Devon, I've used the David Austin Rose Food for a few years, and like it. It has an organic component to it, maybe fish/ seaweed mix. It's in a pellet form.

I also really like Dr. Earth Rose Food, or others with alfalfa in them.

I fertilize my roses way less than I used to do, with no apparent harm to the garden. In fact I have read that overuse of fertilizer is a major cause of pollution. I spread an organic fertilizer after I finish pruning, usually either Dr Earth or Whitney Farms, since those are locally available here. Then I mulch. Most years, that is it. Some years I do a second fertilizing in mid summer to boost the fall flush, and it does do that, but I don't always bother.

Rosefolly

Devon - I tried Rone Tone last year for the first time, and oh my gosh, I could not believe what I saw! My roses grew unbelievably tall and wide during my short Zone 5 summer. I love it so much that I called the local Farm King and ordered 9-25 lb. bags @ $18 a bag for the summer. The stuff is liquid gold! You should try it; it's got everything you need in it and I only put it on monthly. This stuff is better than anything I've ever used. LOVE IT!
-terry

I, too, am a rose tone fan. I grow my roses organically, and rose tone takes the work out of creating your own mix. I always use plain 'ole compost and manure, and sometimes a little fish emulsion if my plants get stressed. I hate the smell of the fish emulsion, but it does seem to perk them up a bit!
Denise

I've tried the David Austin food before, and liked it, but must warn you that it does have a smell, which was a big problem because I store all my garden supplies in my basement. Frankly, I like ROSE TONE better. It has similar ingredients, is easier to find, and the smell isn't so ... pungent. Now it does smell, but the odor is easily contained by securing the top of the bag it comes in with duck tape and then wrapping the whole thing in a couple a plastic garden bags. Other fertilizers I use are MILLS MAGIC MIX and MIRACLE GROW FOR ROSES. Now lots of rosarians on this forum are going to sneer at me, but I don't care, when the roses need a quick pick-me-up nothing works better than Miracle Grow. It isn't my major fertilizer though. That honor goes to Rose Tone. I also lay down a thick layer of compost every spring (learned this trick from Olga, it really works wonders with our red clay soil), followed by Rose Tone and MMM as directed, with occasional doses of MG when the roses look stressed.

There is another product I'm using this year but it is a secret.

Happy Gardening,

Patrick

I'm going to have to try this ROSE TONE. I've been kind of
random with what I feed the roses, but I'm going to be more
specific this season. I trust the people that have posted here.
Thank you for the info.

Yah, I'm going to try bloodmeal. It stinks. Maybe the vermin won't love it. Or I'll mix cottonseed meal with blood meal if I can find a better ag source. Nitrogen and calcium are the only things all my garden needs, along with organic matter. I'm puzzling over the compost situation. The fabulous local stuff (Thank you, Pamela and Michael for the hint on Mango Mulch) is only available bagged and costs a fortune for the amount I need. I don't want to use manure because of salt content, so I'm a bit stuck.

I'm just feeding the soil. I'll buy about 10 50lb bags of alfalfa pellets from the feed store this spring. I'll open a bag, dump it into my wheelbarrow, add some bone meal, blood meal, cottonseed meal (I think), mix it up, and add a feed scoop-about 4 cups-- around each rose. I'll do this right before they start to leaf out. I also add alpaca manure, chicken/rabbit manure, and/or sheep manure around the roses. And I mulch heavily with hardwood mulch that is triple shredded.

During the summer, I continue to add manure as my chicken/rabbit house gets full and as the alpaca produces it. And, I am constantly brewing an alfalfa tea that I feed to those roses which are heavy repeaters. I'll add fish emulsion to the tea if I think about it.

Last year I had used some 10-10-10 fertilizer as well as miracle grow, but, I'm starting to believe that these chemical fertilizers, although very helpful in the short term, can cause imbalances in the soil which are going to be detrimental to the helpful fungi (micorrizae) which I'm trying to get to grow. So, I'm not going to use them.

When I plant my roses, I do add a generous helping (shovelful or two of manure OR a a half scoop of alfalfa pellets) to the planting hole. I had used chicken manure when I ran out of alpaca manure, and this was NOT good as the chicken manure turned into a methane sesspool, and the roses did not take off. I won't add chicken manure to the planting hole again.

I hope this helps some.

Robert

We lost our rabbits last fall, so if I don't find another source of rabbit manure I will just use more alfalfa meal. Every fall my roses get a thick layer of compost, then shredded leaves for mulch. All this keeps my soil really rich so I don't worry so much about artificial fertilizers. The most I'll do is maybe a handful of 5-10-5 if I'm out of manure.

