I also eagerly await the replies. I am in Georgia but all my roses are in containers and I use miracle gro potting soil. I have been using miracle gro rose fertilizer which I use every two weeks as the directions state but wonder if that schedule is ideal.

Malcolm Manners, who supervises the rose garden at FSC in Lakeland, wrote some years ago that they use(d) a combination of Milorganite and Osmocote every 3 months--Osmocote-for-Florida 18-6-12, if I recall correctly. The reason for using these materials is that they dispense available nitrogen gradually over a period of time.

Certainly Miracle Gro in solution is way too much trouble. When I use it in the garden, I just scatter it on the mulch ahead of rain or irrigation.

Roses use NPK in the ratio 3-1-2

I use half strength MG Bloom Booster(15-30-15) and my roses are happy, my soil is clayey so fast release is better. In sandy soil a slow release fertilizer would be better. Most rose experts recommend a NPK ratio of 1:2:1.

ARS Recommendations

Marin Rose Society

Rose Organization (this pdf is a good reference)

Yes high P is not always good but neither is high N, it can burn your plant.

Everything in moderation my friends, you don't want to kill your plants with kindness.

I got to talk to Linda Chalker Scott a few years ago by phone...

Roses need 3x as much nitrogen as phosphate. Phosphate stays in the soil indefinitely, but available nitrogen leaches out in a month or so. If you use a high-P fertilizer like 5-10-5, you have to apply a 6-fold excess of P in order to get enough N. The dosage instructions on fertilizer labels aim at supplying the right amount of N without overdosing N, which does indeed burn plants.