Knockout roses not doing well

[nepats197]

I have a bunch of knockout roses in the front yard. Normally they do exceptional. Blooms from early summer through fall. I've had these bushes for the past 10 years or so and the knockout rose tree for the past 5.

This was a picture of last summer:

We had a bad drought last summer followed by a very mild winter this year in Massachusetts and not sure if that has something to do with it but noticed that there's not many leaves on rose bushes yet, only a few stems. And the rose tree, no buds or growth at all. Looks dead to me. Noticed at the base of the trunk, some bark flaking off. I did burlap it this winter just as I always have. Interesting also because my parents also have quite a few of the knockout roses as well and they said their's didn't fair well over the winter either.

Here's what I have as of today.

And the tree, no buds or any growth. There's a small little shoot at the bottom that wants to keep growing but I cut it down and it grows back...there's bud here but not on the main tree.
How can I tell if it's dead? And if so why did it die?

Very frustrating!

 

[Logan]

That's a shame, you can tell if it's dead by scraping some of the bark off, if it's green underneath it's alive, if it's brown it's dead. They look as if they have some green stems, I'd cut out the brown ones if they're dead and keep the green ones.

 

[Tetters]

I second that comment from Logan. I think the only bits with any life are the green stems which are showing leaf. The rest needs to be cut right out. I think the small standard has had it!

All plants need a bit of help during a drought. Some water at least once a week, and some feed as well - applied before the sun wakes up. Do you have any water butts to collect rain water?

Another point to note is this - do you make sure that the mulch is applied after heavy rain? This is the correct way, and putting it down over dry soil is a bad idea.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I suspect they froze. While the literature actually says they can survive in USDA zone 5, which is -10f, it also starts talking about protection from freezing starting at 10f in the same breath, a whole 20 degrees warmer than what low might be possible. They talk about burying the trees 12" deep horizontally for zone 5a temps. Particularly thick wraps are mentioned, 3 inches of extra mulch and so forth and so on. Having said all that, all the boards seem to indicate we all suffered an unusually cold moment this winter. We certainly did here in Alabama. You probably know already but if not here is a grow zone map of your state.

 

[nepats197]

I suspect they froze. While the literature actually says they can survive in USDA zone 5, which is -10f, it also starts talking about protection from freezing starting at 10f in the same breath, a whole 20 degrees warmer than what low might be possible. They talk about burying the trees 12" deep horizontally for zone 5a temps. Particularly thick wraps are mentioned, 3 inches of extra mulch and so forth and so on. Having said all that, all the boards seem to indicate we all suffered an unusually cold moment this winter. We certainly did here in Alabama. You probably know already but if not here is a grow zone map of your state.View attachment 96118

Remember that when I planted it and was always concerned about that - but I heavily burlapped it and it came right back the following spring for 5 years. And the previous winter was worse than this recent one. Too bad though. I think I will swap it with a red bud or japanese maple tree. Felt like it was always lacking something 'large' like that anyway .

 

[nepats197]

I second that comment from Logan. I think the only bits with any life are the green stems which are showing leaf. The rest needs to be cut right out. I think the small standard has had it!

All plants need a bit of help during a drought. Some water at least once a week, and some feed as well - applied before the sun wakes up. Do you have any water butts to collect rain water?

Another point to note is this - do you make sure that the mulch is applied after heavy rain? This is the correct way, and putting it down over dry soil is a bad idea.

Yes, last summer with the drought we still watered them and got amazing blooms until fall. No sign of it struggling or wilting; even the tree.

I'll leave the bushes and see what they do over the summer. I've cut them down pretty low to the ground before and they've grown back during spring/ summer very well - just takes longer.

The tree like everyone else said is most likely toast. Will swap it out with a red bud tree we planted last year and didn't like its location.

With the mulch I never go down to dirt; I just keep adding a bit more to refresh the color. If there's weeds or mulch gets mounded too high from the previous year, I'll just skim off the top with a straight shovel and then add more mulch. So the base dirt level is always mulched and has been for years.

I do make a little conical opening at the base of the tree though to prevent rot. But looks like it didn't matter!

Appreciate the input.

 

[nepats197]

That's a shame, you can tell if it's dead by scraping some of the bark off, if it's green underneath it's alive, if it's brown it's dead. They look as if they have some green stems, I'd cut out the brown ones if they're dead and keep the green ones.

Thanks for the reply. I'll try scraping some off the tree tomorrow but looks like it's donesky. The bushes I'm hoping will bounce back, might just take longer. Still not sure what happened....

 

[Tetters]

Maybe they did freeze, like ''Dirt'' said.

 

[oneeye]

Rose rosette disease has spread all across the US killing Knockouts roses. There is no cure for the disease at this time if you get it on one bush it will wipe out all the others. Sorry

 

[Tetters]

https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/assets/factsheets/Pest-Factsheet-Rose-Rosette-Virus.pdf

@oneeye surely it just might be another problem that caused this - like a severe frost? Let's hope it's not RR disease then