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Grex Gardening Item 25: Our tree rose survived the "Minnesota Tip"
Entered by srw on Sat May 3 05:26:09 UTC 1997:

Last year Steffi bought a tree rose for our garden. It is budded about 18
inches above ground. It did well last year.  Now we protect most of our rose
plants (miniature roses) in the fall with leaf mulch and plastic cones. The
tree rose is not so simple. The point at which it is  budded must be protected
against the cold. Without doing this, this plant cannot survive a michigan
winter. We knew this.

The method used to protect this kind of plant is called a "Minnesota Tip".
It is executed by digging a trench long enough to hold the full height of the
plant and deep enough to put the bud a foot below ground. This is a good sized
hole. Then you have to cut a few roots on the trench side of the plant and
tip it over and into the trench. Then you buty it alive.

We did this last fall. I didn't think it would work.

Last week we dug it back up. It worked. Our tree rose has survived the
Minnesota Tip. I am amazed.

14 responses total.

#1 of 14 by valerie on Sat May 3 12:35:48 1997:

This response has been erased.

#2 of 14 by arabella on Wed May 7 06:18:25 1997:

You could also grow a fig tree or tree rose in a really big 
container (half whiskey barrel or some such) and haul *that*
into the basement for the winter.  Less digging.

#3 of 14 by blh on Mon May 26 18:19:06 1997:

Italians have also used the dig a trench and tip the tree over
trick for figs.  I had a client in the downriver area who brought
me some fresh figs grown by his parents on a fig tree treated
in that way.  They were delivious!

#4 of 14 by srw on Sat Jun 14 05:51:44 1997:

All of the roses in Steffi's miniature rose garden are getting buds now, and
some are opening. The one we tipped, the tree rose, continues to do fine, but
it is not one with buds that opened. 

This process looked like a good way to kill it when I first tried it, but it
seems to protect the tree well from the harsh winter. We'll do it again next
year.

I wouldn't think that it got cold enough in much of Italy to require this
drastic form of protection, but maybe in the norther and higher elevated
portions.

#5 of 14 by scott on Sun Jun 15 13:43:27 1997:

Maybe not needed in Italy, but for Italians who may have moved to Minnesota...

#6 of 14 by srw on Sun Jun 22 06:30:33 1997:

Let me get this right. Italians in Minnesota preserving their fig trees
by burying them? That's surreal.

#7 of 14 by valerie on Sun Jun 22 12:59:26 1997:

This response has been erased.

#8 of 14 by srw on Fri Jul 4 19:15:55 1997:

That makes sense. We keep our citrus trees alive a;ll year long by 
migrating them in and out of the house with the seasons. Of course they 
are not full-sized.

#9 of 14 by kami on Wed Oct 22 05:39:28 1997:

OK, help please: I planted yellow climbing roses around a trellis in
front of my house this year.  It's getting cold.  a) do they need to
be cut back?  how far? b)do they need to be covered?  how?  when?
c) do they need to be "fed" or otherwise pampered before winter?

#10 of 14 by srw on Thu Oct 30 06:04:41 1997:

We prune our semi-wild cimbing rose every spring when we see how much 
cane fails to revive after the winter. I'm no expert on climbing roses, 
but I don't think you have to cut them back or cover them. I'll have to 
let someone else respond to the feeding question. I have no clue.

Steffi does feed our rose, but it's too late to ask her what time of 
year she does it.

#11 of 14 by kami on Fri Oct 31 05:08:20 1997:

A friend who can do just about anything with plants suggested I plant
garlic around my roses, to protect them from bugs and disease, and mulch
them.  I seem to recall being told to feed them in the Fall, too.

#12 of 14 by srw on Tue Nov 4 19:48:28 1997:

http://pubweb.ucdavis.edu/documents/coopext/Juneweb.htm says that roses 
should be fed every month. That is a CA site, so I suspect that only the 
non-dormant months would make sense here in MI.

Orthos rose care product claims its feedings last 6 weeks.
http://www.ortho.com/product/rosecare/roseflow.html

#13 of 14 by kami on Tue Nov 4 20:14:41 1997:

That seems like a schedule which could overtax and "exhaust" the plant a
the soil in which it grows, making one ever more dependent on the food
product.

#14 of 14 by remmers on Wed Nov 5 11:28:44 1997:

Jerry Baker's "The Impatient Gardener" (my bible on these
matters) recommends a once-every-six weeks feeding schedule
for roses, definitely *not* including the dormant months.
I actually do a bit less than that, and our roses performed
quite well this year.

Baker also stresses that feeding should be stopped well before
the dormant period begins -- mid-August in Michigan, if I recall
correctly -- so as not to encourage new growth just before
winter, which would hurt the plant.

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