Have I just killed my roses?

16 years ago

You may remember my problem with acidic soil last summer. I applied lime and was advised to do it again in January. So, I go out to do it today, and...well, let's just say a mistake was made and I put down nitrogen instead, at the rate recommended for lime. Do I need to get the catalogs out?

Barbara, sick, just sick

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Comments (8)

elks
16 years ago
O my goodness!
If the nitrogen looked white like lime, you could be in trouble.
Was it urea, 45-0-0? If so, yikes! That is powerful stuff, and will probably burn the roots.
I do not know enough to recommmend anything. Sorry,
Steve.
anntn6b
16 years ago
No, you haven't killed 'em. But you may have a problem in three or four weeks if you used chemical N. (One advantage of organic fertilizer mixes is that they are generally inactive until soil temps are 70).
IF you've got some really small ones (bands planted last summer), you might want to scrape the soil back beyond the drip line. Esp if you worked the fertilizer in.
(IF it was time release fertilizer, not to worry, either, the 70 degree applies there as well)

The roses can handle some N; it comes with thunder storms. But you will have to watch for new growth that gets killed by spring freezes (we all do) and finger prune it off so you don't get established saprophytic (dead-eating) fungi established in/near fragile new growth.
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morz8 - Washington Coast
16 years ago
Barbara, I'm not sure how it would work for your nitrogen, but might be something to explore -

From my articles on growing rhododendrons, azaleas, acid loving plants where domestic water is alkaline and salts harmful to those type plants can build up in the soils over time.

"Leaching

Leaching is more than irrigation, it is a deliberate flooding for several house at a stretch. Even though the water used in flooding contains small amounts of dissolved salts, it will pick up salts present in higher concentrations and carry them down into lower soil levels, below reach of plants roots."

Possibly that would help to get your nitrogen out of harms way?

"Leaching demands good drainage; salts must be carried into lower levels of soil easily. If you don't have good drainage, there isn't much you can do."
morz8 - Washington Coast
16 years ago
Sorry. "Deliberate flooding for several hours at a stretch", not house.
banders
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, Ann. It was chemical--calcium nitrate 15.5-0-0 + 19% Ca, only on older well-established plants. My heart actually stopped when I realized what I'd done. This'll teach me to read the label MYSELF the next time. I will watch for new growth and finger prune as you advise. Now I have to go find the lime.

Thanks again,
Barbara (WHEW!)
mike_rivers
16 years ago
How much fertilizer did you put down, per 100 sq ft, and what was the fertilizer's NPK value? Usually, you put down no more than 6 lbs of lime per 100 sq ft, which (because lime is very dense) is only about 6 cups of lime. With a 10% nitrogen rose fertilizer, a typical recommendation would be 2 cups per 100 sq ft, meaning you would have applied too much by a factor of 3, probably not that serious. On the other hand, if you applied a pure urea fertilizer (about 50% nitrogen), you would have exceeded the recommendation by a factor of 15. I don't know enough about zone 7 gardening to guess how serious this might be. Are your roses leafed out?
mike_rivers
16 years ago
Barbara, I just read your post above. First off, don't add any lime!!!!. Calcium nitrate tends to make soil more alkaline all by itself. Wait and see what happens to your soil pH.

Second off, the nitrate from calcium nitrate is easily absorbed by plants (if they are leafed out) but it is not especially toxic to plant tissue and it is easily leached from the soil.
banders
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, Mike. I was wondering about the calcium and I SWEAR was going to ask about that before I put the lime down. I'll get another soil test this Spring before I do ANYTHING else, I promise. Nothing is fully leafed out. There are lots of leaf buds swelling, and a few tiny leaves, but we've had a very mild fall-early winter with only a few COLD (upper teens) days so far. Our sustained coldest weather will be from now until mid-late February. The next week is projected to be upper 20s-low 30s which is about normal. It's quite normal to have this amount of growth at this time and it always gets killed in the next month or two. It gets pruned off with Spring pruning. Glad to hear about the low toxicity and ease of leaching.

Morz8, thanks for your input. We're supposed to get some rain tomorrow and this coming week. If not, I'll start watering.

Thanks again, guys,
Barbara