Leaves curled upward is too acidic from too much rain. Blotchy discolored leaves is Rose Mosaic Virus. There's an old post decade ago by Kittymoonbeam about RMV in Queen of Sweden (grafted from David Austin)

I grew Queen of Sweden as own-root from Roses Unlimited back in 2013 and gave it away fall 2015. It was EXTREMELY VIGOROUS as own root, reaching 7 feet tall in partial shade.

Below was my own-root Queen of Sweden in only 4 hours of sun. I gave it away since it got too tall & stingy and not much scent. It was very healthy, never see blackspots in my rock hard clay at pH near 8:

Straw could you please tell me a bit more about your post. I have several Queen of Sweden which get 6 hours or sun and do relatively well but definitely get some blackspot. I know that area has acidic soil (bluer hydrangeas) why don’t they get blackspot in alkaline clay? Do they just like it alkaline?

Mine bloom well but I wish they were healthier. Should I raise the PH?

dianela7bnorthal I use sulfate of potash on my roses, and reversed blackspots on Golden Celebration with that. Alpha Chemicals sulfate of potash is sold for $20 per 5 lb. on Amazon. Recently I reversed mildew on Firefighter with sulfate of potash, NPK 0-0-50.

Potassium is essential for disease prevention.

Blooming takes a lot of potassium (necessary for water osmosis). So there's a depletion of potassium after blooming, thus roses are prone to diseases after each flush.

Pakistan rosarians in humid & hot weather also use sulfate of potash to make leaves dark-green and glossy. and Tahir Khan with his 200 roses in pots in Pakistan uses sulfate of potash AFTER each flush.

Alkaline clay has plenty of potassium, but even if one soil is rich in potassium, potassium won't be available unless there's good drainage or adequate moisture. Potassium is NOT available in soaking wet & poor drainage clay (regardless of the pH), and potassium is NOT available in bone-dry soil either.

My answer to your question is NO to raising the pH. I tested lime powder after tons of rain and that doesn't work, since too much calcium suppress potassium, and too much phosphorus also suppress potassium.

The key to health is fast drainage so acidic rain water doesn't rot roots, plus supplying sulfate of potash after each flush. If you click on the below chart, all major nutrients for health & growth are less available at pH below 5, and rain water here is acidic at pH 4.5. Nitrogen, potassium and calcium are most available at neutral to alkaline pH:

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge so willingly, I really appreciate it. I am going to order the sulfate of potash and work with it. How much do you apply per bush? My favorite Austin is Boacobell but going by my new standards it is as resistant as other roses like some Kordes. I am going to selectively treat them this year and keep an eye on it.

i purchased this product

Thank you, Straw! I appreciate your input. I was pretty worried it was chilli thrips even though we are in a cold climate.

@strawchicago z5

THANK YOU! I really appreciate your advice and wonderful information. I am excited to try some new things

Laura: some sought-after hostas feature the same puckering seen in the foreground leaflets in your photo. In the hostas’ case, it is ”desirable”.

@rifis (zone 6b-7a NJ) funny you mention that because I just noticed 2 of my blue hostas have kind of a wrinkling/warping to them this spring. I was hoping it wasn’t disease!

No chili thrips here in WPA.

My diagnosis for the curling and small yellow blotches is, 'Spring Fever,' otherwise called, 'Bad Weather Syndrome'. Our weather here has been outrageously crazy this spring. I believe all your symptoms are weather related except for some rose slug damage, which can get out of control if the caterpillars take over (rose slugs - really insect, caterpillar, damage, the term rose slug is used since the damage looks like it's slug caused)....just light damage there, so far.

I recommend rose slug control, then about 3 liquid feedings, about 10 days apart, of an acid loving plant food to give your bush a, 'shot in the arm,' in addition to keeping up with your regular fertilizer program.

Moses

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6 thank you!! So, acid loving plant food…would that be Hollytone? Ugh, the sawfly have been miserable this spring.

