Margowicz: I am sorry to send you back to where you came from. I suspect your reference to John Innes No. 2 and loam threw some of us off. In the states we don't usually consider loam (garden soil, here) acceptable for use in containers, and only those of us who have been reading old garden books from the UK are likely to know what John Innes is. (I know enough about it to think it would be comparable to good quality potting mix and an acceptable choice to use right out of the bag, with no additives.) One of the most popular mixes for growing vegetables in containers on this forum is called 5-1-1. It isn't sold in stores and must be made from scratch from 5 parts pine bark fines (or milled pine bark), 1 part coarse perlite and 1 part sphagnum peat. We add dolomitic lime to it for the calcium and magnesium as well as the affect it has on raising the pH. (You put the lime in the mix and leave it there. There is no taking it back out later.) Some people add a controlled release fertilizer to the mix while others just rely on using a regular fertilizer according to package directions. If you are interested in learning more about this mix, please read the discussion I link to below. It's long, but if you will take the time to read the whole first section, many of your questions will be answered. Here is a link that might be useful: Container Soils - Water Movement and Retention XVI

Hmm, haven't seen that but Googled it and says it could be a sign of calcium deficiency - not sure if your water softener is taking out the calcium ("hard" water)? Salts sure won't do them any good though so try to use unfiltered water and see how they do. Another thing to look for is aphids - they can cause similar wrinkling of brand new growth. If you don't see aphids (they like to hide inside the new leaves while they're still curled tightly), then look on the underside of the older leaves for any blisters - could also be a sign of overwatering. How often are you watering and fertilizing? Also try posting on the Hot Pepper forum. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

This is something I haven't quite understood. I know that baby roses have sensitive roots, and as such can be easily burned by giving too much water soluble fertilizer. So the common advice is to just keep them watered until they put on growth before feeding them. And that's what I don't understand -- if they don't have nutrients in the soil, how can they build new roots? Peat-based potting soils with no added fertilizer amounts to not much more than something in which roots can seek water. Without additional N-P-K, there's no "building blocks" to make more roots. I took a different approach. I potted my bands last year in a nutrient-rich mix (equal parts peat moss, Bovung dehydrated manure, and shredded hardwood mulch), then mixed in Jobe's Organic Knock Out Rose food (1/2 cup for 1-gal containers, 1 cup for 2-gal containers), and gave each a soaking in half-strength fish and seaweed emulsion. They got lots of rain and sunshine from the beginning (we still get occasional frosts in April, when most of the bands came), and they grew by leaps and bounds (for the most part -- a few Hybrid Teas and Chinas took their time). If I got bands later in the year, when temperatures reached into the 80s and above, I'd offer dappled shade for a while and gradually acclimate them to full-sun. I understand the caution about applying Miracle Gro and similar water-soluble fertilizers which can burn tender new roots, but that didn't happen for me with the stuff I used. I started a thread about it last year, including pics. It worked for me. When the beds were ready for roses to go in the ground three to four months later, they all had roots running throughout the soil, making nice tight root balls that slipped right out of the pots without crumbling. :-) ~Christopher P.S. Note that the 'Sweet Chariot' shown turned out to NOT be that rose. It's some sort of Multiflora-derived rose which was not at all appealing when it bloomed this year in a big pot and will eventually meet the shredder. Here is a link that might be useful: Some before and after showing growth so far

Somehow I missed this post - the video is great! - I'm not used to seeing chickadees with caterpillars hanging out of their bills, so this is a new side of a favorite bird. Thanks, Claire