Feeding roses

Hello. My mind is about to explode. I'm looking to buy some rose feed but i notice that pretty much all of the different manufacturers and dedicated rose sellers have different NPK ratio's. I have seen NPK ratios of 5:5:10, 1:1:2, 5:1:2, 6:12:6. What NPK do you suggest please. Cheers... Andy

 

Honestly, it's easy to overthink it.

I just buy any quality brand and stick with it.

No need to drive yourself crazy over it.

 

Tend to buy the cheaper stuff, be it Wilkos own or others.

TopRose seems to have stood the test of time, though one of our Rose gurus eg @wiseowl may suggest something better ... ?

More importantly, whatever brand, feed as recommended on the packet.

 

If you are not exhibiting roses, use organic compost, composted manure, cottonseed meal or a general purpose, slow release chemical fertilizer. These can be re-applied every 3 months or so. Watch out for those chemical fertilizers with a high nitrogen content like some liquid formulations. You can also maintain mulch all year around such that the decomposing mulch will also provide nutrients to the roses as well as minimize soil moisture loss and protect the roots from temperature extremes.

 

After we bought our house I actively tried to kill our roses. They were old, ugly and didn't look health. But as fate has it, some of the roots survived growing under our pavillion and started sprouting anew last season. Now they are just beautiful and I decided to let them live.

Unless you want to win a competition, some compost, manure or blood/fish/bone here and there will be sufficient for them. Don't sweat it too much. Roses are pretty hardy and sometimes pruning does a far better job than any fertilizer could do

 

When I had th eroses in my old house I just gave them a dose of chicken manure pellets and a compost mulch and they seemed happy enough.

Rusty