Laural, I recommend, at this late date, Lilly Miller Organic Granular Fertilizer for Acid Loving Plants. I love the Tones and use them, but at a much earlier date. This granular fertilizer will act a little faster. It's the last part of my rose "program" in late winter-early spring. We've had the most atrocious spring in my memory of gardening for decades. First we have a freak May snowstorm. The only other on record was in 1964, the year I graduated from high school. I'm now 76. This storm did extensive tree damage such as broken limbs, and literally flattened everything, including roses. Two weeks later, we had wind, cold, pounding rain, and tied for the coldest Memorial Day on record. My 8 foot Julias were flattened and I had to remove many canes and countless buds. My point in all this is, the leaves on every one of my roses look great and unblemished. I think you have a couple of different problems going on with your rose leaves and it's not just weather. The new leaves look good in your photo. I'd just remove the damaged leaves at this point if the condition doesn't worsen. Use the fertilizer and wait and see. Diane

Just a note that Lilly Miller has changed its formula from chicken manure back in 2010 to 100% chemical granules, and IT'S NOT as good as the old formula.

The old formula had chicken manure and low-salt sulfate of potash. The new formula has 100% chemicals plus cheap potassium chloride (3 times more salty than sulfate of potash).

In recent years, Lilly Miller NPK 10-5-4 changed to Pennington Ultragreen NPK 10-8-6 with Limestone, ammonium sulfate, diammonium phosphate, muriate of potash (potassium chloride), urea, elemental sulfur, magnesium sulfate, iron sucrate, copper EDTA, iron EDTA, manganese EDTA, and zinc EDTA.

Last year my 20 roses in pots did great with Lilly Miller (with chicken manure), then I ran out, and Amazon no longer sells the old Lilly Miller. So I bought its new formula from Lowe's (Pennington Ultragreen Azalea & Camellia NPK 10-8-6), it's a drastic downturn in my pots (fertilizer burns & less blooms), so I stopped using it.

CONCLUSION: Rose Tone is more organic (with chicken manure & sulfate of potash), I tested Holly Tone, Tomato Tone and Rose Tone since 2011 and it's safer & less burning than granular chemicals like the new Lilly Miller (Pennington).

I didn't start using the Lilly Miller until at least 2016, so my recommendation still stands. It certainly stinks like my TONES do. Diane

I checked my Lilly Bag in the garage, and this fertilizer is a slow release type containing cotton seed, dried chicken waste, various animal manures, elemental sulfur, and other trace elements. Everything when broken down into simpler components is "chemical", including you and me, for that matter. Diane

@Diane Brakefield i am looking on Amazon and not seeing the acid loving plants formula. Can i find it at Home Depot or Tractor Supply or places like that?

I would think so. I live in Idaho and we have a chain called Fred Meyer with an excellent garden department, and that's where I purchase my fertilizer. You can google Home Depot or the other stores you mention and do a search for the LM fertilizer. I'll bet at least one of them has it. In fact I'm curious and may do that myself. I buy my compost and other soils from a local farm and ranch store. Diane

Home Depot carries this product. It's for Azaleas, Rhodies, Evergreens, and other acid loving plants. I use it on everything, especially my roses because we have alkaline soil (this is a semi arid desert where I garden). Diane

If you have an acid soil, you wouldn't use this product. Diane

HomeDepot website states that the old ORGANIC Lilly Miller NPK 10-5-4 is no longer available in Mid-west region. Lowe's used to sell the old Lilly Miller (smelled like Rose tone), now they switch to Pennington Ultragreen (Azalea, Camelia & Rhododendron) NPK 10-8-6 with chemical granules.

Last year Amazon could not fulfill my order for the old Lilly Miller, Amazon stated that the product is no longer available, and I went to several stores looking for it, finally went to Lowe's and bought Ultragreen NPK 10-8-6 (made by the same company, but with 100% chemicals and higher in salt).

Last year Floweraremusic (Andrea in WA) could not find the old Lilly Miller either, and she asked me about the new version Ultragreen NPK 10-8-6.

Thank you for all the help! I appreciate it. I found this at Home Depot:

Is this sufficient? Also, if I fertilized with Jobe’s and Osmocote a couple of weeks ago, will this burn the roots?

I will test the pH before I use this. Thanks again Diane and Straw!

Laura,

In answer to your question. The supplemental/ correctivie liquid feed I use and recommend is the Miracle•Gro powder (1 Tbl./gallon water), for acid loving plants. It used to be called Mir•Acid in the recent past.

I give it a few consecutive times, 3 or so, every 10 days, for a bit less than a month when I have a specific rose whose foliage is not up to par. I give only the symptomatic bush this shot in the arm, not all the crew. The regular fertilizer program is maintained as scheduled. This usually snaps the bush back into the 'Pink,' in no time.

Never liquid feed a dry bush. It must be well hydrated, like the day after a heavy rain or the equivalent.

