Roses

 Well the deer have eaten so much of my rose bushes they are clinging
to life. There are a bunch of dead branches as well as canes. I am
afraid if I cut them back as far as they need to be they won't make it
through the winter. On the other hand if they are dead it won't do any
good to leave them. Is there any salvaging to be done? I would ask the
rose group but there seems to be no one around there anymore.
Thanks for any ideas
MJ

 

The roses may or may not come back.

Isn't the real issue the deer?

After having struggled with every thing under the sun to repel deer,
I can tell you what works.  Fences.

If fences aren't in the cards, forget the roses.

--
Dan Espen

 On Sep 14, 12:31 pm, des...@verizon.net wrote:

I  have en electric fence for my vegetable garden but can't bring
myself to put one out for the rose bed. I DID have great success this
year with a deer repelant spray product that worked great. It was
having to be out of town and rain that caused the demise. They were
beautiful for most of the summer.

 

Yep, rain is the primary weakness on repellents.  They worked pretty
well for me for a while.  Then the deer seemed to figure it out.
Eat the plants while it's raining or soon afterward.

It's so demoralizing to have your hard work destroyed.

My fence is working well.
During Irene a neighbors tree crashed through his fence so my
yard is partially open right now.  Hoping the deer don't figure it
out before the fence is repaired.

--
Dan Espen

 wrote:


Okay, you have deer, but don't tell me you have no rabbits... electric
fences do nothing to repel rabbits, and eventually deer learn to hop
over.


During winter when deer are hungry they will pay no attention to any
schtinkin' repellant. The only method for keeping deer out is a real
fence... and occasionally they will ram into a fence and knock it
over.  Fence that rose garden, real fence.