I gather this hasn't been tried by anyone here, and therefore I'll be the guinea pig and try it out. I'll let you all know how it works. I'm expecting my roses to explode, grow into giant bushes and produce hundreds of flowers. Okay, I'm kidding, am hoping for some modest improvement so this won't have been a waste of money.

Ingrid

I can't comment because I have never tried it but I wish you luck and I hope you see good results. Keep us posted on how it works for you.

I also am interested in the results! My nursery sells it and other interesting amendments. Please keep us posted!

I've decided to do a bat guano "tea" so that the granules will dissolve and hopefully that will make for a more even distribution. The only problem is that I have no idea what the proportions should be, so this will be a hit or miss experiment. I'll definitely get back to you after about two weeks by which time I should seen new growth if the roses respond well. (Unless of course I've killed them all by overdosing them.)

Ingrid

If you were in the east, I'd be very careful because of the disease "White Nose" that is killing many, many bats and I wouldn't want it anywere near where my local bats hand out (and over) aka my garden.

http://www.tnbwg.org/TNBWG_WNS.html

The other thing, very different is the potential transmission of rabies, histoplasmosis, and a few other diseases of import to people. So....is an area of origin attached to the bag?

Here is a link that might be useful: CDC scares me.

When farming there are issues to consider when fertilizing during and after a drought--I honestly don't know if it would carry over to gardening or roses in particular. It might be something to think about.

Fertilizers move through the soil with water. With row cropping what farmers have found is that in drought years their plants take up less of the available fertilizer in the soil because of the lack of water movement in the soil. When the drought abates and the farmer continues on with his fertilizing program he can end up over fertilizing because he doesn't adjust to the high amounts that are "left over" from the previous year(s) of drought. If farmers had a crystal ball and they KNEW in advance it would be a drought year they would reduce the amount of fertilizer before hand!

I just wonder, considering your drought situation what/how much fertilizers are still in the ground from previous applications you've done that haven't been taken up yet (and would have been in wetter weather) and that are still in the ground. I also woudl wonder if putting a high nitrogen fertilizer without the benefit significant watering/rain is the best thing for plants that may already be stressed because of the drought.

Again--I know that these are farming consideration, but I don't know how it applies to home gardens! It might be a good question for someone that has more experience in gardening in drought/dry areas.

Excuse me, everyone, for the misinformation. It's SEABIRD guano, not bat guano. I can be such a featherhead. I won't even try to explain how I arrived at this erroneous conclusion, but I'm very relieved after reading some of the above information, that it is not bat guano. I love bats and feel horrible about what's happening to them, but I'm happy to do without their droppings.

Ingrid

I'll share your sigh of relief (and you did cause me to go and read some updated sites that are more bothersome than the info was three years ago.)

On seabird quano, the history of it's use goes back to founding of the American Rose Society when their industry was a major advertiser in the early ARS magazines.

Apparently even with seabird guano there is a danger of histoplasmosis so I'll be sure to use a face mask and safety goggles when I mix up the solution.

Even though I live in a drought area I do water the relatively small garden area around the house. I haven't used fertilizer in over a year, but even if I had the plants have been given enough water that I don't think it would be a problem. I've cut down the number of roses I have considerably for this very reason, so that I can limit water usage. There are no natural water sources that could be contaminated by this product anywhere nearby, so I hope this will be a safe product to use if I'm careful. Nevertheless, in retrospect I would not have bought the guano to use as fertilizer since there seems to be some question about safety. Interestingly, I found that guano is very popular with marijuana farmers since most of the links were from these growers.

Ingrid

I use Mocha Bat Guano, 4-6-1 on my roses and in my seasonal containers. Nothing else stimulates growth and bloom like it. I always make sure the soil is well watered before, pull back the mulch, sprinkle it on sparingly. (I follow the directions on the container) and water it in. Results are truly miraculous. Fresh red growth on the roses, bushing out from all the nodes and new flushes of flower buds, truly miraculous. For the heavy feeders in my garden, it is my go to fertilizer.