Moses

@Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6 perfect. Thank you so much!

I tried treating my QoS as recommended here but not only did things not improve but new symptoms have popped up. There is strange new growth. The canes have no thorns or an abundance of thorns in patches. The offshoots from main canes are thick and the leaves twist around it a bit. It doesn’t resemble RRD exactly but it has a few similarities….enough that I’m worried. Can anyone give any insight? I can only post 2 pictures at a time or the post will disappear so I’ll add more pictures below.

Normal growth

Some roses are extremely variable in how they manifest thorns. Some varieties produce completely smooth growth sometimes, and other canes can be fairly thick with thorns of various sizes. That's quite normal.

All I see in your photos is healthy new growth.

Thank you for all the input. I do believe this rose has some sort of disease or deficiency that has been plaguing it but I can’t seem to figure out what this is.

@User I appreciate your insight. I have never noticed sections of cane bare of thorns before so I was assuming this is an abnormality. As for the offshoots, I thought it was a red flag if they are thicker than the main cane they’ve grown from? Some of these are twice as thick. They look strange too. Any thoughts on the twisted or cupped leaves? Thanks again!

Laura I understand that trying to figure out what is going on with a certain plant can some times be frustrating. I just took some pictures of my queen of Sweden foliage to see if what you are seeing by any chance is different from my foliage. I grow about a dozen QoS in my garden and they all have the same foliage. I also grow around 400 other roses plants and QoS has a very distinctive foliage.

Forgive how rough everything is looking. Between the Japanese beetles, blackspot heat and drought all my plants are kind of stressed.

also look up rose leafs curl virus and see if the symptoms match

@dianela7analabama thank you for sharing your pictures. I think QoS has distinctly unique foliage, like you said, however the leaves on mine are warped as well. They cup upward, some are thin and elongated, and some twist up around new canes a little bit. The leaf color is ”blotchy” and the leaves themselves are thick. It’s very strange. I decided to remove this rose and carefully dispose of it.…it was making me sweat with all the concerns. Now I would like to try IDing the issue simply to know whether the surrounding roses were exposed to something contagious. Thank you, again!

Laura did you research rose lef curl virus? There isnt much I could find but what I read seemed to match your symptoms.

Seems more common on potatoes and other plants but definetly happens in roses also. They mention leaf curling and some discoloration. Sorry u had to remove your plants but if it was worrying you thats the best course of action to protect the rest of your garden.

@dianela7analabama I did come across leaf curl virus but I discarded that as a possibility for reasons I can’t remember now. Thank you though!

@LauraLG Z5b-NwPA

First rose bush photo, rose mosaic, some black spot, looks like few spots on a leaf from sawfly. Rose Mosaic makes leaves mottle, also. Your leaves curl up-maybe too damp-too much moisture-humidity or over water. BS shows olant was too moist too often & leaves can curl up at that point due to too moist, too.

Second rose issue….. roses grow thicj canes as new growth all the time, frw thorns, lots thorns varying.-Definitely not RRD. I see some mottling leaves as inly abnormality, but sometimes they just mottle and prune off and new growth is straight. Little mottle can be plant stress. Second rose looks growing straight and healthy-not disrased.

If I had RRD, I wait to see a clear ”witches broom form-very pronounced deformed spray of stems,” before I discard/sanitize know for sure. But yours is not RRD.

I think it was a healthy one.

@LauraLG Z5b-NwPA

HI, I see you are in PA with humidity. and again looking at your leaves…. they were overall way lighter green leaves than a healthy Queen of Sweden, sone yellow, and dark green veins & partial dark green leaf w/ light green spotches. Your rose bush had nutrient deficiences. i would recommend a balanced nutitional orogram is needed for your rose. Balanced organic living soil and balanced organic fertilizers I consider most beneficial for a thriving rose.

Many nutrients work together to create a balance that feeds the rose well. Too much of any nutrient or too little can cause rose to show problems…..too much acid, too much potash, too little nitrogen etc , then rose becomes imbalanced and all sorts of problems…. diseases… blackspot … yellow leaves… too light green leaves….mottled leaves can be distressed… little blooms or no blooms….insects prey on it more.….more diseases. Thus an unhealthy rose.

Nitrogen deficiency-light green to yellow leaves, poor stem growth, slim small leaves-green growth hampered. Too much N itrigen however causes burn! .

Phosphorous deficiency is seen in lessened or sm rose blooms and poor root growth.

