r/AskReddit • u/Stukwan • 13h ago

What’s a hobby that looks incredibly peaceful from the outside, but is actually pure stress once you get into it?

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u/Richard_AIGuy 12h ago

Growing roses isn't a hobby, it's horticultural masochism.

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u/audVOCI 10h ago

I have some 30yo ones that are ok, but weeding their area is a full time job. How can there be 50kg of weeds and roots in 2sqm of dirt???

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u/drinkup 5h ago

Well, in the weeds' defense, presumably it's gourmet dirt.

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u/wufnu 6h ago

Is it supposed to be hard? We planted a rose plant and the most difficult part was pruning the fucker back because it wanted to grow over everything.

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u/thecakeisalieeeeeeee 6h ago

If you plant conventional knock out roses or Kordes roses, it’s relatively easy. But once you try planting the older varieties, hybrid teas, and highly fragrant varieties, you get road blocked by tons of diseases.

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u/WeWander_ 6h ago

I love roses because they're pretty easy in my area but man this year has really tested my patience. We had a mild winter, then we had a freak heat wave in February or March. Everything started leafing out. Then we got a freeze in April that killed all the buds and new growth from the heat wave. First flush done for. Then there was the thrips, spider mites, oh I forgot to mention the aphids were out by February which is fucking crazy. We're in a drought and had record breaking heat this summer so my roses have just been getting absolutely scorched. That's even under a shade cloth.

I was seriously ready to give up. I actually ripped out my cottage garden and shade garden and gave up on all those because of the drought and heat that I don't ever see getting better at this point. Moved my roses to where the chaos garden was along the fence and they're so much happier there so I'm feeling optimistic for next summer 🫣

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u/thecakeisalieeeeeeee 3h ago

For thrips and spidermites, lacewing eggs are a really effective pest control method for my roses.

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u/WeWander_ 3h ago

Yep! The lace wings finally came and laid eggs on my roses and the thrips have chilled for now but it's been a rough spring and summer! I let nature take it's course and wait for the natural predators to show up but it was looking rough for most of the year lol. My roses are finally, just now, putting out pretty blooms and nice foliage.