Black Spot and Suckers

Hi, I need a bit of help. I inherited this Rose from my dad when he passed away. I am not green fingered and I am on my journey to becoming hopefully a decent gardener. Recently, black spot has started to occur on the leaves and a sucker has appeared from below the soil line which I traced back and removed. Any hints on black spot treatment would be appreciated or any observations about how I can make the rose healthier, bigger pot or planted lower in the pot etc. many thanks

 

I wouldn't worry too much about black spot, it's very common and doesn't kill a rose. However if a rose is fed and watered it's less likely to get black spot.

How big is the pot? It's hard to tell from the photos. Pots for roses should be about 60cms deep so quite big. I would remove all those stones, roses prefer a compost mulch. At the end of winter I scrape off the top layer of compost and replace it with fresh compost. Then feed the rose in March and again after the first flowering with rose fertiliser. When you water it you could add some tomato fertiliser, like Tomorite to the water.

It will need more watering than a rose in the ground. Put your fingers into the compost and feel if it's damp. Better to give a good amount of water about twice a week than to give a little bit every day.

Suckers should be pulled off as you have done. The rose is a standard rose, so it has a long trunk like stem and I think it's planted at about the right level, but hard to tell with those stones there.

 

Hi, thank you for the comments. The pot is 50cm deep so seems a bigger pot would be beneficial. When would the best time be to repot ? And what depth into the pot is ideal for the root. ? I will remove the stones and use your recommendations.

 

You really need to have the pot filled to around an inch or so below the rim otherwise it doesn't matter what size pot you use you will only be using a bit of it.

So if you repot settle it higher than it is in that pot.