Diseased, too much insect damage, or mottled leaves may be Potassium deficiency which aids in overall health.

Less trace elements such as iron, magnesium, sulfur, calcium, & other micronutrients and leaves curl, veins are dark green but leaf lighter green … a number of issues can be created by an imbalance.

Your leaves look like they have seceral issues, generally an imbalance of nutrients.

I suggest a balanced organic fertilizer to be used to cure a rose problem usually. I like Straw suggesting Espoma Rose Tone & ( Plant Tone is good alternative) . I love the organic smell of these Espoma fertilzers telling me they have real chicken manure, real alfalfa, real bone meal and more real organics in them. It is great for anending the soil so it drains better, too. Also, organics amends the soil by adding these non-processed ingredients helping microorganisms such as bacteria, fungus, nematoids, micorrhizae to live in the soil and grow and process soil. Worms then like the soil better to do their processing of the soil so that soil is able to pass nutrients to your roses!!! Chemical fertilizers do not help amend the soil and they add salt to the soil which does not help it to be ”living soil.” Authentic organic fertilizers added to the soil help it to drain better passing nutrients to your roses as well. and help roots to grow in soil.

I am careful to not suggest adding individual nutrients as sometimes it is over or under done. Instead, I suggest establishing living soil for your roses and a balanced organic fertilizer regimen.

Also, it is recommended 2 times a year to test your soil in your beds for acidity & nutrients in varous places as soil erodes nutrients in different places and creates imbalanced soil in different parts of your property.. Sometimes adding a little extra nutients of a specific variety is essential to fix a nutrient deficiency.,. When soil is tested , at that time, you will know if a particular nutrient ir more are imbalanced.

Potassium is -good for “all around good rose health, vigor, disease resistance and preventing insects damage.” Insects & disease are less likely to prey on healthy roses.

And balanced nutrition will make the healthiest rose w/ organic living soil and organic fertilizers on a regular regimen.

@strawchicago z5

Thank you for your suggestions-Wonderful! I like the idea of adding sulfate iof potash (potassium) to improve the overall health of the rose to fight off BS & mildew, diseases! Postassium certainly helps with disease resistance! Since potassium is good for “all around rose health and vigor” , , it also, would help with recovering a rose after a flush to bloom eventually.

@Kittysrosegarden thank you for the recommendations. I appreciate the detailed response. For fertilizer, I do use an organic. In the spring I use Jobe’s organic rose and flower fertilizer. I also top dress with mushroom compost. During the growing season I use Morbloom or another liquid fertilizer like seaweed extract or fish emulsion. I have it in a bed with other roses as well. It’s about 3’ from Rouge Royale and Duke of Edinburgh in either direction. Neither of them show any signs of nutrient deficiency or other ailments. I did try an at-home soil pH test kit and though I can’t vouch for the accuracy it did show that my pH is where it should be. I’m completely perplexed!

Laura-

I just finished the post above-edited it several times…. how is your rose garden now? Did you use potash of sulfate and decide on a fertilizer?

Laura,

I’ll look at your rose dilema this evening and get back to you. Keep in mind every rose is a little different and some maintain health better than others. Sone need more TLC. Read my post above as I just finished editing several times and we can discuss rose care further later today or tomorrow at your convenience. Thank you.

Laura: Back in 2014 I grew Queen of Sweden as 3rd-year own-root. Never have leaf-curl on Q of S. It was extremely vigorous, got up to 7 feet tall in late fall. It was in fast drainage spot. I gave it away since it was stingy in my very shady garden (less than 4 hrs. of sun in the fall).

I do have leaf-curl on a rose in POOR DRAINAGE clay where I mixed in too much decayed acidic grass clippings.

Leaf curl is usually from TOO ACIDIC from acidic rain water NOT draining well. When I dig a 1.5 feet deep hole, I pour a 3 gallon bucket of water, and if that can't drain fast in 10 min., rose will either break out in blackspots, or else have leaf curl if it's a disease-resistant variety like Queen of Sweden. With my heavy rain here (over 1 inch. per day), I need to dig a hole 3' wide x 2' deep for fast drainage.

