food for roses

You can, Andy, Miracle will encourage growth for the Roses, but it would be better to use a Tomato Feed which Roses really appreciate. The higher Potash level in Tomato Feed will help the plants produce more, bigger and better flowers. I use Miracle Grow to feed them one week and Tomato Feed the next and so on.

 

I wouldn't get too worried about the ph of the soil, Andy. Roses are gross feeders and so long as you make sure they're getting fed, have a reasonable soil with perhaps an adding of compost to bulk it up they'll be fine. I garden on sandy soil with about 350' to 400' of sand, and a near neutral ph, under my garden so water and feed would drain away quickly if I hadn't improved the soil with garden and commercial compost over the years. If you feed the Roses as advised you should see an improvement of sorts this year [it is a bit late!] and definitely next year if you feed them up to the end of August this year and start feeding next year when you see the Roses starting to come into new growth.

 

Good evening Andy I would respectfully suggest March is the best time,and I have never fed my roses but that is only my personal choice,hope this is of some help to you my friend

 

This is what Gardeners Corner is all about, Andy, we all help each other. I'm not a Rose Specialist, more of a general gardener, but after a recent thread that was posted I did a mental check of the roses I've acquired over the years and realised I'd got around 18 different varieties, which was a bit of a shock. There are acknowledged Rose Experts on GC the foremost being Woo who's knowledge of Roses is legend.

"The earlier you prune the earlier you bloom"??.....mmmmm, I'm not sure about that as the time of blooming will normally depend on the variety of Rose as some flower earlier than others. Not knowing the state of the Roses I would recommend you give them a medium prune [taking off around half of the length of the stems] just when they come into growth. Pruning would then be around March onwards.

 

I posted the last post without realising Woo was also posting but my words about him hold true

 

Hi Armandll my friend thank you for your most kind words
Andy I tend to suggest pruning in March that way the ealy frosts cannot do any harm to the pruned ends

 

Andy I see you say the Roses are coming into bud which seems OK,are there any other problems wit them

 

Some gardeners half prune Roses in the Autumn to prevent wind rock of the roots [loosening of the roots] thereby reducing the wind resistant of the stems and then prune properly in March. Give the Roses some TLC and they will respond.

Hi Woo. good to see you flying around again!!. I only told it how it is with regard to our regard and respect for you on Gardeners Corner.