Homemade rose fertiliser
Roses love humus, and soil rich in organic matter will result in healthy plants and generous flowers. Fork in compost, animal manure, shredded and washed seaweed, small dead animals and birds, or a bit of blood and bone – whatever you have access to.
If you can get your hands on a bag of lucerne chaff, fork in a cupful around each rose. It works wonders.
If you can't easily get organic matter, commercial fertilisers for roses are fine. Follow the maker's instructions and don't be tempted to overfeed. The plant can assimilate only a certain amount and there will be plenty of opportunities for additional feeding through the season.
Or you can be adventurous and try the magic recipe given to NZ Gardener's long-time rose columnist Barbara Lea Taylor by an elderly rose nurseryman many years ago, and passed on from one gardener to another ever since due to its almost miraculous effect.
You can buy these ingredients at garden centres or big department stores:
- 3kg sulphate of ammonia
- 1kg iron sulphate
- 2.5kg potash
- 1kg dried blood
- 1kg Epsom salts
Method:
- Mix it all up in a wheelbarrow and give each rose about 2 tablespoons forked in and watered around the drip line. Very large bushes and climbers might need more.
- If you have some left over, it will store well if you keep it in a dry place, and you will need to feed the roses again in December.
- If the soil is dry, don't forget to water well after applying fertilisers of any kind. No fertiliser is going to do anything for a rose if it is lying on top of the soil.
Republished with permission of Stuff.co.nz.