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Rose Fertilizer: Feeding the Teenagers of the Plant World
Like my teenagers, roses seem to eat constantly. Well, except for when they are sleeping. The roses dormant period in winter is about the only time they dont eat. Compared to other plants in your landscape, roses are heavy feeders, so its important to take some care with your rose fertilizer schedule.
Just as its important to feed your teenagers quality food that will build a healthy body, roses also need quality rose fertilizer with the right amounts of nutrients in order to fend off disease and produce many beautiful blooms.
How to Fertilize
A fertilizer labeled specifically for roses will include micronutrients in addition to the standard nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium formula. If you use a regular fertilizer, look for one where the second of the three numbers is higher than the first. The will provide plenty of phosphorous which supports flowering activity.
Roses generally need an application of rose fertilizer at least twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall about a month before the first frost, when the plant should have already gone dormant.
Additional rose fertilizer applications can be made during the flowering season, but applications should be stopped in time to discourage new growth by the time frost arrives. Fertilizing after the plant has gone dormant is for the purpose of having nutrients available to the plant in the spring when it begins to grow again.
Rose fertilizer should be applied in a circle around the plant to a distance of about 18 inches from the base. The rose fertilizer should be lightly worked into the soil and the plant should then be watered.
Fertilizing for Control
Both synthetic fertilizers and organic, or natural, rose fertilizers are available. Synthetic fertilizers feed the plant directly and can produce faster growth, faster blooming, and can allow the gardener to control the time of blooming and amount of plant growth.
An organic rose fertilizer mixes nutrients into the soil in which the plant grows, and the plant in turn draws the nutrients from the soil. An organic rose fertilizer applied regularly can produce steady, long term fertilization without leaving the potentially harmful salts that a synthetic rose fertilizer will leave.
A balance of synthetic and organic fertilizers will ensure long term health of the plants and still allow the gardener to guide the growth and blooming pattern of the roses. Sounds a lot like raising teenagers. |