I bet it will be just fine. You've got it in a pot where you can control the microclimate it's exposed to. I sure wouldn't fertilize for a long time--most bands I've received already had a bit of Osmocote or some other time-release little fertilizer balls in the soil. Just daily watering & monitoring. If it hasn't DECLINED in a month, I think that bodes well.

I got a tiny little Aimee Vibert from RVR a couple of months ago. It's greened up & wanting to bud in its little 1 gallon pot nestled in a bed full of leaf mold.

Ingrid, as an experiment, I started fertilizing half of a bunch of rooted cuttings with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer every time I fertilized my annuals in pots. The other half just got watered. The half that are getting liquid fertilizer are twice the size of the ones that get only water. I've only been doing this for a couple of months, so I don't know if eventually they will freak out and fall over dead or if they will continue to grow like gangbusters. So far, they are lush and green and gorgeous.

If you feel it's not got enough roots to pot up, you can always plunge the band in a larger container (say, 1-G) until it does.

Jeri

I do what you're doing, Floridarosez. Half strength liquid fertilizer after making sure they are well watered so there can't be any burning. I'm doing the same for this year's seedlings now, also. Kim

Yes it's a good idea to stabilize the pot in a larger 1 gallon so it won't be easily knocked over. It won't be so long before its growing quickly.

"I started fertilizing half of a bunch of rooted cuttings with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer..."

Flordiarose that sounds interesting, could you give us the specifics of what exactly you are using?

Sub, I'm using a locally produced product that's 20-20-20. I mix it approx. 1/2 tablespoon per gallon. I'm not really perfectly consistent, but I try to do it at least twice a week. Periodically, I flush them with water so I don't have a buildup of salts in the pot.

Kim, I feel better about what I'm doing now. It's nice to know my thoughts aren't totally wet.

You're welcome, Floridarosez. It makes sense to do it this way. Many water soluble and liquid fertilizers recommend a tablespoon per gallon for mature, established plants outside and half that strength for houseplants where there is much greater danger of salt build-up and much higher trahspiration. Feeding smaller, immature plants with half strength of the same stuff (of course, after making sure they were WELL watered so no burning occurs) helps to push them along faster. If twice weekly is working well for you, great! I don't do it more frequently than weekly, but our climates and soils used are different. As long as there are decent roots to the plant, feeding them the rose version of "baby food" should be perfectly fine, as long as it's done properly. Kim

I appreciate all the feedback. I believe I will try the foliar feed and will put the band inside a 1-gallon put. I'll let you know how the rose is doing in another month or so.

Ingrid

Um, I add a tiny bit of seaweed Maxicrop every time I water - I always feel I would prefer having a nice dinner and a snack at lunch time... rather than a massive feast once a fortnight. Doing this also obviates my continual forgetting of feeding times and dates and, as I have to water the pot garden at home, every day, the quantities are approximately a 5ml teaspoon to a 10litre/2 gallon watering can)...or one tenth usual strength.

Well that's interesting. I've been afraid to push bands yet plants I've ordered are much better looking than my own rooted cuttings. I'll start conservatively fertilizing with water-soluble. I've fried things before with fertilizer & was spooked to try, especially with difficult to find plants, but yeah, I'd like to "punch" them with dilute liquid fert. if they can handle it.

Long ago someone told me to feed "weakly weekly" rather than one big dose once a month. So my approach is the same as Campanula's. For potted plants I use 1/4-1/2 the recommended amount of fertilizer per gallon every time I water. Occasionally I use plain water. Works for me.

As long as the plants are sufficiently full of water so when the salt and water ions are exchanged, it doesn't result in a shortage of water compared to the increased salt, you can't burn them. I most often either water very early one morning, then feed later in the afternoon, or it will be tonight followed by a feeding tomorrow.

Of course, I don't feed during triple digit heat nor during periods of high winds as it's far too easy for plants to experience rather severe water stress without the addition of any salts to the root zone.

For measuring the fertilizer, I find it easier to simply put three tablespoons in a seven gallon bucket, then fill to the rim, rather than measure out seven, half tablespoons. Whatever size container you're using, just put in half (or less if you prefer) the usual amount of desired product, then fill with water. My observations agree with bellegallica's and camp's. Weaker feedings at more frequent intervals will jump start smaller plants and keep them growing more vigorously. It makes it easier to push seedlings and newly rooted plants to maturity where they can then begin fending for themselves. The method is definitely better for potted plants than the feast or famine method because it is virtually impossible to over fertilize and burn them if done correctly. Kim

Great follow-up post with more information, thank you all much.

Ingrid

I've just checked my pantry and see that I have seaweed extract and fish emulsion. Would either or a mixture of both be something I can use? I'd hate to buy something new when I already have these on hand if I can avoid it.

thanks for all the info!

I don't see any reason you couldn't use what you have, Ingrid. Those just wouldn't be as high in guaranteed analysis nor as balanced and complete as something like a Vigoro or Miracle Gro water soluble, nor would they be in as "ready to absorb" form as the inorganics. But, they also wouldn't be as 'salty' as they aren't the salt forms of the nutrients they contain. The organics will definitely have more "scent" to them which may offend some and attract "visitors" such as racoons and other meat eaters to the plant. If something digging the plant up to find what they're smelling isn't a potential issue, go for it. Kim

Hi Ingrid: You got seaweed and fish emulsion? Good stuff! Check out this quote: "Seaweed fertilizers contain almost every micro-nutrient in a fully chelated (immediately available) form. They deliver a healthy dose of natural plant hormones."

