Q&A for How to Save a Dying Rose Bush

Sand can be a good soil amendment to improve drainage but shouldn’t be used in place of compost or nutrient-rich soil.

Water them thoroughly and regularly. Mulch the soil to prevent evaporation and to shade the soil.

Wait. It will not take long to find out if it is alive or just stressed. Give it liquid plant food immediately, and if you don't see leaves beginning to form in 3-4 days, the plant probably is completely dead.

Replant immediately. Give it water and nutrients. I use a soluble plant food. This will work for you if anything will.

Prune the dead stems off of the plant, and check the roots. If there are brown, mushy roots, you should remove those, too. This gives the plant only living parts to work with.

Sorry, if they are already dead, they may be beyond saving! If there are still live parts, you can dig those out carefully and wash the roots off. Trim off any dead parts. Repot/replant and stop using fertilizer for some time. Use low-nitrogen fertilizer afterwards.

Wash the undersides of the leaves thoroughly with your hose on full blast every 3 days for two weeks to eliminate spider mites without the use of pesticide.

Your local floral shop might have some on hand. Check there.

Prune off the dead parts only. Otherwise, wait for spring. Give it another systemic treatment before it goes dormant, and be ready to treat immediately when its buds start to swell in the spring.

I'm thinking you may want to do a partial soil replacement. Remove the top layer - about 2 inches of it -in a circle around the plant where you applied the fertilizer. That may help rejuvenate the stressed plant by getting some of the contaminated soil out.

There is an awesome natural fungicide called Dr. Earth's. It is made with natural plant oils, clove, and garlic. The white stuff could be fungus. If you can wipe it off and it smells like mushrooms, it would be downy or powdery mold, and Dr. Earth's would kill it quickly and not hurt your plant. Spray the soil around your rose bush as well. It smells terrible when applied, but kills virtually on contact. You also may have mealy bugs or wooly scale - both are white and fuzzy. I think this stuff would kill them too - oil suffocates insects. Apply it every other week. It should kill off whatever's causing this in a week or so.

Water well, plenty of drenching water, spray foliage with liquid seaweed and drench the base with liquid seaweed.

We hung little bags of mustard powder around our roses on all the lower branches where our dogs were nibbling. It only rook 2 or 3 broken bags to make them stop as the mustard is unpalatable to dogs.

Leave it alone. The wax will come off as the heat of Spring and summer comes. The branches will grow out of it very easily on their own.

It could be because it's not getting enough nutrients from the soil. If that's the case, giving your rose bush adequate water may not be enough to keep it healthy. Luckily, you can try to give it the nutrients it needs by fertilizing your rose bush. Purchase a balanced granular or liquid 10-10-10 fertilizer. This sort of fertilizer will incorporate nutrients back into the soil. Usually, you'll apply the fertilizer once every 4 weeks during the growing season, or the beginning of spring. But check the packaging for specific application instructions. Use a garden hose to water the soil thoroughly before spreading the fertilizer. Watering it before applying fertilizer prevents the fertilizer from burning your plant. Within a few weeks, you should notice your rose bush looking healthier and you may see some new growth.

Yes, pruning can be really great for a rose bush, especially if there's a lot of dead or diseased branches. In fact, it can save a dying bush and allow new growth to appear. Use sharp, sterilized pruning shears and rub them with ethanol or isopropyl alcohol to sterilize them before you start pruning. Cut off the all the dead and diseased looking canes in your rose bush, which can prevent it from spreading to any other parts of the plant. You can spot diseased branches by looking for spots or withered and dying stems. Dead branches will be brown, rather than green in the center when you cut them, so if you see any of them while you're pruning, make sure you cut off the entire stem so new growth can occur.

It depends on what's causing the bush to die. In many cases, yes, you can revive and rejuvenate a dying rose bush and bring it back to life. One simple trick can try is to mulch the area around your bush. Adding mulch will allow the soil to retain more moisture for the roots and discourage weed growth. Go with an organic mulch made out of something like wood chips, straw, grass clippings, and leaves. Cover the area around your bush with 1–2 inches (2.5–5.1 cm) of the mulch, and leave about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of clearance around the base of the bush. In addition to mulching, providing an adequate supply of water can make a huge difference. A good rule of thumb is to water your rose bush when the soil gets dry. If you don’t have weekly rainfall or your rose bush is a potted indoor plant, you must thoroughly soak the soil. The top 2–3 inches (5.1–7.6 cm) of the soil should be moist. Simply poke your finger into the top layer of soil and if it's dry, water it! You may find that with enough moisture, your rose bush will bounce back within a few weeks.