Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, you can almost always plants roses. From October to March as “bare root” and all year round as container roses – except when it is freezing or snowing. Bierkreek usually begins potting up our roses in November so by March there are not many bare root roses available anymore. You can read more in “About Roses”, “Receive Roses” or in our flyer “Lifelong Enjoyment Of Your Roses”.

Those black spots are caused the fungus diplocarpon – commonly known as blackspot. Most people generally say their roses are suffering from rust; however rust is a very different disease that manifests itself in orange dots on the underside of the leaf.   You can read more in “About Roses”, “Maintenance Tips" and in our flyer “Lifelong Enjoyment Of Your Roses”.

Aphids, like most harmful insects, have many natural enemies such as ladybugs and the larvae of the hoverfly. If you attempt to control aphids with sprays, even with so-called “environmentally friendly” ones, you also end up harming the natural enemies of the aphids. You must allow nature to create a natural balance so the control can continue all season. For example, there are natural enemies who in their younger stage control aphids. But at a later stage in their life this same natural enemy also controls thrips! A lack of aphids to eat in their younger stage means that later on in the season you can have an outbreak of thrips with no natural enemies present to control them.   In principle it’s best to not try to control the aphids with sprays: Or perhaps only in areas where little nature is present such as window boxes or balconies. However, we have seen that even in those situations the natural enemies will eventually win. But, if you do feel the need to control the aphids in those cases rub them between your fingers, spray them with a jet of water or create a solution of 1 tbs organic soap per gallon of water which you then spray on the roses. We are not in favor of these measures but we recognize that in some cases they may be necessary. You can read more in the section of our website “Eat or Be Eaten”.

There are two common insects that cause this. The first, and least common, are leaf rollers. They are a group of predominantly small moths, such as Hedya Ochroleucana, that lay their eggs on the rose leaves. After hatching the caterpillars spin together two or more leaves for protection causing them to curl. If you look inside the leaves you can find the caterpillars but in The Netherlands they only lay their eggs in July. If you find curling leaves earlier I the season you can assume it has to do with another insect. There are also Sawflies (Tenthredinidae) that do this but if this is the case you will often not see additional larvae in the curled leaves. There is little you can do about curling of leaves.   Even if you opt for stronger chemicals the insects are not hit by them because they are well protected inside the curled leaves. Even here there are sufficient natural enemies. The removal and burning of the affected leaves would also help in the event you indeed have larvae in the rolled up leaves.

You can learn how to prune your roses during our pruning course in March, check our calender. But we also have pruning guides.

Make sure the main canes (the larger ones that grow from the base of the rose or slightly above it) are tied as horizontally as possible and not directly up. Eventually the “laterals” or side shoots will emerge all along the main cane and on those are produced the flowers. If you tie the main canes straight up you will only have blooms at the very top and you will need a ladder to enjoy them! 

It’s important to not forget to feed your roses or else they will be more susceptible to diseases and infestations. You should feed them with our custom fertilizers. You can read more in our leaflet about our Custom Fertilizers or at Products and services; Organic fertilizer.

To grow our roses and make them as healthy as possible we use only natural methods. We do not use pesticides: Preventing problems is always better than trying to cure them after they happen.   Lastly the controlling body SKAL vigorously monitors organic products such as ours. This way you can enjoy our roses without taxing the environment. You can read more in the section on our website “The Nursery”

Yes you can grow roses in pots, but generally most roses will not be happy if grown in a pot for many years. The more space the roots have to grow the better the rose will thrive. Because of this the deeper a pot is the better. Some roses are more suitable for pots than others and generally the smaller a rose is at maturity the better it will do. Take a close look at the properties in the photo or if you aren’t certain please ask.

Suckers are canes that spring from the wild rootstock the rose is grafted on to such as the wild dog rose or R. rubiginosa. If you notice a cane with smal dull leaves growing upwards from under the bud union this is a sucker. It’s best to tear them away or cut them off with a blunt object where they make contact with the root – often this is under the ground. You can help prevent this by planting the bud union at two inches (5 cm) below the surface when you first plant the rose.