The soil pH test kit from Home Depot or Lowe's were TOTALLY WORTHLESS, giving false result (neutral pH), so back in 2012 I used red cabbage juice to test my soil pH, and it's more accurate. With red cabbage juice, I dig down to past 1 foot and test the soil after a heavy rain. Even a $200 pH-meter needs re-calibration before each use, too much hassle. Below are pics. of Queen of Sweden in my garden, leaves were always healthy in a fast drainage spot:

@strawchicago z5

Thank you for your feed back. It could be too acidic; however, her photo at the top shows many deficiences: lighter green to almost yellow leaves, curling upward, light green w/ dark green veins in leaves. The ARS states many reasons for leaf curl.& leaf color issues.

However, it is wonderful that you solved your leaf curl w/ better drainage! Fixibg the acidic issue. The acidic issue can cause nutrient deficiences. Solve the PH & many nutrient oroblems may be solved.

@LauraLG Z5b-NwPA,

I am glad to hear your soil test was where it should be. Hope it is 6-6.5 PH? Keep in mind each rose may need individual care-some more hardy than others, not perform under same conditions as another, may have soil erosion & not same nutrients in soil as another rose, may just have diffetent soil in its specific spot. DA roses esp. bare root roses I find are more delicate than some other roses. Own root roses just grow more healthily in winter weather in PA

Duke of Edinburg is a hybrid Perpetual & Rouge Royal is a Meilland-tgey may be more hardy roses.

My DA roses all are less hardy in our NY cold winters & I give them balanced nutrients & the best soil to help them.

Rose Tone has a few more ingredients than Jobes-if used regularly roses love it. And I supplement with liquid fish fertilizers. I start mid-April w/ Heirloom Roses Boast & Bloom balanced fertilizer. June-Rose Tone. Mid-July- Rose Tone. (,These balanced fertilzers every 6 weeks). And fish emulsion supplemented once a month or bi-weekly all summer. . There are many regimens you may choose from , but its essential to have fertilizer balaned throughout the season to keep roses healthy. They are heavey feeders to grow & bloom well.

I have a few questions?

1. Is PH between 6-6.5 (ARS recommends) for the soil of that rose in that specific spot of the garden bed? Is so, great!

2. Spring in PA starts April/May. Did you apply first fertilzer Jobes at least by 1st week in May or April? It was your balanced fertilizer feeding feeding.

3. After 1st feeding when did you feed roses Morbloom, seaweed or fish emulsion? How often did you apply these fish fertilizers? Can you show me a calendar of what you used when?

Morbloom has NPK 0-10-10, NO NITROGEN. it has phosphorous for promoting root growth, blooms. It has Potassium for over all good health/disease resistance. .If you soley use Morbloom for awhile your olants receive no nitrogen & experience chlorosis-leaves turn light green-yellow., (Your leaves are light green.)

N-P-K Nitrogen,-Phosphorous-Potassium 0-10-10. Mornloom Fertilizer. 0-no nitrogen.

Liquid Fish & seaweed fertilizers are usualky used to supplement a ”regular balanced fertilizer .

Alaska Fish Fertilizer has NPK 10-1-1-high in Nitrogen. These fertilizers have trace nutrients, too.

Nitrogen is needed to give your roses green healthy well formed stems & leaves. Without nitrogen (Morbloom) leaves can turn light green, yellow.

If your GC rose is not getting enough balanced fertilizers that is why it has light green leaves and deformed leaf curl. And….Iron deficiency shows in dark green veins on leaves & light leaves. No blooms is lack of phosphorous. I see these issues with your leaves & you said it is not blooming. Did it ever bloom this season? When did it last bloom?

If soil has mushroom compost-that is a good start. Dig into the soil near the roses is olanted and see if it has lots of worms, does it drain well,

dies the soil have anything else in it? To make soil nutrient rich so it is “living soil,” needs more than ”clay & mushroom conpost.” May choose to add a few other soil amendments… peat moss, bone meal, alfalfa, (cow manure or chicken manure-careful it is not near roots-can burn,) worm castings, micorrhizae. Heirloom Roses sells ”Living soil,” already formulated. Paul Zimmerman shows in a you tube video how to amend soil to make it living soil & drain well. Heirloom Roses posts on the website articles on options to amend soil.

Having leaf curl, light green leaves, dark green veins but light leaves, , less blooms can be effected by lack of drainage in soil and it can cause loosing nutrients in the soil causing nutrient deficiencies.in your roses. Lack of proper drainage from acid rain or any rain in clay soil can make it hard for roses to absorb nutrients and show in unhealthy leaves & blooms.

Check and possibly amend your soil and maybe perk up your fertilizer program a little? Your rose definitely needs a change. Does this help you?