Compost (Black Cow or Cotton Bur)
Liquid Fish Emulsion

Randy

The roses that belong here get an annual dose of alfalfa and Rose Tone, and if anything are overfed. The roses that don't belong here are a totally different question. I would like to put them on a serious fertilizing regime for a summer and see if I can get anything out of them. A fair amount of Rose Tone and occassional blue stuff hasn't done a thing with them.

Last year I used composted manure and alfalfa with good results (considering the drought). This year I will do the same, but add my own compost that will hopefully be read and I want to try Rose Tone.

Unfortunately I've only been able to find the small bags of Rose Tone. I may have to special order a few large bags.

I may still give them one shot of Bayer drench. Mostly because I have one bottle left from last year and the fact that I like the extra protection it gives for disease.

We're lucky that we have a truck with a trailor. We drive down to Sebastopol and buy Mango Mulch at Grab and Grow by the yard. I throw down gypsum(calcium for clay soil) and alfalfa pellets and top them with the mulch, which is a rich compost. In early spring I also toss around this slow release nitrogen product called Nitro Form. In the summer the roses that are on a drip get a weak solution of a Miracle Grow like stuff in an in-line feeder. Other's(rebloomers) I hand feed this liquid a couple of times. Whitney's goes in all new plantings and is given to roses who seem unhappy. I also save all my coffee grounds and give them to deserving roses. I belive the old adage too that water is the farmer's best and cheapest fertilizer.

Buford - do you have a Farm King in your area? They carry the 25 lb. bags. I called the garden center the other day and had them order me 10-25 lb. bags for spring. Cost me $17 a bag but I liked the stuff so much that I was buying it on E-bay and the UPS costs were outrageous. My local nurseries quit carrying it on favor of the Bayer stuff last summer, but I'm such a fan that I will pay to get it. You can go to the Rose Tone website and get a list of dealers also.
-terry

Rose Tone, some seaweed emulsion, ocassionally a little feather meal if it's been a really wet Spring.
In fact first application of rose tone should be next week I always start in late January here..........

Farm King just called and said my 10 bags of Rose Tone were in. Now if it were just Spring. April seems so far away. I so envy everyone in So. Cali and Texas who are posting about buying roses and pruning.
-terry

Thanks terry, I don't think we have Farm King, I'll try the Rose Tone website.

I use Rose Tone, too. In the hole I use alfalfa along with manure and Milorganite. I'm told the earthworms LOVE Milorganite. I've used alfalfa tea with good results. Fish emulsion, too - mostly as a drench. This year I'll do more spraying with it. I've been using cottonseed meal, too, because my soil is alkaline, but I have run out of it. Recently, I've had a source of horse manure compost so I'll be getting another load of that soon.
Sherry

Last year the combination of alfalfa tea, compost and RoseTone was impressive. I probably applied epsom salts once or twice to laggards that weren't producing any basals. I would definitely used composted manure if I had a good source. Oooh, I miss the country!

Last year I never got around to ordering the 25# bags of Rose Tone and used composted horse manure, alfalfa, Starbucks coffee grounds, and cottonseed meal instead. There was marginally less growth and fewer blooms on many of the roses - especially the Austins - but I also had fewer problems with insects and disease. The teas and chinas did very well on what they got, and over all, it was a good season. This year I'm thinking about using Rose Tone only on those roses that under performed last year.

In the past I have used Rose Tone and alfalfa pellets with great results. Rose Tone about once a month and the alfalfa about two or three times a season. I've also used Messenger in the past and liked that too.

This winter I am planning to cover all my beds with a new layer of compost and then a new layer of mulch. I'm hoping to get all that done this February.

I also plan on using the new natural plant care products that will be available this spring from Ashdown. I believe it is a combination of all natural products that fertilize and act as a fungicide. From what I've heard it has worked fabulously for the folks at Ashdown and I hope to reproduce those same results here.

Carole

I use an alfalfa meal based fertilizer 2-3 times a year (1/2 strength) along with plenty of mulch and horse manure. I use E.B. Stone (Armstrong Garden Centers) or Lily Miller (found in my other local garden center).

I have a question. Is there much difference between Rose Tone and Mills Magic Rose Mix? I have had very good luck with Mills, but wonder if I am missing something by not using the Rose Tone.......What is the difference in the two?
Judith

I'm doing hay as usual. We have six tons on order, at 2007 prices (yeay!!). I'm not going to consider more sophisticated amendments until we have a year with some decent rain and I can see how the roses behave when it's not droughty. I'm REALLY looking forward to an end to the gray skies and rain so that I can get out and prune and dig. We've had roughly half a day of sun so far this year (and not as much rain as I'd have liked, either). Ah, well, that's January.

