Brown edges on roses

Question

I have inheirited some rose bushes from the previous owners of my house. The bushes have tons of buds on them but the ones that bloom have brown edges. The house was vacant for about a year so and they have not had much care at all. I know nothing about roses and don’t know much about gardening in general so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Answer 1

According to Stan, our rose expert, the brown edges on the petals can be caused by a few different things. Sometimes it is just the age of the bloom and the edges of the petals will start to turn brown as the bloom ages and dies.

If the blooms are new blooms, it could be a bit of light frost or cold damage if you have had some cold nights. The rose bush cannot get enough moisture to the edges of the petals to protect them from being bitten by the cold and frost.

It can also be caused by windy conditions that cause a bit of wind burn to the edges of the petals for the same lack of moisture to the delicate petal edges as mentioned previously.

Sometimes it can be caused by a fungus or insect problem but these will usually show distress to more than just the petal edges, the entire bud or bloom will be affected. If the brown edges are a bit crispy then the wind or temperature is usually the problem.