Below is a pic. of my 1st year OWN-ROOT Munstead Wood back in 2015 when I put too much acidic gypsum plus acidic pine bark (pH 4) to break up my rock-hard clay (tested by EarthCo. at pH 7.7). Note upper leaves curled up & turning yellow from low pH when tons of acidic rain came down in that FAST-DRAINAGE spot:

I tested the pH below with red-cabbage juice, it was too acidic (pink), so I replaced the entire hole with bagged top soil at pH near 8. After 2 months, Munstead Wood looks like below:

Now Munstead Wood is taller & super healthy as 8th-year own-root. I moved it next to house, but I spent 2 hours digging for fast drainage. I constantly have to top it with biochar at pH 8.6 to neutralize the acidic rain here. Below pic. is taken 2022:

The acidic problem (leaf-curl & bronzy and yellow leaves) are most notable in my roses grafted-on-Dr.Huey. Roses grafted on Dr.Huey prefers alkaline pH, and even faster drainage. Click on below chart to enlarge, at pH below 5, all major nutrients ARE NOT available, such as nitrogen (pale leaves), calcium (thin leaves that curl up), phosphorus & potassium (zero blooms).

@strawchicago z5

Very interesting that you have acid rain & add ph8 products to neutalize it. Amazing photos of your Munstead problem.

I have Munstead W 2nd year…., (bare-root) leaves turned yellow due to lacking Nitrogen…. gave it extra fish fertilizer NPK 10-1-1 and leaves really turning green fast! So happy to see them green up! I have clay-alkaline soil. I usually add cow manure/extra soil amendments-compost but did it late soring so roses were not given usual nutrients early. . They are balancing out now.that they are getting my usual soil amendments plus fish fertilizer.

Acid rain can certainly cause nutrient deficiencies in soil, thus in rose. Rain, melted snow, also can erode nutrients out of the soil & imbalance the acid content , then nutrients are not absorbed by rose. Love your chart.

Have you tried Dolomite to balance PH in your soil?

I read an article on the acid rain in Chicago & some acid rain in the Fingerlakes where I live in NY. The acid rain could be causing nutrient deficiencies like Nitrogen in the soil, thus in roses. Also it mentioned too much acid in soil can add to olants absorbing too many nutrients in the soil absorbed such as phosphorous , magnesium, calcium , iron thus poisoning the plants. So as your chart states -too much acidity in soil can cause nutrient issues in rose-yellow leaves. . I like the idea of biochar, dolomite or just improving the soil, again. Even adding lime would balance out-remove some acidity.

Also,,it said in article that too much alkaline, not enough acid in soil,, also causes yellowing leaves. Above PH 6.5-say when it is PH 7.1 soil has too much alkaline for plants to grow healthy causing nutrient deficiences in soil & then rose. Nutrient deficiences like Nitrogen, Maganese, iron, copper loss, This also causes yellowing of leaves. Leaves may even turn white w/ too much alkaline soil. So adding sulfur would improve the soil then.

Anyway, testing soil, amending soil to drain, changing the soil out for better soil, and giving plants proper fertilizer nutrition can remedy the yellow leaves. is soil PH 6-6.5 ior too acidic ot too alkaline, then the acid issue needs neutralized.

I also read an article that suggests a more hollistic approach to neutralizng PH in soil by just adding peat moss or conposts, fixing over all the .soil by adding all these nutrients back into the soul through organic compost & moss as oppised to adding just lime or sulfur. I lije that approach.

In my case I added manure, some new soil, Rose Tone Fertilizer & Fish fertilizer. Fish F helped immediately as its a liquid movi g fast through soul to plant & other amendments & Tose atone-granular fertilizer takes time to work through soil.

I think I’ll test my soil next to my DA roses.

Thank you.

Wish i could get Munstead W own-root but have not seen.

pH of peat moss is 4, that killed 2 of my Thai Basil plants when I fixed my rock hard clay with peat moss.

I tested 3 different types of dolomitic lime and documented the result in organic rose forum back in 2014. Too much calcium suppresses potassium (necessary for disease prevention).

I get better result with biochar (has BOTH potassium and calcium, plus pH 8.6 to neutralize acidic rain at pH 4.5 here, plus ALL trace element.)

For the past 30 years of growing over 150 varieties of roses, I notice that the key to healthy roses is a balance of nutrients, plus a good buffer on top to neutralize acidic rain, plus good drainage so acidic rain won't rot roots. Click on pic. below to see the pH of rain across USA: