Marion glad to hear that your Peace and Bonica are going to bloom again isn't is wonderful.
Its been raining lightly most of the day down here what it like up your way.
Fertilizers well not that I know a lot about roses, but when I ordered my
nineteen new ones that are coming next week, I was told "Organic Life" by Terra Firma
does wonders for them, so I bought a bag instead of the 35kg bag of Eco 88 I usually feed them.
Someone else recomended that on this forum too, so it must be good, but only time will tell.....MM

Thank you MM, I will hae a look for "Organic Life", I have the roses in large pots.
It is exciting waiting for the first buds to open up, even Henry is going past and having a look these days.
Can't wait for the Cecille Brunner to have a flower, it is getting longish growths on it but no signs of flowers yet.
You will have a wonderful time planting out your new plants.
It is overcast here today with the odd tiny sprinkel but it is not going to be good rain by the looks of it.
Marion, who hopes you get plenty of subsoil moisture out of the rain you are getting.

NPK blue for roses in ground....slow release for roses in pots...Apex is a good brand....the key to slow release ferts is to bury it an inch or so under the potting mix and replace it in about half the time they tell you to on the pack

Marion, I wouldn't use Organic Life in a pot. It's too strong and too likely to muck up the acidity in what is a limited amount of potting mix.

The best pot fertilisers are Osmocote for roses (or Osmocote Plus, which is nearly the same), combined with liquid feeds of a soluble fertiliser or root stimulant like Seasol.

Sorry Marion I did not realise you roses were in Pots, but thinking back now
I do remember the pics you posted, my mistake and Daniel is spot on... MM

Thank you Daniel, Brenton and Misty,
We are taking the Grandies back to Ayr, school holidays are over so will be away for a week.
I gave the roses a feed of Nitrosol today and that will have to do them till I get back. Then I will get the slow release and watch the flowers pop out all over the place, hopefully on baby roses maybe that is asking a lot, eh ?

Marion.
I

There is a specialist rose fertiliser now on the market called Sudden Impact for Roses which is endorsed by many of the rose societies & used by many of the major rose gardens. I think it is now available in Qld & is excellent. I suggest you try Bunnings.

Terra Firma organic life. Definatetly. Even in pots. We never use any chemical fertilizers. Only organic ones such as Terra Firma organic life. And no, I dont have shares in the company - its just the best fertiliser for roses full stop. We grow 45,000 roses in containers annually and it is better than anything we have ever used and beleive me we have tried the lot. Just call 07 55 412 322 for your nearest stockist. Again - I have no conections with them other than damn happy with the results.

Pete

Is this terra firma fertiliser you refer to the one with an NPK of 4:3:2 ? A typical analyses of a slow release fertiliser like osmocote or nutricote for flowering plants would be in the range of about 14:4.5:10(just averaging).Therefore you would have to use at least three times the amount of the terra firma product.
There is no possible benefit to using an organic fert. over inorganic where potted plants are concerned as the medium( usually composted pine bark and sand)is already predominately organic. The nutrients released from both fert. types into the soil solution are identical ie.phosphorous as phosphate ions,potassium as potassium ions,magnesium as magnesium ions etc.

Terra firma alledge their product contains beneficial
microbes.
It has been found that the effect of beneficial microbes in fresh composted potting mixes have a preventative effect against root rotting pathogens greater than that of the best preventative fungicides available.The populations of these critters in composted mixes reduce with time however, so re-introducing them in some way may benefit.
Ashmeri,the way you are growing your roses is an artform in itself.As you are growing your roses in a non-soil medium you have actually begun a hydroponic rose garden.For best results you will have to ignore soil grown methods and start thinking like a hydroponicist.
As Daniel has pointed out already, products such as terra firma will muck up your potting mixes.
Organic fertilisers generally always supply all of their nitrogen component as ammonium form. In the longer term this is disasterous.Roses like most plants require only ten or twenty percent of their nitrogen requirements to be made up of ammonium with the rest being supplied as nitrate.
Ammonium form nitrogen unlike the nitrate form is taken up very rapidly by plant roots.This is why some fertilisers are named according to the type of growth they promote eg supergreen,miracle grow and I'm sure we've all heard of others.The problem here is that you can't use this type of high ammonium fert. for too long without utterly ruining the health of your plants.High ammonium causes the development of weak, stretched growth with less resistance to disease and water stress etc , not to mention less and smaller blooms with poorer colour.
Assuming you dont wish to set up a system which delivers a balanced hydroponic nutrient to your pots each day you would be best advised to use a product such as osmocote.This fert. has an ammonium:nitrate ratio of about 50:50 which is about as good as you can find in any prilled fertiliser product for potted plants.To tip the balance in favour of nitrate you could then liquid fertilise with a soluble fertiliser such as calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate in equal amounts once every 3 or 4 weeks (ie.5grams of each in a ten litre water can).This may sound difficult to obtain but believe me this stuff is easy to find (ie produce stores,farm supplies).
There is more you can do in the...

