I've never gardened before in my life, but about three weeks ago my husband
and I planted 3 rose bushes (Arizona, Rio Samba and Oklahoma) along with a
Black Jack Fig tree, a Belle of Georgia Peach tree, and a Barlett Pear tree.
We also installed some planters containing various herbs and such. The
herbs seem to be doing well, but everything else seems to be struggling for
life. Our soil tested high in Potash and Phosphorus, but there was no
detectable Nitrogen. We put down some "blood" fertilizer to boost the
nitrogen, but it's only been a few days since we did that. The leaves on
the rose bushes are most worrisome. They've got brown, black, white, and
orange splotches on them, and some of the leaves are just yellow. But the
coloring seems to only affect the tops of the leaves, except the yellow. I
don't see it on the under sides of the leaves. We cut off the few buds they
had right after we planted them, hoping the energy would go to building the
roots, rather than the buds. Those flowers opened beautifully in a vase on
our counter. There are no signs of buds on 2 of the plants. The Oklahoma
has a bud, but it's turned black, except where it's connected to the cane.
That part is quite green and healthy looking. Also I noticed today on that
rose bush, what looks like crumbled white concrete particles. They're stuck
between the cane and where the leaf attaches, as well as along the stem of
the "dead" bud. Any ideas on what might be wrong? Also, all the leaves of
the peach tree have fallen off. The new shoots are trying to get growing,
but I don't know what to do to help this poor guy out! I'd really
appreciate any and all help and advice. Like I said, I've never grown
anything in my life. Maybe I just have a "black" thumb!
Oh yeah, we live in southwest Albuquerque, if that helps at all.
Carrie

--
http://www.themomteam.com/cgi-bin/mo...75&action=show

Can you post a link to a few pictures? It sounds like rust, among other
things. NO detectable nitrogen? They are starving. The blood meal is great,
but your soil needs more than that...like aged compost, and lots of it for a
continual feed. I'd add several bags of potting soil from your local garden
center to the existing soil, and carefully (to avoid damaging the roots) mix
it in. Throw in whatever bits of old yard debris you may have, such as leaf
litter, and some well aged bagged manure. You need to build up your soil to
provide a fertile ground for hungry roots. Also, be sure you have good
drainage; this can cause some of your symptoms. Roses hate to sit in soggy
soil.

The black bud sounds like a fungal infection, for which there are many good
sprays. But if your plants are that badly stressed, they may not survive. If
not, dig them up, and amend your soil before putting anything else in.

When adding the nutrients to your garden, an important part of the mixture
is the beneficial bacteria and fungi that help your plants break down the
available nutrients into a usable form. These creatures may not have
established themselves in your newly amended soil yet, so you should "seed"
it. You can order beneficial fungal "innoculants" from several ereputable
online rose and garden retailers.


Scopata Fuori

Thank you so much for the reply! I do have some questions, however.
Where might I be able to download digital pictures with a link that others
can visit? I do not have a web page, or know how to go about that sort of
thing.
If I get some potting soil, compost and manure, how do I go about adding
that? Do I dig a trench around the plants and fill in the trench with the
new "ingrediants"? Or just pile it up arouund the plant?
How can you tell if your soil is soggy? We have mostly sand here, and when
you water, it seems to just disappear under the surface.
The black bud has gone missing. Like it's been carried off by something. I
searched the ground around the plant for it, but didn't find it. Would ants
do any of this damage to the roses? We have a huge number of ants now. I
counted five different kinds today. We've been laying diatenacious(sp?)
earth down on the hills we see, but it doesn't seem to be that discouraging
to them. They just make a new entrance hole and go about their merry way.
We haven't put out poison, because we have a very curious 3 year old who is
fascinated by the ants.
And lastly, could you recomend some online rose places and names of
nutrients to look for specifically.
You've been immensely helpful, and I do very much appreciate it. You've
been very kind.
Carrie

--
http://www.themomteam.com/cgi-bin/mo...75&action=show

Carrie...you've come to the right place, this is the helpin'est bunch of
rose fanatics you could hope for.

I'll just answer one of your questions-- where can you make a webpage? The
first place to check would be your internet provider. You probably have
access to free storage. I looked up www.zianet.com and it says you have
access of up to 30 megabytes of free storage. So start with that and see
if they have some webpage programs to help you build one. If that turns out
to be too hard, you can make an email page of your own on www.geocities.com
for example, and they do have tools to help you build a webpage.

One other thing-- you should insert some fake-out characters in your email
address that displays in your newsgroup replies, or you're going to start
getting a bunch of junk mail from automated mailers. Edit your newgroup
account properties. (for example, in Outlook Express, go to
Tools/Accounts/News/Properties and insert a few characters).

Good luck, you'll be addicted in no time. :Þ

JimS.
Seattle

"Klaurens" wrote in message
...
Thank you so much for the reply! I do have some questions, however.
Where might I be able to download digital pictures with a link that others
can visit? I do not have a web page, or know how to go about that sort of
thing.
If I get some potting soil, compost and manure, how do I go about adding
that? Do I dig a trench around the plants and fill in the trench with the
new "ingrediants"? Or just pile it up arouund the plant?
How can you tell if your soil is soggy? We have mostly sand here, and
when
you water, it seems to just disappear under the surface.
The black bud has gone missing. Like it's been carried off by something.
I
searched the ground around the plant for it, but didn't find it. Would
ants
do any of this damage to the roses? We have a huge number of ants now. I
counted five different kinds today. We've been laying diatenacious(sp?)
earth down on the hills we see, but it doesn't seem to be that
discouraging
to them. They just make a new entrance hole and go about their merry way.
We haven't put out poison, because we have a very curious 3 year old who
is
fascinated by the ants.
And lastly, could you recomend some online rose places and names of
nutrients to look for specifically.
You've been immensely helpful, and I do very much appreciate it. You've
been very kind.
Carrie

--
http://www.themomteam.com/cgi-bin/mo...75&action=show

Thank you Jim! I'm sure my husband will appreciate having the "fakeout "
characters added. Since his address was the one displayed!
I'll begin looking into the web page thing. Thank you so much for your
guidance!
Carrie

--
http://www.themomteam.com/cgi-bin/mo...75&action=show

www.schroederventures.com
"Scopata Fuori" wrote in message
. ..

Can you post a link to a few pictures? It sounds like rust, among other
things. NO detectable nitrogen? They are starving. The blood meal is
great,
but your soil needs more than that...like aged compost, and lots of it for
a
continual feed. I'd add several bags of potting soil from your local
garden
center to the existing soil, and carefully (to avoid damaging the roots)
mix
it in. Throw in whatever bits of old yard debris you may have, such as
leaf
litter, and some well aged bagged manure. You need to build up your soil
to
provide a fertile ground for hungry roots. Also, be sure you have good
drainage; this can cause some of your symptoms. Roses hate to sit in soggy
soil.

The black bud sounds like a fungal infection, for which there are many
good
sprays. But if your plants are that badly stressed, they may not survive.
If
not, dig them up, and amend your soil before putting anything else in.

When adding the nutrients to your garden, an important part of the mixture
is the beneficial bacteria and fungi that help your plants break down the
available nutrients into a usable form. These creatures may not have
established themselves in your newly amended soil yet, so you should
"seed"
it. You can order beneficial fungal "innoculants" from several ereputable
online rose and garden retailers.


Scopata Fuori