Are you having trouble keeping your roses healthy and beautiful all season long? The best thing that will provide that much needed boost for your roses is fertilization. By properly fertilizing your rose bushes, they will develop strong vigorous canes that produce big, fat plump buds with nice flowers.
According to Horticulture Agent, Dennis Patton:
Most local soils have plenty of phosphorus and potassium, so the recommendation of using a balanced fertilizer such as 13-13-13 or 10-10-10 is outdated. The old recommendation was to apply about 1 cup of this type of fertilizer per plant three to four times per growing season, between mid-April and mid-August. – kcgardens.kansascity.com
But today, there are more environmentally friendly recommendations that will reduce the use of fertilizer containing unnecessary phosphorus and potassium. For established roses, nitrogen (first number on the bag) is the key ingredient. The best fertilizer will use a higher rate of nitrogen and lower amounts of phosphorus and potassium. Patton also states that the best fertilizers to use are 27-3-3 or 25-5-5, and instead of using the one cup rate, only use about 1/8 to ¼ cup per plant.
With this warm spring, are you finding that your roses are blooming ahead of schedule?
Source: kcgardens.kansascity.com, Photo via yellowpages.com