Potted Roses

Hi Everyone,

I have been meaning to ask this question for a couple of months.
About 12 months ago we had to lift all our Azaleas because of our bad soil. Because we had so many (nearly 5 doz!!) we bought in a trailer load of "potting" soil, we mixed this with nearly 50% of aged and finely ground horse manure. Along with potting the azaleas I also potted up over half a dozen roses and we had to build up soil where we were planting some of our roses in the garden with this mix. The pots and garden were then topped with a layer of used stable hay/straw.
Now my question is: the soil in the pots have gone extremely hard, what's in the garden seems fine, why and what do I need to do for it.
One other question is when watering I usually stick the hose nozzle into the soil at the base and a little further out of the plant. Is this OK?
Many Thanks for any help.

Cheers Judy

I also meant to ask when should I start pruning my roses up here.
Thanks
Cheers Judy

Hi Judy,
I usually prune the last week in july. If you get frosts after this then pruning is left until after the last frost.
The hot summer probably caused your potting mix to go hard. Is it damp under the hard crust or is it hard all the way through? Claybreaker or soil wetting granules could help with the hardness in the pot. But I'd soak the pots in a large container full of water to make sure the plant is well hydrated. The other option is when you water try to fill the pot to the brim with water, when the water level drops see if there are any air bubbles coming up. If there are it means the mix is dry and the water is pushing out the air  pockets.
I'm not sure if your question asks abouts your garden soil, but the first thing I'd be doing is checking the pH in your garden and from that it can be determined what amendments you need.
Hope that helps,
Louise.

Thanks for your reply Louise. I guess I should have said that the roses have been potted into large terracotta tubs or half 44 gal plastic drums. they have been watered every second day over the summer. The Pots with a very thick layer of mulch retained their moisture a little better than those where the mulch had thinned. but even so the soil seemed very compacted.

Thanks again,
Judy

Judy, which do you find dries out the quickest.....the terra pots or the plastic drums....?

Hi Neptune,

the terracotta and the plastic pots are in very different areas of the property and also very different in shape, where as the plastic are half 44gal barrels and in a very shaded section of the garden with the azaleas in them and the terracotta pots are V shaped and stand about 2ft high and are in the open with the roses, on average I am finding the plastic barrels are drying out faster, this also goes for the one barrel with a climbing rose I have close by the terracotta pots. On average I also find it a bit harder to get mulch around the azaleas. My husband has suggested that the plastic is thinner and heats up quickly but also draws the moisture out.
Cheers Judy

I have no idea.