Melissa

I add my compost early spring as a fresh mulch, its my most balanced and broken down compost of the season, I will also apply a handful of alfalfa pellets at this time, later in the summer I have made alfalfa tea, but it is smelly. I have also spread a handful of 10-10-10 a couple of times, Im trying to go away from that as much as possible this year. With little kids im going to try to go chem free from now on. Ive never tried rose tone , but it sure sounds like something I might add!

Silverkelt

This RoseTone stuff sounds interesting. I don't think there is a Farm King here. Where else can I find it? I googled Rose Tone and I didn't find a website...

From previous discussions, the biggest difference between Rose Tone and Mills Magic is that Rose Tone comes from New Jersey, and within it's local distribution range is much cheaper since there isn't any shipping charges. Also, since the garden centers are stocking it, you stand a chance of lucking into end of season sales.

For years now, Espoma has sent coupons for a 5 lb bag of Rose Tone to the local society. The shipping costs about as much as the bag, and when in full fertilizer mode, it lasts me about 5 minutes, so it's sort of a 'it's the thought that counts' type thing.

Espoma does have a website. While it doesn't go into specifics, it does give some idea of the differences between their various fertilizers. For certain things, I prefer Holly Tone, which also has the advantage of coming in larger bags.

Peggy - the website is ESPOMA.Com. They are the manufacturers of the fertilizer.
-terry

I've seen the Espoma products in HD, but not the larger bags. One of our local chains carries them, but only has the Hollytone in large bags.

Holly-tone is fine. That's what I use, it is about $1 less expensive than Rose-tone. Holly has a little more cottonseed meal in the mix.

Diane - I had heard that Holly Tone is interchangeable also.
The "Tones" also keep over the winter into the next year if you have some left over. I'm also going to use the Rose Tone on my clematis. They also make a Plant Tone.
-terry

Holly Tone is formulated for acid-loving plants and might be the Tone of choice if you're in a region with alkaline soil. Occasionally some make it into my rose beds, but I buy it for the azaleas and gardenias.

I use Holly Tone, too, and the soils here are pretty acid. The main difference is actually slightly more nitrogen, which is good - nitrogen is the primary stimulant for both green growth AND flower production, from a biological standpoint. Roses lap it up like kittens take to cream.

Rose Tone has the higher nitrogen content - 6-6-4 vs. 4-6-4.

The main difference appears to be that Holly Tone doesn't contain bone meal or Sul-Po-Mag. Of course they don't give any information about the relative amounts of any ingredient the two fertilizers have in common.

Really? I was sure it was the other way around on the nitrogen issue... oh well, I guess the memory fades with age :)

Okay, I went to the Espoma website and checked out the ingredients and percentages:

Holly Tone has 5% sulfur, versus Rose Tone's 1%
Holly Tone has 4% potassium, vs. Rose Tone's 3%
Both contain 0.5% magnesium
The nitrogen difference is, obviously, 4% in HT vs. 6% in RT
There are some minor differences in the raw ingredients from which the ingredients come, but most of the ingredients seem more or less reasonable to me. The effects on the plants are great, and I personally think it boils down more to micronutrient availability than it does to NPK ratios.

It isn't a lot of difference, either way, I imagine. The extra sulfur is the most severe change and that definitely doesn't hurt roses, even on fairly acid soils. I'd say that if you find either one on sale, it's worth buying for your roses! They really aren't that picky when they're hungry.

Stefan, Holly Tone and Rose Tone contain the same amount of sulfur: 5%. It's only elemental sulfur (the yellow powder) that lowers soil pH. Combined sulfur (usually this just means sulfur in the form of sulfate)) has no effect on soil pH and both Rose Tone and Holly Tone contain only combined sulfur.

The only ingredients listed for either fertilizer which have any effect at all on soil pH are ammonium sulfate and cottonseed meal. Cottonseed meal has only a temporary acidifying power and in any case cannot lower the soil pH below 6.5. It would take approximately 60 pounds of pure cottonseed meal per 100 sq ft of garden to lower the pH of a typical loam soil by 1 pH unit. Ammonium sulfate is a much more powerful soil acidifier and the amount of this ingredient can be judged accurately from the value for "ammoniacal nitrogen" on the label. Rose Tone at 3.5% ammoniacal nitrogen is a more potent soil acidifier than Holly Tone at 1.9%. Actually, Rose Tone contains roughly 17% ammonium sulfate and about 36 pounds of Rose Tone per 100 sq ft should lower the pH of a loam soil by 1 pH unit.

Plant Tone may be the one I need to keep an eye out for. It's intermediate between the other two products on nitrogen, with 5%, and has less phosphate, potassium and sulfur, all of which are naturally high in my soil.

