Can you remove some of it or is it worked in to the soil. Just keep watering. I am so sorry that that happened

I am so sorry, Pink Rose . I really am.

Jin

Thanks ! I will rake the fertilizer to the side first thing tomorrow.

Hmmm...strange. Omoscote shouldn't have done that. I will say that with this strange weather that some of my roses have developed crisped leaves out of seemingly nowhere and I haven't used granular fertilizers.

Pink, that doesn’t make sense to me. I use Osmocote on my roses all the time, including new cuttings. Were the roses in need of water before you used the Osmocote? You say that you threw some around...How much did you use per rose? Were they in pots? If you didn’t water and you didn’t scratch it in, how did the fertilizer get into the plant and do damage overnight? The whole purpose of a fertilizer like Osmocote is to have it release to the product slowly, but you can’t use huge amounts per plant without problems.

I use 1/4 cup Osmocote per rose bush that is established. A newly planted rose gets half that amount for the first year. A small rose in a 6 inch pot (new cutting that is just potted up) gets 1 tsp, and it gets monitored closely and watered accordingly. Those dry out quickly, and get watered at least daily. My summer temps can reach 90’s and 100’s and I have never had a problem with Osmocote burning my leaves, but I apply it in late March before new growth even starts. I do water my roses with drip irrigation well weekly. My soil is heavy loam. I live in zone 4.

It just seems to me that there is something else going on here. I do agree with Sheila that maybe Osmocote releases faster in heat, but 80 degrees isn’t heat here. My roses are between the house and a concrete sidewalk. It gets 120 degrees on those roses (just for kicks I measure last summer during our endless 100 degree days) and the roses thrived as long as I kept them well watered. Do you have any other roses that were not fertilized and are having the same problems? Please forgive my ramblings. I live in a totally different zone with different dirt and my advice probably doesn’t help you much. It’s just that I feel your frustration and would like to help. Don’t forget we were all newbies once and all make mistakes.

Rebecca

I think Florida has such different soil too Rebecca.

It seems very wierd to me, too. I have no experience with that particular fertilizer,but I second Rebecca's question: "If you didn’t water and you didn’t scratch it in, how did the fertilizer
get into the plant and do damage overnight?" Wouldn't it just sit on the soil surface???

I was surprised myself . I have been using Osmocote for the last 2 years carelessly with no problem . I just throw 1/4 cup around small bushes and 1/2 cup around big ones . I had also added some Black Kow compost as mulch ,but it never burned before . the roses are all in ground and have been watered a day before . But we are having crazy weather here in FL . End of January we had lots of frost damage on our plants ( not on roses of course ) then the temps shot to 80 -85 degrees which is weird because Feb is always very cold .

Pink Rose, mine looks like yours. I am in Orlando. Where are you at ? I have not put any ferterlizer yet . It is really hot here like you said about Feb.

Mine is under direct sun and I am thinking maybe it is a baby rose but I move them to some afternoon shade and see. I am not sure.

Jin

Hopefully, new fresh gorgeous new leaves will grow soon!

I can see it being sun burn in Jin’s case because her roses are so new, and in one gallon pots in the sun. Pink rose, on the other hand, I’m not as sure. It kind of looks like some of of mine do after a real scorcher, but that’s 100F and dry heat. Maybe just the sudden fluctuation in temperatures didn’t allow them to acclimatize to the heat, and the leaves and new growth were too tender? (I’m just grasping at straws, here.) I cannot imagine that the Osmocote would have been taken up so quickly. Is there any chance that they were hit with something like Neem oil overspray by a neighbor, or something? Sorry, I can’t be of more help. I’m sure you’re pretty frustrated and disappointed about this set back. It looks like a set back though, not a death sentence:) Lisa

Mystery drop? My Tammy Clemons drops her leaves periodically during the growing season and I haven’t figured it out yet. I have wondered if it was downey mildew, rose slugs...has to be something.

How strange. Osmocot is supposed to be slow release. This happened to me once but with another fertilizer. I thought it was slow release and it turned out to be “fast acting” and burned a few of my roses. It actually killed a small rooted cutting I had been growing.

Was the plant dry before you applied fertilizer? In general, a fast way to kill a plant is to fertilize it when its really dry. I always water first then wait at least an hour before fertilizing.

However, I don't really think Osmocote on top of the soil would do it. I killed a few roses many years ago by applying a granular fertilizer when the soil was dry then watering it in. Burned them all up lol. I never did that again but that was with granular not Osmocote.

I use Osmocote when I pot up Lotus tubers and that pot goes in the water. I don't think it gets released all that slowly in water and it still doesn't burn. I've also used it potting up cuttings and other stuff without any problem.

I wonder if its a quality control issue like maybe there was something wrong with that batch.

There is a sort of emergency remedy for this -- garden gypsum. Typically, fertilizer burn is from too much immediately-available Nitrogen. I remember from my lawn readings that you shouldn't fertilize and add gypsum at the same time, since the gypsum locks up the nitrogen. Gypsum was also recommended to have on-hand if you have female dogs -- if they pee on your grass, you follow behind them with a handful of gypsum and throw it on the spot, then water it in a little. This will keep the nitrogen in the urine from burning the grass. But, if your plants are already burned, all you may be doing at this point is preventing near-future burning.

Every time I read about someone's experience with fertilizer burn, I'm glad I stick to organic fertilizers that don't burn. Last year I spilled some of my fish/seaweed emulsion concentrate directly onto a rose. If that was MiracleGro or something, I'd be in trouble. The dry stuff for the beds is organic, too. I start putting it down when I do the late Winter pruning, knowing it needs to break down before it becomes plant-available, and that won't happen until it warms up. When I put it down early, it just sits there and waits.

:-)

~Christopher

I had watered the roses the day before but the surface of the soil was completely dry when l put Osmocote on it . Even St.Patrick rose who is 6 ft tall shed half of his leaves . I keep watering the roses and have ordered pelleted gypsom to reduce the salts in the soil .