Weeds killing roses :(

We moved into new home last year. Previous owner had a fantastic mature garden with beautiful roses but he passed away and in the time it took settling his estate, it was left to go wild.

I'm totally new to gardening and have been doing my best to keep things alive and remove weeds but there is this grass stuff throttling the roses at the roots.

In April when it started to appear I spend days pulling the stuff up. The roots dont grow down but horizontally (over a metre or so) so it seems if it breaks off, two or more new shoots appear. Its a losing battle. Its already killed off one bush and its threatening to take over the others.

It looks like pretty standard ornamental grass. In general it pulls up quite easily but then snaps so you dont get the whole root. Its taking over and fast - probably helped by the bad scottish weather in may and june.

Does anyone know what I could do to stop/get rid of the grass and save the roses. Short of digging it all up, I'm lost.

thank you in advance

 

Hi Moopants. The safest and best way to remove grass that is growing in rose bushes...

(Soak), and i mean (SOAK ) the soil around the bottom of the bush 24hourgardenero weeding, the grass strands will come out easier.( Remember to wear your gloves).

 

You could dig the rose bush up carefully and then you could really get to work getting the grass out or relocate the bush and use a systemic weed killer on the grass leaves to get to the roots.

 

Thank you both!

The rain has been torrential here since April give or take a day or so, so there's usually no issue with having to soak the ground.

I'd worry about digging up the rose bush as I've heard they dont do too well being dug up. I do think however this could be the only way to ensure the grass goes completely. It's never ending and the more rain we get the more grass we seem to get.

Feeling rather despondent about it all!

 

How about putting thick newspaper down then put a thick mulch on the top , I save all my grass clippings and use those they work a treat under the shrubs etc so I dont see why it woudnt work for the roses

Spruce

 

Grass doesn`t kill Roses. Moopants, may we have a pic or two please. If not, then a better description.

 

Could it be that the rose is starving? I'm not a rose expert (or any other kind of expert for that matter), but I believe roses are very hungry plants.

If the grass is doing any harm, I suspect its just that its robbing the last of the nutrients from the soil.

To tackle both problems, I'd stick a good couple of inches of well rotted manure or mushroom compost around the base, covering the grass, and at the same time replenishing the nutrient supply in the soil.

 

I dont have facility for a picture. Basically what seems to be happening is that the grass grows around the roots and base of the roses. No matter how much i try to remove more grows. A very successful rose gardener round the corner from me says they may be throttling/damaging the roots and thus killing the roses.

Is that a better enough description for you?

 

Spruce & Clueless - thank you! I shall try the mulching & feeding thing and see if that helps. It just seems like I take it out, then theres more torrential rain and its bad twice as bad as before.

 

Tried the mulching after soaking and removing what I could. - took two days in scorching sunshine to get it all just right, a day of rain and the grass is starting to poke through again. It's evil I tell ya!

 

How mulch mulch did you use as if you put newspaper down then topped with a mulch ie even grass clippings , how thick was the mulch


Spruce