Mike, you're right, they do both list the same sulfur percentage, I'm not sure why my eyes were playing tricks on me. It's clearly not my night.

Anyway, roses do like Holly Tone. Maybe it is the better choice for those of us who don't need to lower our pH after all. On the other hand, I also know for a fact that roses love Scott's 18-6-12 Osmocote. I still contend they're not at all picky.

Happy Day! After seaching the web for nearby sources to purchase Rose Tone and the closet being Houston, 2+ hours away,......I played hooky at a nursery in a nearby town, where my mom is in the hospital - I needed a break on this glorious sunny day - and lo and behold! A whole rack of Espoma products! They didnt have Rose Tone, but will have it in a month. They had every other product the company orders, so now I can easily obtain it! I will still use Mills Magic Rose Mix, but now I can alternate products. A most delightful surprise!!
Judith

Maybe I'll get the big bag of Holly Tone and a few small bags of the Rose Tone and mix them together.....

So are you saying that for those of us who already have acidic soil (mine is red clay acidic), Holly Tone is a better fertilizer than Rose Tone?

Molineux asked,"So are you saying that for those of us who already have acidic soil (mine is red clay acidic), Holly Tone is a better fertilizer than Rose Tone?"

I'm not saying that. I think if used at label amounts, neither fertilizer will have any significant effect on soil pH. I think Holly Tone and other fertilizers (such as Miracid) which are recommended for acid-loving plants are simply not intended to change the soil pH. They are intended to provide the nutrients that acid-loving plants need, in the amounts that they need. I suspect that Holly Tone and Rose Tone would give identical results for roses or Holly, especially if you adjusted the frequency and amount of each fertilizer to reflect the label directions for the specific plant and the higher nitrogen analysis of Rose Tone.

I love RoseTone but find that I have to put a wire cage around newly planted roses when I use it in the hole. Twice wild critters have dug up newly planted own-roots; both plants survived (they were one-gallons, not bands). Quietness went on to outgrow every other rose in sight, Champlain looks like it will survive til spring but is standing still. It seems to be less of an issue with the mature plants but I am carefully covering it with soil and mulch. I still find the mulch disturbed around the rootzones, but not enough to do any real damage.

Barbara - might not have anything at all to do with the Rose Tone. I have the same problem with raccoons digging up newly planted perennials up here in Illinois. Don't know what they are looking for....grubs, maybe? They will revisit the plants for sometimes 2 weeks and keep digging them up. They have dug up hostas, daylilies, etc. I have caught the brats up in my flower planters digging them out like dogs! Yes, they have even tried to dig out newly planted roses also. Something about newly disturbed soil.
I've resigned myself to do a daily morning check for about a month or so of every new plant to see if it needs replanted. One year I did use mothballs and it did keep them away; I might use it again this year since I'm planting about 20 new roses.
-terry

Soils vary so you should sample your soil and have it tested before selecting a product. What works for somebody else with a different soil may not pertain much at all to your situation. You should also be way of overdosing your soil, phosphorus in particular is often over-applied and cannot be readily removed without replacing the soil.

Here is a link that might be useful: Roses and Phosphate

When I lived in TN I used mainly Mills Magic Mix (which was "local") and sometimes Rose Tone. Ingredient for ingredient they are much the same. I favored the MMM - I think it did a better job in the clay soil (for which it was designed), but that is an opinion, nothing scientific. Also, Rose Tone changed its formulation the third year I had roses to make it much closer to the MMM forumulation. The contents of MMM was much under discussion here on the forums during that time and I compared lables on everything in the market.

Here, in NC, with no ready, relative inexpensive supply of MMM, a strong, willing DH and a nearby Southern States, I do it myself, much like rjlinva. I buy the bags of alfalfa meal, cottenseed meal, fish meal etc. and feed from my own "mix". We can get compost $20 for a ton and have a trailer that will haul 3 or 4 yards (depending upon how wet it is). The first roses went in the ground here in August 2005 and I've been adding new beds a couple each calendar year, so I'm doing a lot of soil amending. I have been adding the compost to the 'established' beds once a season, the newer beds are getting it twice to help get the soil turned around. I thought I knew clay, but NC clay is different than TN clay. I'm sooo grateful for the ready and inexpensive supply of compost.

I also use epsom salts in the spring.

If I think a rose needs a pickmeup, I'll go with the liquid Ironnite or something like that. There are several brands of liquid food that do that well. I also keep a bottle of fish emulsion handy for that purpose. I have a couple of roses that seem to require a little more iron than the rest of the crowd - its easy to spot them when they get needy.

You might want to read some information about Ironite and the heavy metals it's supposed to contain before using it again - you might be adding more to your garden than you bargained for.