Why aren’t my knockout roses blooming normal?

Question

The growth on my knockouts is red in color and the blooms are very small, in thick clusters on the red growth and pale in color. Have I pruned them back too far to cause this and how do I get my roses to bloom normally again?

Answer 1

Just keep them watered well and give them a feeding with a good granular organic rose food. If you can find some rose food with alfalfa meal and kelp meal in it that would be great as they really like and respond to both of those. If your temps have been in the high 90’s and on into the 100’s like it has been here, the bloom cycles will slow down a bit. The bloom form, size and color can also be effected by the heat. Once the temps cool off some the bloom size and color should return as long as you have kept them watered and well fed. You do not usually need to do alot of pruning or deadheading with Knockout roses, so go easy on that. Here are links to a couple articles I wrote on Knockout roses that you should check out too: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/knockout-roses/care-knockout-roses.htm

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/knockout-roses/prune-knockout-roses.htm

And >> https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/roses/self-cleaning-roses.htm