If you intend to allow alfalfa to stimulate new basal breaks in your rosebushes, you should know how to properly handle such wondrous growths. The special treatment I recommend may seem painful at first, but not after you witness its rewards. If basal breaks are allowed to develop all on their own, they produce a candelabra of bloom on a thick stalk and may be so heavy that you have to stake them. The main problem, however, is that they're unwieldy and produce inferior blooms. When new main canes are twelve to fifteen inches tall, pinch them back a few inches.
New growth is so pliable it can literally be snapped off.
Snapping does wonderful things. Also, because the bush is so frisky with the vigor of new growth, a second shoot soon develops just under the first. Third breaks often occur, too, but even if they don't, two healthy stems are surely better than one. If you long for new rose basal breaks, try alfalfa in any of its traditional forms - hay, cubes, or pellets. Best of all, if you can get your hands on some alfalfa fines, give them a try.