Fertilizing for chemistry dummies

13 years ago

Normally, when describing my abilities and aptitude I use words and phrases such as 'right-brained' and 'artsy.' Reading the labels on fertilizers tends give me flashbacks to high school chemistry and my palms sweat and my mind goes blank.

This is my first spring where I'll have to go out and fertilize established roses and I went online and found instructions for mixing organic fertilizers exactly.

Instructions are:

1. First Feeding (Spring)

When spring arrives, your roses need fertilizer for their first feeding. Roses require quit a lot of nutrients to maintain healthy growth and flowering. Fertilizers should be placed around the outside of the plant, one to two feet away. Carefully pull back any mulch and place the fertilizers on the list into the first inch of the soil surface. Take care not to damage the tender roots that maybe at the surface of the soil.

Spring feeding each plant:

1. 1/4 c. Epsom salts

2. 1/2 c. bone meal

3. 1 or 2 c. granular organic fertilizer

4. 1/2 c. alfalfa meal

5. 1-3 shovels of compost. Put the compost on top of the others. Compost serves as a mulch, which helps maintain moisture, stops weeds and keeps the temperature of the soil from getting to hot.

Is this a good guideline? The recommended fertilizer was to be a 5-5-5. The one I bought was a 5-7-2 (it had the most 'real' ingredients of all the organic offerings). Should I change up my recipe to make up for the slightly higher amount of phosphorus and lower potassium number?

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Comments (6)

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
13 years ago
No need to be perfectly exact, because in an outdoor situation, there will be inevitable variation in the soil, the breakdown of the material into a form the plant can absorb, the weather, etc. Your recipe looks reasonable.
karl_bapst_rosenut
13 years ago
Unless you get a soil test and know exactly what your soil needs to grow roses, or whatever you're growing, fertilizing is a crap shoot. Don't get all wrapped up in the numbers.
Ask any five rose growers and you'll get five different NPK numbers.
Before adding Epsom salts you should check if your soil needs it. Most soils have sufficent quantities.
Get a soil test!
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zaphod42
Original Author
13 years ago
I have checked with the UW system for their testing info. Standard test includes:

pH, lime requirement, organic matter, available
phosphorous (P), and available potassium (K).

The are additional tests (available for an additional fee) include: lead, soluble salts, physical analysis, boron, sulfur, manganese, zinc, heavy metals

Am I okay with just the standard variety?
mike_rivers
13 years ago
Karl's advice is good, as always. Just one other point: if you do get a soil test you can add to your self-description as right-brained, artsy, and one in a million grower of roses.
michaelg
13 years ago
Don't add Epsom salts unless a soil test indicates low magnesium. Excess magnesium (or anything else) can be harmful.

Bone meal is pretty much a waste of money. Most soils already have adequate phosphorus, and the mixed organic fertilizer will contain plenty of phosphorus.

Some mixed organic fertilizers already contain alfalfa, others not. Read the label.
harryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania
13 years ago
I have never measured any fertilizer application and my roses are all big and healthy. A handful of Rose Tone thrown to the left of the plant then another to the right. A handful of alfalfa cubes to the left and then another to the right. The entire process takes about 30 minutes.

Sometimes my hands smell funny.

Fertilizing for chemistry dummies

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hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

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Fertilizing for chemistry dummies

Comments (6)

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23

karl_bapst_rosenut

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harryshoe zone6 eastern Pennsylvania

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