching, @Marlorena, thank you. I have seen it done with fruit trees but hadn’t considered it for roses. I might try it on one of my The Prince canes, it’s young, but the growth is rather upright, mostly flowering at the top.
I had a mega storm recently that battered all the blooms off my roses and more rain yesterday, but three managed to hold onto some buds and very quickly pulled their socks up and flowered again - Stormy Weather, Julia Child and Lady Emma Hamilton. The latter has been below par this year, but is now doing ok.
Here is SW yesterday, turn your back for a minute and it’s covered in buds and blooms again:
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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.....ok.. I hope you find this of use.. I'll be brief for the first part, and add a bit more in the next..
..more in a moment..
the idea is to make the bud think it's now the leading shoot on the cane, instead of right at the bottom, so the notching interferes with the messages it receives from hormones up and down the cane..
see this photo of rose 'Kew Gardens', and you can see the leaf stems spiralling around the cane...
this formation in roses conforms to what is called the Fibonacci sequence of repeat spiralling. Roses have the fraction at 2/5 [the same occurs in Oak trees and Apricots].. which in simple terms means for every 5 sets of leaf nodes on a cane, there will be 2 sets of leaves making a complete circumference of the cane..
... this way, you can notch both node no. 1 and no. 6.. but you should avoid 2,3,4 and 5 as they are on the spiral and not connected.. if node no. 1 breaks, then so should no. 6 the theory goes.. that's if you want to cut 2 nodes..
...the spiralling stops at node 6 when it returns to the vertical line... this is why you can notch 1 and 6... if you wanted to notch no. 2 you would repeat it at node no. 7 and so on.. it's the angle of repeat the node is sitting on the cane..
...not too technical I hope..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllotaxis
Here is SW yesterday, turn your back for a minute and it’s covered in buds and blooms again: