Rose Care: Fertilizing Hints and Tips

I have just finished pruning the beautiful roses that I have in my garden using the great rose pruning tips that I found last year.  When I was finished I also wondered about other aspects of rose care, in particular fertilizing and when I should so it.

One of the rose pruning links from last year suggests that roses should be fertilized 3 weeks after pruning. This got me interested in finding out more about rose care with respect to the type of fertilizer that I should use and when I should fertilize.

I had thought that I would find a strict set of rules that stated exactly when and how to fertilize rose plants. However I was surprised to see that there are lots of differing opinions around when you should fertilize roses and what should be used when fertilizing roses.

While most of it was pretty interesting reading, the links that I have decided to share contain advice from professional rose growers/sellers. Who would know more about rose care than a professional grower – right?

Fertilizing Roses – Rose Care Advice from Professional Growers

The links below offered great information about rose care and covered topics like:

• nutrients in fertilizers,
• types of fertilizers,
• choosing the best fertilizer,
• when to fertilize,
• help with problem solving

Spring Valley Roses website: Fertilizing: A Step-by-Step Guide

Heirloom Roses website: Fertilizing Roses & Rose Bushes

Rose Care/Fertilizing – What I have learnt!

After reading through the two links above the main points that I found very useful were:

• Organic fertilizers such as compost, manure, plant and animal products (e.g. fish fertilizer, bone meal, alfalfa, kelp extract) can be used  on an ongoing basis because they are weaker and good for soil

• Stronger chemical (granular) fertilizer should be used when roses are coming out of dormancy and putting on growth

• Fertilize when new growth is 4 -6 inches long

• Reapply fertilizer every 4 – 6 six weeks in growing season

• Reduce fertilizing in the autumn when the plant growth slows/stops

Rose Care: Organic Rose Fertilizer Recipe

If you want to make your own organic rose fertilizer then this link gives you the ingredients and method as well as information on how each the ingredients benefits the roses.

Diane’s Flower Seeds website: Rose Fertilizer Recipe

I am fairly new to gardening so I love researching and reading up on what conditions specific plants like and need. I found the three links above were great because they gave me the basics on what I should do to care for my roses, but also provided lots of extra information to help me understand why I need to do it. I am sure that I will refer back to them in the future as I continue to learn about rose care and gardening in general.