Home Remedy for Rose Plant Care

Plant Health Care

• Plant Health Care (PHC) is a strategy of growing healthy plants by reducing their stress. This is accomplished by keeping up with their growth and maintenance needs, which is the most effective type of home remedy. With proper home care, many problems can be avoided altogether. For roses, good care results in better quality and longer-lasting blooms with minimal use of pesticides. Choosing the right cultivar is the first important decision; there are over 150 species of roses in the Northern Hemisphere and different varieties thrive under different climatic conditions. Most local gardening centers sell rose bushes compatible with their region and roses purchased at a retail outlet such as this come with tags describing how to care for them. In general, however, roses need at least 1/2 day of sun -- preferably 2/3 -- with afternoon shade. They prefer rich, well-drained soil and the use of garden amendments -- such as compost, peat or manure -- helps provide for healthy and vigorous plants.

Releasing Natural Pest Enemies

• Roses are subject to a variety of diseases and pests that can decrease the quality of their blooms, stunt the plant's growth or kill parts of it. These include aphids, spider mites, rose leafhoppers, thrips, fuller rose beetles, haplia beetles, leafcutter bees, rose curculios, caterpillars, slugs, flathead borers, raspberry horntails, mossy rose galls and rose midges. One home remedy is to purchase populations of these pests' natural predators from a gardening center and release them on to the rose plants. Which natural predator you choose depends on which pests are the most troublesome. Parasitic wasps, lacewings, lady beetles, leatherwing beetles and syrphid flies all consume aphids. Minute pirate bugs, predacious mites, six-spotted thrips and western flower thrips reduce spider mite populations. Minute pirate bugs also eat thrips, parasitic wasps also go after scale insects and caterpillars, lacewings will eat soft-bodied insects and spiders consume most types of insects.

Home Recipes for Pest Control

• Common household ingredients can also be used to make natural pesticides. Shake up 1 tablespoon of canola oil, a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid and 1 quart of water in a spray bottle to make a solution to kill aphids, mites and mealybugs. Spray the plant from the top down, then from the bottom up. Make sure to cover the undersides of the leaves, where many pests live. Substitute 2 tbsp. cayenne or hot pepper sauce for the oil and let the mixture sit overnight to kill a broader range of insects.

Home Recipes for Disease Control

• Shake up 2 tbsp. baking soda with 1 quart of water in a spray bottle to make an anti-fungal solution. Spray affected areas every few days. For powdery mildew, mix equal parts milk and water in a spray bottle. Apply to affected areas once a week for three weeks. To kill both fungus and insects, mix 1 tbsp. cooking oil, 2 tbsp. baking soda, a few drops of mild dishwashing liquid and 1 quart of water in a spray bottle. Apply to affected areas every few days.