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#1
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Best Rose Fertilizer(s)
What do you guys have the highest regard for in the fertilizer department?
Should I use different blends at different seasons? Granular seems the easiest to me, and I'd like to not destroy the natural soil like I see a lot of farmers do with their corn fields. Tom Line For Fun And Safety In Firearms Sports visit... -- http://www.bobtuley.com -- |
#2
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"Tom Line" wrote in message ... What do you guys have the highest regard for in the fertilizer department? Should I use different blends at different seasons? Granular seems the easiest to me, and I'd like to not destroy the natural soil like I see a lot of farmers do with their corn fields. Tom Line I prefer ground fish gut liquid. You mix it with water and dilute it. It doesn't smell all that bad, and it's pretty much impossible to burn your plants with the stuff. You can find it at a lot of places, like Home Depot for example. JimS. Seattle |
#3
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You did not indicate where you live.
The most 'correct' choice of rose food is determined by a thorough soil analysis. This will tell you what nutrients are already in the soil as well as which are insufficient. Depending on the soil pH 'lock up' may occur which prevents nutrients from being available, a common practive in these cases is to apply a LOT of the unavailable nutrient. Supplemental iron is often added in alkaline conditions, lime is added in acid soils. In a previous response, fish emulsion was suggested. I believe that this product is an acceptable supplement occasionally, however it frequently has a very high salt content that I prefer to avoid. IMHO the best general practice is to feed the soil and let the soil feed the plants. Healthy soil is the very best food source you can have. Get the soil analyzed and add what the analysis recommends, preferably in an organic form. Tim "Tom Line" wrote in message ... What do you guys have the highest regard for in the fertilizer department? Should I use different blends at different seasons? Granular seems the easiest to me, and I'd like to not destroy the natural soil like I see a lot of farmers do with their corn fields. Tom Line For Fun And Safety In Firearms Sports visit... -- http://www.bobtuley.com -- |
#4
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"Tom Line" wrote in message
... What do you guys have the highest regard for in the fertilizer department? Should I use different blends at different seasons? Granular seems the easiest to me, and I'd like to not destroy the natural soil like I see a lot of farmers do with their corn fields. I use a mix of organic and inorganic fertilizers. Usually in spring and fall (around here that would be Feb.-March and Oct. - Nov.) I put alfalfa tea on the roses. If I have the energy I also add an organic granular food (from bat guano, I think) that I buy locally. During the summer when it's too hot to fuss, I use a hose end sprayer and apply seaweed plus Peters or Miracle Gro about once a month. I also use mulch that has compost in it, refreshing it once a year. Usually once during the growing season I also use fish emulsion. Does it work? I dunno. Hardy roses do great, weak roses die no matter what I do. LOL! I'm in an area that doesn't get much in the way of rose diseases or pests so I don't have to spray (maybe one out of 150 gets powdery mildew every other year), blackspot doesn't bother me, etc. I think those factors are important to take into account when designing a feeding program. I.e., what stressors are affecting your roses? Some roses are more piggy than others. Climbers typically require more food because they're bigger and bloom a lot. But it depends on the climber. Roses are pretty hardy shrubs. If you can find ones that grow well in your area you should do ok with almost any reasonable feeding program. Gail near San Antonio TX Zone 8 |
#5
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"Tom Line" wrote in message ... What do you guys have the highest regard for in the fertilizer department? Should I use different blends at different seasons? Granular seems the easiest to me, and I'd like to not destroy the natural soil like I see a lot of farmers do with their corn fields. I have pond, so I'm lucky, i have an almost unlimited source of natural fertilizers. Everytime I clean the filters, I collect all the muck into a few 5 gal buckets and pour that around the roses. The muck being a random collection of decayed leaves, dead algae, fish waste and the bodies of bacteria that gave their lives to help maintain the nitrogen levels in the pond. -S |
#6
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I live just north of Cincinnati. Soil is limestone clay with a bit of good
dirt on top of it. |
#7
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On 3 Jul 2005 12:58:02 -0400, Tom Line wrote:
I live just north of Cincinnati. Soil is limestone clay with a bit of good dirt on top of it. Mills Mix is pretty highly regarded. And I don't say this simply because Mr. Mills is a relative neighbor. Best adjuncts are alfalfa meal, epson salts, blood and bone meal, and fish emulsion. Add to that some good compost, some earthworms and a top-dressing of mulch, and you're in business. Oh yeah, in lieu of compost, you can get concentrated liquid compost that works just dandy. Just remember that it's concentrated and use as directed. I'm ashamed to say that I have been really lazy this year and haven't done any of this and my roses are showing the results. I never got a handle on my usual routine (partly because of the unseasonably cold spring that we had that went directly into hot weather rather late) and I only did Osmocote and one application of Bayer's fertilizer/systemic insecticide granular. It hasn't really been enough at all. I'm hoping that I don't lose too many plants this year, but if I do, I can only blame myself. Keep in mind that it's a little late to get the roses set for the year, but you can still help them out (if I would only take my own advice!). Also, you want to stop feeding them sometime around August or September, as you want them to start preparing for dormancy. You don't want them going into late fall and early winter trying to grow vigorously. Also, if you hit clay 2 ffet down, you should dig the clay out much deeper. You don't want the saucer effect, where water can't drain easily and the root ball sits in "standing water". I'd suggest digging down four feet or more. If you don't, what you'll have is some soil where the water drains well, but then is stopped by the clay. The more and deeper soil you have to work with, the better. Hope this helps. |
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