Common 10-10-10 is soluble and immediately available. The ammonium nitrogen will evolve into nitrate over a few weeks, and nitrate will wash out of the soil with heavy rain or irrigation. So it is recommended to apply soluble N every 4 weeks in sandy soil or 6 weeks in heavy soil. You can adjust a little for the amount of water it has received.

It should say how often on the package but Michael's every month to six weeks sounds good to me.

I simplify and feed after each flush of blooms is over--up until mid-August.

Thank you all for your inputs. I have about 70 rose bushes, mostly floribundas. 80% from Kordes. I am on the Atlantic shore so black spot is my enemy.

So I have always used Miracle Gro for Roses. I would put a tablespoon of it in 1 gallon of water & gently sprinkle around the base of each bush. I would do it once a month through August. Is this not good? Thanks.

Many of us prefer one of the Espoma products (Plant-Tone, Rose-Tone). They have all sorts of goodies in them--including some alfalfa.

Kate

Nick, MG or MG for Roses is fine at 1 TB per month.

The Espoma Tones are my favorite, too, but if you have decent soil, the mode of fertilizing doesn't matter a lot IMO, as long as they get enough nitrogen.

Would rose tone help improve the soil over time?

"help improve the soil"?

10 cups of Rose or Plant Tone per year in Florida (or half that elsewhere) would help the soil a little bit compared to manufactured fertilizer. But you would probably get as much benefit or more from the decay of the mulch. The best soil amendments are manure or finished compost and, for sandy soil, clay. The Tones contain some poultry manure.

In my climate, wet leaves against the rose canes during the winter invites issues with fungal diseases, galls, and canker. The roses can't defend against these diseases while they are dormant, and you don't want to wake them up in the middle of winter. I'll clear the leaves away from the roses and wrap the canes with burlap. At a minimum, the burlap reduces mechanical damage from snow and ice loading.

I hear that a lot, but I don't seem to experience it here in central NJ. My roses were planted into the native soil, and then 6-8" of partially-composted shredded tree mulch was added on top to create a raised bed, with continual additions of organic matter after that. The roses' canes have thus been buried with several inches of organic matter above their original start from the soil line. When I was planting bulbs around them last Autumn, I noticed that feeder roots were forming on the buried portions of canes on many of the roses, a year after being planted. The roses I planted, however, are all own-root and mostly antiques, with some Austins and old-looking moderns thrown in, so your mileage may vary if you try this with budded HTs.

:-)

~Christopher

I find it easy enough to grind up the leaves with a leaf shredder and dump it all onto a compost pile--where it gets transformed into this wonderful black crumbly stuff--a far cry from the slimy mess of leaves that seems to create disease issues with my roses. The additional steps involved are well worth the effort in my garden.

I just spread fallen leaves over the rose beds in autumn 3-4 inches deep and some more again in spring after the mulch has thinned. I haven't had any problem with canker. It's basically sheet composting cum mulching. Good weed suppression, moisture retention, and humus added to the soil faster than bark would do. It's also the most labor-efficient and cheapest solution if you have enough leaves.