Rose leaves yellowing

• I'd be grateful for advice from rose experts, as you can see I've got a problem with yellowing leaves. This is a shrub rose, armada and in its fourth year (having done extremely well in the past 3 years).
  The two causes that immediately spring to mind are:
  Lack of water - the very dry spring is likely having an impact. I haven't watered it much as I consider it to be a well established rose.
  Fertiliser burn - back in March I gave the surrounding soil a good hefty sprinkling of 6X Natural Fibrous. Lack of rain coupled with my tardiness in not watering the fertiliser in properly could be a culprit
  In addition to this, there's a lot of growth around the rose which I need to hack back. It all grew rather suddenly whilst I was away for a bit
  so I wonder if there's a bit of a problem with competition/lack of airflow In. the past week or so since noticing the yellow leaves I've been giving it a watering can of water every 3 days.
  This is a very special rose so I'm keen to keep on top of the problem - my question is, is there anything I've missed from the above and should I be cutting away the dying stems/yellowing leaves... Or is it too late?

 

I’m not a rose expert but I think you have identified the causes yourself. Even established plants can suffer with lack of rain at this time of year when they are putting their energy into the production of new foliage. I would remove the yellowed leaves, clear around the base and give your plant a good, deep watering every two days if there’s been no rain. The plant looks quite healthy overall and should respond well.

 

I'm no rose expert either but suspect it could be a magnesium deficiency.Add a tablespoon of epsom salts to a gallon of water each fortnight as you water.
Westlab Epsom Bath Salt 1kg - Boots

 

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated

 

Having checked again, some of the stems are definitely struggling in addition to the yellow leaves. It's all gone a bit droopy as you can hopefully see...

I'm guessing this is either too dry or disease?

 

That does look more concerning. Have you watered? One of my recently planted roses wilts every afternoon in the current heat and sun. Maybe @Busy-Lizzie can offer further advice if she sees this.

 

Thank you, yes it's been watered every 2-3 days. It is out of the hottest afternoon sun.

I seem to remember a @Mrs Hillard was quite a rose expert - I'd be very grateful of advice if possible!

Many thanks

 

I think it has suffered from lack of water as there has been very little rain and quite warm weather for a few weeks now. You said in your first post that you hadn't watered it much. Then in your last post you say it's been watered every 2 to 3 days. I'm a bit confused. Which is it?

During very dry spells it should be given a large can of water about twice a week. David Austin says more often but roses are quite tough and they can manage with less, but it has been a very dry spring this year. Roses do go droopy when they are thirsty.

 

Thank you and apologies for the confusion. I've not watered it much at all this spring up until about a couple of weeks ago when I noticed the yellowing leaves, and since then I've given it a watering can full every couple of days.

I will keep it up and hope for the best!

 

Don't go and overwater it!

 

I think @wiseowl may be able to help as he knows about roses.

 

@DevonDays
Hello, and thanks for the alert, I've only just noticed as I've been away a bit.
I'm delighted you remember me in some other place maybe, so I assume we've spoken before..

'Armada' is such a brilliant rose as you said, and I've never seen that issue on it. Let me just say, as you've alluded to, I gave up 6X a long time ago, it's powerful stuff that needs careful use and easy to overdo it, which is part of the problem here, as you can see on some of the leaves, ..that is a cultivation issue. As others have said, remove all surrounding impediments, and my advice would be to treat yourself to a sequestered iron/seaweed mixture.. The one I like best is Maxicrop, I also use Vitax, I measure the right amount into 10 ltrs water and pour around an ailing rose. Unless your rose is planted in a bog, which of course it shouldn't be, then you shouldn't worry about overwatering at this time of year, they can be submerged with flooding and it doesn't hurt. In fact, if you have a hose you can sometimes flush through these issues with fertilizers by giving a deep watering.

It also grows best with some support, then in June it should look like this one I had for years..


I feel sure it will return to full health with some t.l.c. from you. I also avoid Epsom Salts. What I like to do after the water treatment, is mulch with a cheap multi purpose compost, quite thickly around the base. Works wonders. Best of luck !

 

Still on this subject, I fed these two roses with Maxicrop sequestered iron with seaweed, just 2 weeks ago, they both suffer from chlorosis in my ph 8.1 highly alkaline soil. I usually use an Azalea feed in Spring but did not have any this year.
I cannot prove it of course, but look at this basal growth.. it acts as a root stimulant..
A climbing rose.. just what you want to see..

..a floribunda shrub.

 

Thank you very much @Mrs Hillard - You're right, I was an avid follower of your photographic posts on GardenersWorld and in fact that's what inspired me to buy Armada!

Update since the weekend - having removed lots of the surrounding overgrowth including the sticky-weed, the encroaching laurel and a portion of a rapidly-expanding clump of Phlox there's a lot more space/light/airflow around Armada now. I also removed some of the wilting stems and was delighted to see strong new growth coming from lower down, so I'm confident that it's nothing terminal.

Thanks for the heads-up on the 6X too, I think I need to go easy on that in the future! I'll buy myself some of the Maxicrop and hopefully learn my lessons...