No. In zone 10 there is no need to cut the nitrogen in the fertilizer, because of the stability of the climate. the point of cutting nitrogen is to stop new green growth that will just get frozen and killed when the first frost hits. Obviously, there will be no 'first frost' in Zone 10, and even if you do get a little, it probably won't be enough to kill a rose shoot.

So, if you still want blooms at xmas, go ahead and continue to fertilize with whatever you were using before. If you don't care about xmas, then don't. It really doesn't matter, and keeping them growing does not set them back for the spring bloom at all, in my experience. I've heard sometimes that roses "like a rest," but my modern varieties don't seem to like that at all.

Low nitrogen fertilizer at any time of year may be pointless unless you have a soil test that shows low P or K. And if you have been fertilizing normally, your soil probably has high P and K (unless the soil is very sandy).

As Kathy says above, of you want roses to grow and bloom, be sure they have adequate nitrogen. Unlike P and K, plant-available N is transient in the soil. However, the N in alfalfa is slowly released over a season or two. If alfalfa is to be the primary fertilizer, it can be applied every two or three months to keep the release rate fairly steady.

In my zone it's recommended to not use any kind of nitrogen fertilizer in the fall because you don't want to encourage a lot of new top growth that won't have time to harden off before winter. You also don't want the rose to use up energy but to try and encourage it to start storing that energy for net spring instead. In your zone your roses are growing all year round and never go dormant so I would think you could use nitrogen any time.

I get nervous since we get plenty of frost / below freezing nights, and don't apply any fertilizer after September. Not sure if giving them a break helps them, but it makes me feel better. Right now I have scattered blooms, but not many. Still enough to bring in small bouquets to work!

Hi Kippy: Both organic and chemical fertilizer requires water to break down. Organic requires heat to break down, and takes longer to release. I once check the time-table for release on alfalfa-meal, and it's 1 month (with warmth and water). Grass-clippings also release its nitrogen within a month, per U. of Connecticut research.

Knowing that organics won't break down in the cold. I topdressed my roses BEFORE the ground froze, with alfalfa meal mixed with soil. The spring flush was spectacular: 40+ blooms on Radio Times, 20+ blooms on tiny Austins 1' x 1'. There's a Canadian paper on fall fertilization of wheat crop that dealt with chemicals, for optimal growth in spring time.

Bottom line: when there's water, it's time to use fertilizer. When there's heat, the organics will be released. Fertilize in cold weather makes MORE SENSE than doing it in hot summer and risk burning the plants. We get 38" of snow, then tons of rain in spring, that's why I'm doing organics fertilizer in advance.

Since we have a huge lawn, I did lots of research on how to take care of the lawn: fall fertilizing is MOST important for lawn, if I skip it, I get the most lousy lawn in spring, and tons of weeds. My neighbor fertilizes her lawn in Thanksgiving, while it's snowing. She's smart NOT to do it during the summer, when there's less moisture. The fall lawn-fertilizer contains a huge amount of potassium, it helps with retaining water and thus better coping with the drying & cold wind.

We sure got heat here Strawberry....LOL almost 100 yesterday! I just thought that the roses needed a rest, time to set hips etc, what the local nursery says.

We have a constant source of high nit lawn fertilizer and boy does it get green...here chicky chicky.

Guess I can toss more of the alfalfa pellets tomorrow, no fishy stuff because mom wants to have a garden party so stinky things for the upper garden have to wait.

We have to water all summer and still have not had measurable rainfall this season. Although there is a chance for this weekend, busy digging the rain gutter drain line today.

Just want to make a note that grass-clipping is NO-NO for fall fertilizing .. they clump together, ferment, become soggy and stinky (I learned the hard way). Grass Clippings is best in early summer within 1 month of usage, when it's fresh & fluffy. Krista in New York was the one that got me interested in fall fertilization with organics and I researched carefully before doing it. Krista is the only one I know with 100+ blooms per Austin.

I can see how using grass in some areas would be really bad. But our postage stamp sized lawn can not fill the reel mowers catcher even once. We share half with the chickens and use the rest around a plant or two. But we also do not get ice, snow or a lot of rain. Christmas is usually a great beach day.

{{gwi:338979}}

A spring photo, it looks different now, but same lawn.
I would be LOST in Chicago with a real winter! We drive to the mountains to visit the snow...and then leave.

Thank you, Kippy, for a very nice pic. of your front lawn. It looks like a fresh and cozy place. Fall fertilization is for convenience's sake. If I wait until spring to fertilize, it's a flood of 38" melted snow, plus non-stop week-long rain.

When our house was first built we didn't have a lawn. With the rain I would go outside, and have a thick blob of mud stuck on my shoes, and I was stuck in wet mud. A lawn is a must with 40" of rain, and 38" of snow in zone 5a. I used to spend $40 per cubic sq. yard yearly for mulch. With roses I discovered horse manure with brown bedding looks just as nice as the expensive mulch, and it's free.

When the hard frost hits in Dec. and all roses' leaves fall off, that's when I apply fall-fertilization with organics, BEFORE I mound soil on top for winter-protection. It's a hassle to scrape off wet mound soil, and apply organics in the spring, so I do it in cold and dry early winter.

