My little rose garden

I had an in-depth instruction leaflet arrive with my first roses a couple of days ago CRG and it states in bold type you should never use bark or wood chippings around roses as the toxins will damage them. It also says that if manure is used it should be dug into the bed a few weeks before planting as it can damage the roots. I also found out that manure is not a fertiliser but just a mulch like compost.

There is quite a lot of information on the leaflet which is to long to put on here, if you're interested you could PM me with name and address and I'll send you a copy.

 

It wasn't so many years ago that even steaming fresh horse poo was quickly collected up by whoever saw it first, and put around the base of their roses.

Here in Redcar, there used to be loads of communal rose gardens. There's a few left but cost cutting and neglect has reduced their number. I can remember relatively fresh horse poo was routinely scattered around the roses to feed them.

 

thanks sheal. oh never i've just put bark down on some of my garden! my rose book says shredded bark is ok? can u pm me the name of the company and i will ask them for a leaflet / advice. if its david austen my roses might come soon too

 

I know Clueless, but times change and the so-called people in the 'know' these days seem to think that this is all wrong now. Manure they say burns the roots and any fertiliser should not be directly in contact with them but dug into the soil around them. So, do they know best, or is this taking things to the extreme?

 

There is another possibility. Rose breeding is big business, and people intriduce new characteristics to roses every year. It is quite possible I guess that the older breeds of roses could happily take a bit of fresh horse poo while maybe the newer breeds can't, hence the advice changing. I don't know that that's the case, its just a theory.

 

i think i will alter my plan - use a granular fertiliser in spring, i will have to use compost as a mulch to be on the safe side. and what as a weed suppressant gravel? gosh its a steep learning curve

 

Sorry, I'm not very good at putting links on but the e-mail address is www.cantsroses.co.uk and the instruction leaflet is called......'Planting, Pruning and Aftercare Instructions for Rose Trees'.

Cants suggest the following: which I quote.....

MULCH
'To help suppress weeds you may wish to use a garden fleece membrane. To hide this you can use well-spent mushroom compost, or a soil improver. Make sure whatever you obtain does not include any form of wood chipping or bark. It is our opinion that you should avoid any form of bark or wood chipping, as toxins in these can be extremely harmful to roses, causing sickness, die back and possible death of the plants'.

 

Wow thanks sheal that is a very helpful link

 

i am going to put my bark on like this pic so it cant harm the crown of the rose

 

worked on the patio weeds this morn but its too cold for my little girl.

 

Are you putting a membrane underneath as the rain will wash the toxins from the bark into the soil.

 

These toxins we keep hearing about in the bark, do we know what exactly they are?

Bark chips are regularly used as mulch, and also as crash landing areas in children's play areas. I'd be a bit concerned if I found that there were toxins that can leach from them easily, unless I knew that those toxins were only toxic to certain plants and were absolutely harmless to everything else.

Could it be the tannin perhaps that's found in certain hardwoods?

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-heart-s...kELwJKBo40DfOM2FVGFYnTg=&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc
lovely slate labels ive baught for my roses

 

Thank u sheal i just dont know now. Will think on it.

 

I think I've heard somewhere in the past that they are harmful to domestic animals as well Clueless, but can't be certain. Perhaps it's time to do a bit of web research.