They have a range of different mixes that they have now. We used Osmocote and Plantacote with their range of slow release fertilizers for some years but never got the results we get now.Organic life gives much stronger root systems and the water shoots are amazing. At the very start of the season it looks as if the grafts are going to explode with upto half a dozen bursting out.I always noticed that when we used the Osmocotes, the growth would only push out shoots from the primary growth but very rarely down by the grafts. We use smaller measured cup and top dress around 3 times during their flowering season and we do also add a smaller measured cup of Dolomite just before the last flush.
Choice is yours. I would compare 2 pots and see the difference. As for growing in the ground,well again,the results are absolutely fantastic too.
Cheers,
Pete

Hey Pete my new 19 roses are flying away with Organic extra, and after seeing all your roses growing in pots down there I bought a bag at Bunnings and put it on the other 15 I have here mine are all in the ground though, and have heaps of buds I reckon my first one will open in a couple of days. Cheers...MM

Have tried blood and bones, cow manures, chicken manures and organic life. So far, organic life yields the best results for roses in the ground or in pots.

My 2cents worth!
I have used Organic Life (Terra Firma)for about 4 years and all my roses are in pots(large ones-about a meter high and wide)
I have about 45 containers this size.
I have fabulous results both in the quality of the rose and increased disease resistance.The few I have in the ground also benefit to the same degree.
I also top up with Charlie Carp and Miracle Gro.
I use a small handful for each pot, dig it in a bit and water it really well.
Visitors have commented that the roses here are the healthiest and fabulous they have seen.I am "not blowing my own bags" here and I do not have shares in the co!.
Also, I find it wonderful if I buy a rose that is flagging or needs a pep up. After the feeding with Organic life etc the rose perks up and looks healthy within a week.
I find if I rely on other fertilizers too much I dont get the results that I do with Terra Firma.
Cheers
Michelle

I made a mistake up top I put Organic extra and I should have written
Organic Life and my roses love it too...MM

I think I saw this product out at our local nursery.. with such enthusiastic recommendations, some will be making it's way to my place this weekend!

Hi Snodge
You will not regret it I can assure you!
Michelle

Hi everyone I was down at the Produce Store yesterday buying a couple more chooks, and would you believe they had the 35kg bags of Organic Life for under $20 where I had not long bought a 15kg bag from a big store for only $3 cheaper.My own fault as I usually go and buy all my other fertlisers in 35kgs bags from there that will teach me to have so many grey moments.

So keep a look out around your way. Cheers...MM.

Michelle, where di you get those wonderful pots ?
I have some of the old Simpson washing machine bowls and they are doing well but very hard to find these days, I do the rounds of the dump yards just in case I see one, but sadly those that have them hang on to them now.
My roses in the pots are doing well now but they have only been in there for a few monts and I used potted rose mix for them, very expensive it is too.
What do you use in those large containers?
Marion

Enjoy paying under $20 for 35 kg! Only source I've located around here wants $32 for that size...a few dollars more than you pay for Dynamic Lifter..

Oh thats terrible Snodge, probably came by gold plated delivery trucks.
Mind you looking on the bag where it is manufactured I found its only a couple of kms
down the road from where I live, thats probably got a lot to do with it.
I wonder what the price of the 15kg bags are up your way...MM

I think they do have the other sizes, but as I wanted the big bag I didn't find out the others, but if it goes up proportionately I'd hate to think how much they want in the smaller quantity. I'm looking forward to big things from this product! The pots will all get their doses tomorrow morning.

I sell the 35kg bags for $ 19.95 . The smaller 15kg bags
i dont stock, but saw an add last week for them. $ 16.95
supposedly on special at a nursery.

Hi Marion
I use the range called Tuscon pots available anywhere.I usually get them from Kmart garden centres for about $14 a pot I think(cant be sure)-I have bought that many you would think I would know!!:))
I use really good potting mix and stand the pots on little wire stands on wheels.This is good for drainage and I can move them around if necessary.
The potting mix is about $4-5 a large bag and I would use at least one bag and a bit for each pot.
I have great success and have included a pic to give you an idea:
{{gwi:2113727}}
cheers
Michelle

Does anyone know where Organic Life is available in WA?
Lisa.

I am now using Terra Firma Organic Life so it will be interesting to see how they go.

I bought 2 x 35kilo bags for $19.00 each in Capalaba. With all my roses and garden beds I only used 3/4 of one bag. It goes a long way.

Can't wait to see if I get the results many of you others have.

Cheers,

Brissy

Much less than the manufacturers suggest.
As almost every plant no matter how large has roots no deeper than 300mm (or 12") when there is a lot of extra depth under this I fill it with anything---old buckets, bricks, rubbish soil, plant pots etc. The pots need to be wrapped to stop soil entering via the drainage holes also both these and buckets must of course be upside down. Don't use anything that would rot down.

Second tip; why only partly fill pots? You have enslaved them to a life of a smaller amount of soil width, there is always settling and no, they don't need a deep recess "for water". Mine are always planted level with the pot rim.

ANY water running from the bottom of pots or hanging baskets has a similar effect to rinsing dirt from washing.