The salt-index of chemical fertilizer, esp. nitrogen sources is 70 to 90% salt, with urea at 74.4%. It's like dumping salt on your rose-bush. Potassium Chloride at 116.2 salt index is worst. I don't use chemical fertilizer unless it's a flood of melted snow and spring rain to dilute the salt. Horse manure has some salt, but its high potassium balance off. Blood meal is lower in salt, and alfalfa meal is lowest. Alfalfa meal is the only stuff I use during warm summer, and I apply before all-night rain. Early summer I did an experiment with my 20+ pots, Oscomolite, MiracleGro soluble fertilizer, Schultz high nitrogen soluble, 10-5-4 organic/chem granules, and alfalfa meal mixed with soil. Alfalfa meal netted the biggest growth after all-night rain, it has growth hormone âÂÂtricontanol.â In warm weather it's instant release.

Here is a link that might be useful: How much salt is in the fertilizer? Salt-index table.

Kippy--repeat-blooming roses do not need to rest. They grow and go through bloom cycles continuously except when freezes below ~29 nip the soft growth. The only effect of forcing your roses to rest is that you go without blooms for a while. In the West, many growers let roses go semi-dormant during summer in order to conserve water, which makes sense. I can't think of why you would want to do that in the fall.

I second Michaelg : fertillize only when there's plenty of water and at low-temp. At high temp. and no water, plants are stressed with fertilizer (both chemicals and organics). Alfalfa meal and pellets glue up when there isn't enough water to decompose them.

Thanks Strawberry and Michael

Supposed to rain tomorrow, so guessing today is a good day to toss some pellets.

I need to take some better photos of the back yard. The picket fencing across from the lawn is our raised bed winter garden, filled with cold weather veggies and a rose in each corner.

Michael's right.

In our climate, roses that will do a summer dormancy on reduced water are likely to become most desirable, as the volume of available irrigation water shrinks.

Winter, the Teas and Chinas (and the Noisettes) which are so good for this area, are happy as clams on our winter rainfall. That's when we get our best bloom, to be honest.

I sort of enjoy going to Santa Barbara Rose Society meetings in January, February, and March, with lots and lots of blooms. :-)

Jeri

OK, so...since I'm new to this whole rose thing (but terribly addicted, to be sure...)...let me recap.

Because we live in a temperate climate, and I don't get freezes at all, with very few frost warnings to boot, I can fertilize now, and I don't have to let my flowers "rest"?

And the fert I should use should be a balanced NPK, and make sure that moisture (in the form of watering and rain and humidity) is available so that the nutrients can be easily accessed by the roots.

Yes?

This is a good thing, if true...because I'd loooooove to have a bouquet of roses on New Years Day. LOL.

Best-
Herding Cats

HerdingCats: Yes. (And I do have some zone 9 experience.)

Grew roses in Fl for a bunch of yrs. Used Milorganite November and December. Nothing in January. Lots of organics from February till Oct.

Thank you, Michael...I was planning on doing a rose tone dose this week, and then, at the end of November, doing some Neptune's Harvest.

Does that sound good? Or should I use something different?

YAY for me...bouquets in December. How cool is that? LOL.

Best-
Herding Cats

Rose Tone is good.

Hi Herding Cats: If you have any questions, check out the rosarian Karl Bapst's website. He's in zone 5a like mine, but many of his wisdom applies to warmer zones as well. The link to his website is below:

Here's an excerpt from Karl regarding fertilizing:

"Dry Chemical fertilizers have a tendency to burn the tiny feeder roots that develop in the spring, especially on newly planted bushes. Many years ago I lost many bushes due to over enthusiastic chemical fertilizing when I pruned in the spring thinking that it would help the bushes get off to a good start. I then found out that those feeder roots die off during our winter and must grow back in the spring so I now use organics. When fertilizing a little, often is better than a lot all at once, so let that be your guide."

Karl is right, I burnt roots even with dry organic fertilizer like Rose Tone or Hollytone (both contain bone meal, high phosphorus stuff tend to burn). Any dry granules, be it organic or chem., is best applied at low temp., low dose, and plenty of rain.

Here is a link that might be useful: Karl Bapst's website

But do remember that Karl is ALSO in an area with a true winter. Here, roses don't go into deep dormancy and then start growing again in the spring. As Michael says -- Much of Southern California doesn't have what a rose considers to be a winter.

With few exceptions, they just keep growing and blooming. Even the once-bloomers, here, keep growing during the winter -- so, as long as you are careful to not fertilize dry roses, you are quite safe. I prefer organics, but I will also use chemical fertilizers. At any time of the year.

OH! My PLUMERIAS are starting to go dormant, though. :-)

Jeri

Jeri

Would it make more sense to feed the roses in the fall to spring and then only water in the summer months to encourage a heat of the summer dormancy?

Yes, it probably would. Maybe not REAL high-nitrogen, but organics, anyhow.

You know, a few years back, we had a genuine freeze. We lost some plumerias, and some of the brugmansias were burned way back. But the Chinas blazed away, right through that weather, covered with bloom, and happy as clams.

Jeri