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Question About Fertilizing Rose Bands

alameda/zone 8/East Texas

16 years ago

I asked this question on the rose forum too......I have ordered quite a few bands, have them potted up in a good rose soil/Miracle Gro w/out fertilizer soil mix and mulched. They are right outside my garage in protected plastic covered greenhouses, plenty of sunlight. They are leafing out, growing well [I am in Texas, 2 hours from Houston]. A couple have started losing a bit of color in their leaves, I am afraid of chlorisis. The first batch was planted in December, the 2nd in January and I have 4 more to plant today. I used an electronic soil PH meter - they all tested about 7.0, but who knows if that is accurate. They all look healthy except for the light green leaves on 3 of them. I am wondering how to correct this - want to be cautious with my babies and not give them anything that would make them decline, so thought I would ask the experts on the Forum for advice. And any advice on success with bands is appreciated! Already got a bloom on Sunshine, a polyantha, and have buds on Walferdange this morning! Spotted the danged aphids already at work so dripped sudsy water from a piece of paper towel on the offenders,killed them right off. I adore raising bands........just want to get every bit of help I can to get them growing well. Thanks all and Happy Valentines Day!

Judith

Comments (5)

jbcarr
16 years ago
If you go to the Vintage website, they recommend a dilute organic fertilizer. They have lots of other stuff pertaining to rose care.
cemeteryrose
16 years ago
I'd definitely do dilute fertilizer now. And I'd also pinch off those flower buds, hard though it may be.
Anita
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A "band" is a container size :-) Typically about 4" square and 6-8" deep with a more or less open bottom. Any sort of liquid fertilizer you prefer would work. I am partial to Liquid Grow (7-9-5) from Dyna-Gro. I use it at half strength weekly (maybe every 10 days) on my container plantings.
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Mine like fish emulsion and alfalfa. My soil is acidic, and I live in zone 8a. kay
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Overkill, in my opinion. Be careful with the Epsom salts, once a season should be enough, if needed. The 20-20-20 is just a balanced fertilizer, you would have to see the label to determine if any micronutrients are being provided in addition to NPK. if not, any balanced fertilizer will do. If you have 1 & 2, the rest isn't needed unless indicated by soil test. I didn't do all of that when I was heavily into exhibiting. I use a dry organic fertilizer (Espoma), a Neptune's Harvest liquid seaweed, and maybe some Mills Easy Feed (a couple of times a season, if I remember). I used to put down 1/2 cup of Epsom salts per plant in the spring, but haven't in many years. i would be cautious of over fertilizing. I lost plants due to trying to do too much.
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I grow nearly every rose I have as own root. Somewhat forced issue thou as Dr. Huey is not a happy root stock here. Each and every rose is different in so far as how well they grow. I long ago eliminated all of my own root rugosa rose with the exception of Roseraie de L'Hay. The others that i grew suckered like crazy and I did not have the room for this. My one remaining rugosa behaves very well. In ten year it has only sent out one runner so she stays. I grow own root as the roses live a longer life here. Where my grafted rose are gone by year ten.
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rosyone
16 years ago
I feed my young, potted-up rooted cuttings fish emulsion at 1/4 the strength recommended on the label until they're well established in the pots, then half strength. At times I've substituted all purpose soluble Miracle Gro when that was all I had on hand. It didn't seem to hurt them.

With good potting soil, I wouldn't worry too much about the pH unless your water is very alkaline or acid. The soil mix is pH buffered. And if the light green leaves are new, I wouldn't worry about them either. It's normal for some roses to produce light green new growth, and others to produce red, plum, purple, or even orange new growth. With a good feeding schedule they should all end up a healthy shade of green in the end.
sherryocala
16 years ago
I had my 'Jeri Jennings' band sitting on my kitchen window sill for 2+ months. (I was busy digging.) I did remember to water her but that's all. Then it dawned on me, Wow, she hasn't gotten ANY bigger. So I grabbed some Milorganite, maybe a spoonful, (figuring something was better than nothing) & scratched it in. Immediate dark green growth. A couple weeks later I potted her up, and she is doing great. I need to feed all my pots. I'm a baaaaad mommy.
Sherry
berndoodle
16 years ago
It's entirely possible that the only thing that's happening is that they've decided to jettison last year's leaves. Or...they are being over-watered. Check for spider mites. If all is well, then less than half strength water soluble would be fine. We use fish emulsion because it's widely available and cheap. Plus fish oil makes the leaves shiny.

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