Which rose fertilisers do you like ?

Just thought i'd run this past everyone , what is your favourite rose fertiliser and when do you use it ? Has this been brought up before , probably has , but maybe we can revisit it for us newbies please . I use Sudden Impact , and Seasol with rock minerals thrown around as well , is Sudden Impact the best product long term , i bought some Seamungus too , do you use that at the same time ? Is Sudden Impact organic or is it a synthetic product . I think a organic product would be best but don't know which one , Thanks .........

When we fertilise (not all that often sometimes once a year sometimes twice a year and sometimes not at all) we use either a organic product called kickalong (similar to a whole lot of different brands but it is the one we can get at the local hardware) or nitrophosphate (not all that often with this one). If we are feeling generous we throw some lime around the plants and sometimes even some potash.

We found that the kickalong has the same NPK ratio and more or less the same trace elements as sudden impact. The quanity of the elements (ie the Nitrogen, Potasium and Phosphorous) per kilogram is about half of that in Sudden Impact but a bucket of Sudden Impact costs about $45 dollars and a big bag of kickalong which contains 3-4 times the amount is $25. Therefore you can afford to put twice as much on the ground and still come out well ahead.

Thanks Balinbear , can't say i have seen kickalong around our area, but i'll google it and see what i come up with ...

I tend to use Dynamic Lifter and sometimes may alternate with Amgro Rose food which I find very good to.They say feed in September and another half strength feed in December and Febuary optional.I have got a fair few barerooted roses this year and have just been giving them seeweed concentrate.Is it ok to give them pallet based fertiliser or are they to young this year.

Maree

It comes under all sorts of names. Its like dynamic lifter but has extra blood and bone seaweed extract etc added. Organic extra is another name it goes under up here.

Gary

I like liquid, whether foliar or for the ground. This one I am trialing at present under newly planted roses.
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Thanks Balinbear , Danny , Roseman , Danny you must have quite a collection of roses now , could you post some photos and let us know how they are going for fragrance disease resistance etc , thanks .....

Balinbear , just googled Kickalong , Searles product , found a place not to far from where i live , it looks good , Thanks ....

maree wrote:Thanks Balinbear , Danny , Roseman , Danny you must have quite a collection of roses now , could you post some photos and let us know how they are going for fragrance disease resistance etc , thanks .....

Will do Maree no problem.Alot of them now a young and dormant and starting to shoot and get leafs.

maree wrote:Balinbear , just googled Kickalong , Searles product , found a place not to far from where i live , it looks good , Thanks ....

I went to there website doesnt say what retail outlet's stock it Kickalong.

For those in the colder regions, organic fertilizers need the activity of microbes to break it down, so it becomes available to the plant. When the soil temperatures are cold, microbe activity is slowed down (like in refridgerators). If you get a period of rain before this nutrient breaks down it will be leached away, before the plant uptakes it. My first fertilizer application is chemical and very water soluble and is not effected by the cold soil temperatures, these are taken up by the plants very quickly. As the soil temperature warms up, switching to organics is better as it becomes a tonic for the soil.

well said Warren

Warren - do you aim for September with the first application?

It's ok Wendy, that is when we are having our get together so we can watch what Warren is doing

When the growth is around 3 - 4 " long I apply the first one but do not over do it , only a light feed. It will be around August sometime.

Ahh, okay. I'll be watching.... depends how many more frosts we get I suppose.

It's ok Wendy, it's minus 3 here now

I think the saying of not pruning roses or incouraging growth because of frost damage may not apply here to much in OZ unless it goes below -5. Alot of the rose growing information is based on European and US growing techniques, -5 F in the US is actually -20 c here, no wonder they have to give winter protection. I don't get overly worried unless we drop down below -2 or these low temperatures for a week.

This is the beauty of growing roses in this country our climate is pretty good .

Ozrose , thanks heaps , but which product would you recommend ? Danny google Searles Kickalong , then type in your area , should come up .

maree, ozros is right re frosts. Here in Glenorie we do get down to -2C with very white frosts during winter. All my bud grafted understocks are activated in July/August, their tender new shoots from just swelling to 2" long seen uneffected and so do the new shoots from roses recently pruned. I've always guarded against having a frost problem but this year all shoots are fine despite the colder winter.

Ozroz wrote:I think the saying of not pruning roses or incouraging growth because of frost damage may not apply here to much in OZ unless it goes below -5. Alot of the rose growing information is based on European and US growing techniques, -5 F in the US is actually -20 c here, no wonder they have to give winter protection. I don't get overly worried unless we drop down below -2 or these low temperatures for a week.

This is the beauty of growing roses in this country our climate is pretty good .

........



Warren, you make perfect sense. As usual.

Thank you!!
(But wait... now I have no more excuses for procrastination....! )

I love Sudden Impact (I only use it once a year, so I can justify the price tag, since it lasts so long) & Seasol bi-weekly, and might use Charlie Carp on occasion. I'm yet to try manures, don't know much about that side of things, but would appreciate any expertise! Isn't Charlie Carp basically a liquid form of a manure? Is there any benefit to me adding a particular type of manure to this regime?

I used to use all those products shown above with a couple of exceptions. Ten years ago I changed to "Yara Complex" used in conjunction with poultry, horse or cow manure.
Yara Complex is in blue granular form so micro ingredients do not move or vibrate out during transport.

As I have a property near Swains Nursery I asked Ben Swain what fertiliser he would suggest and he answered Banana Special. Since Yara is the new version of that fertiliser I decided to go with that purchased in 25kg bags.

Method:- Spread approx two match boxes of Yarra around a mature rose in August, then one to two inches of older manure out to the drip line. Place 4 biscuts of lucerne hay in a square with a corner of each biscuit at the crown of the rose. The hay will keep moisture in, protect the roots from summer heat and add nutrients to the soil. Repeat in November and March reusing the same biscuits of lucerne hay. Remember lift the hay to add Yara and manure. Next August dig in the old hay and
use new hay. Water deep down regularly so roots will go right down as deep as possible.

Good to see you are still with us Bruce,

Hello David, will look in from time to time, not doing much with roses really. Just noted your age, I am 20 years your senior. Go well and keep out of this heat.