If to be used only as an ammendment in your planting holes, stick with the aged maure and composted leaves. They're free. You'll get nothing extra worth the money you spend on the Miracle Gro. actually the manure and composted leaves would make a great potting soil too.
Save your money.

I'm with Karl.... use the horse manure and the compost.

Robert

I agree with Karl. Commercial materials such as this many times have fertilizers added. I always bought a soiless nursery mix, so that I could add what I wanted to add, not what some officious person wanted. You have all free stuff for the holes and that's the best there is is.

Miracle Gro soil mix has earned a reputation for being toxic to young roses whose root systems are still developing, because its nutrient content is overly rich; too much nutrient available immediately. I suspect it appears to be effective because it pumps a lot of Nitrogen into the plants instantly, giving the impression it is beneficial in the long run. Chances are, the N supply will be exhausted fairly quickly and then you will see what the actual soil components are capable of.

If you want something to amend your existing soil with, this is likely a waste of $$$; stick with the amendments you already have at your disposal. If you want a good potting mixture for container grown roses, look to a brand that has a lot of organic nutrient components (manure, cottonseed meal, green sand, alfalfa, fish meal, etc) which will release nutrients as the components break down, slowly, over a long period of time. A steady, slow supply of Nitrogen is much more beneficial to the plant than is a sudden burst of intense nutrient.

These posts have answered my question! I do have access to a rose ammendment type of "soil" that I have ordered [it wont be here until next week and I wanted to do some planting this weekend]. It is what tprospero described - organic nutrients. I will just mix up a batch of my rotted horse compost and the year old mulched leaves....put bone meal in the hole bottom and go with that. And the big plus.....saving money for more roses! Am hoping Home Depot has their big peat pot old garden roses in already - they have some good varieties like Orange Ruffles, Gen. Jack, Mme. Pierre Oger, etc. that are fairly priced and I have had good luck with. I am anxious to get started! Thankfully, winter isnt but a few months here! Thank you all for insightful comments! I can always depend on the Forum! Have a great weekend!
Judith

I like to add what nutrients they get and know what it is and how much. I agree with Paul that some of the ingredients could be too strong for young roots.
Also, I want my roses to grow in soil that is more natural so they can survive better and not depend on extra nutrients,for what it's worth. Horse manure and leaves are great.

Carla

You can go to the Miracle Gro site and read the label, Miracle Gro for Roses product information.

Just so there is no confusion, the Miracle Gro Rose Soil the first poster asked about already has small amounts of Miracle Gro rose food mixed into it when you buy the soil, so gardeners have no control over the amount or over when the rose gets the food.

There is also a separate Miracle Gro Rose Food one can buy to add to a planting. The gardener can control the amount and timing with this product. There are a number of gardeners who use the separate rose food on a regular basis and claim to have good results with it.

Myself, I think the pre-mixed soil/food is a bit too much for many newly planted roses. I tend to wait about a month or so before I add rose food to a rose's diet. I should probably also mention that I do not use the separate MG Rose Food because I am lazy and it needs to be applied frequently. Instead, after giving my roses a spring feed of an organic rose food, I switch to one feeding of Osmocote which will feed the roses for the next several months, depending upon which version you buy.

Kate

Most any product you buy is not going to be as good as your own compost. It is like the difference between store bought packaged hard-as-a-hockey-puck cookies and homemade delicate rich loaded-with-butter cookies.

Miracle Grow soil is rather toxic to animals as well and is not consistent with organic growing. You can get perfectly good and cheap organic soil mixes from you local nursery by the bag or truck full or make your own from compost.