Annie needs LOTS OF MOISTURE. She refused to grow in full-sun for me, she kept pumping out blooms ... kept me busy pinching off blooms.

Then I put her in 4 hours of weak morning zone 5a sun, gave her some acid nitrogen fertilizer to balance out my above pH 8 tap water. She went beserk with that nitrogen fertilizer Lilly Miller NPK 10-5-4 (has all micronutrients). She doubled in size in 1 month. The pot was leaching out nitrogen with our constant fall rain. That's the only instance where that acid fertilizer did any good.

Annie did better when I put used lemons to bring down my tap water from 8.5 to that of rain water (pH 5.6). She will ball if rain, best to use gypsum (calcium sulfate).

I posted what Burling uses for fertilizer in Alana's thread "My First Bloom". Check that out as to the problem with Osmocote that Burling uses.

It might be good to shade her more with a tall chair. If you water her daily, more nitrogen will be leached. The Lilly Miller has chicken manure, so it's slow-release for the entire year ... I'm still cautious about using that stuff only for pots, and when wet.

Your fish emulsion with supply the trace elements. That's better than alfalfa meal, which gunks on top. I still have alfalfa meal gunking around my bushes from late fall application. They haven't decomposed yet !!

The best hole I made this year was with cocoa mulch at the bottom, NPK 2.5-1-3, pH of 5.4, with all the trace elements. That stuff decomposed fast in my wet clay, it retains moisture better than peat moss. You would not believe the amount of earthworms in the hole .. enough for a worm farm!

I grew Annie in the pot until she reached 2 gallon-root-ball, before I put her in the wettest spot in my alkaline clay. Annie survived my zone 5a winter, now with many green branches & basal breaks.

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Fri, Apr 26, 13 at 18:11

It's almost impossible to over fertilize here as pots must be watered every day, even winter, except very large pots. The sun here just sucks the moisture out of everything. That's why I say at least twice a week. Ingrid, I think the liquid would work much faster.

What ever you do, don't plant it directly in the ground. I did this with a robust band, into a well protected, well-prepared, well-situated site. It promptly died. I am on the waiting list for another Annie Laurie, and this one will be on the way to outgrowing its gallon before I attempt to plant it.

Rosefolly

Strawberryhill's suggestion that Annie Laurie McDowell can't be grown in full sun, should read, the BAND or small potted plant. Once established and mature, ALmD takes our heat and sun here, which I know is more extreme and intense than that in Chicago. Kim

rosefolly, this is the one rose that I'm not planning on planting in the ground for at least a year, but thank you for warning me about what happened to yours. Mine is far from being as robust as yours was.

strawberryhill, the other thing I didn't mention is that the leaves are rather pale, some almost yellowish, so perhaps that's because of the Osmocote. I have a feeling it will be some time before this little rose stops being a worrychild.

Ingrid

To feed bands, Kim, which is better fish emulsion with or without kelp? I have both already.

I'd think either would be fine, Kippy. It's been so long since I've used fish or kelp. I can't use either in clients' gardens as they all a have large dogs and they dig anyway. I can't use it at home because of racoons and other critters. I wouldn't think there would be anything in kelp the bands wouldn't like. I'd still use it half (or less) strength per feeding. Bands are babies and you don't feed babies adult food or adult sized meals. Kim

Hi Kippy: Nik from Greece in the English Roses Forum was the one who alerted me on the salt in clay soil. Since my soil is clay, I researched on the salt content of everything. Here's an excerpt from the below link:

" On this website, it says that kelp is very high in sodium. But it also says that 10 grams (2 tablespoons) of fresh kelp has just 23 mg of sodium, or 1% or your daily needs. Which is correct?

A. Dried seaweed will obviously be a more concentrated source of sodium. In fact, dried kelp granules are often sold as salt substitute."

***************************
Bands with wimpy roots would have a hard time extracting water from a salty medium. I would use just fish emulsion only, and that's what University of Mass. tested it with great result.

Hi Kim: Thanks for the info. about Annie in full-sun, that's where I planted her in the ground.

Hi Ingrid: Since University of Florida stated that " "Research in Florida indicates that excessive magnesium, potassium, sodium, ammonium salts or a deficiency of soluble calcium salts causes a decrease in calcium uptake, thus favoring development of the disorder." in regard to tomatoes' blossom-end-rot.

I tested the effect of high-salt, high-magnesium via watering 2 most yellow-bands with Epsom salt and MG soluble fertilizer (high-nitrogen & high salt) ... they got worse overnight: more withering, more yellowing ... check out the result in Alana's thread "My first blooms!!"

If Annie doesn't improve even with flushing with water, it may help to dunk the band in a bucket, to rinse off the high-salt Osmocote stuck inside.

This year's bands from Burling is different from last year. Last year she used loose sphagnum moss, plus loose MiracleGro pellets (have all nutrients)... plants were dark green. This year she used bark mulch with gunks of Osmocote inside ... many bands are yellowish.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kelp and salt

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Apr 27, 13 at 12:44

I used Osmocote (high nitrogen) on my herb pots before with the worst result ... stunt plant growth. Here's one more reason why Osmocote doesn't work from the fruit & orchard forum:

"I have some osmocote that I bought last year and it's analysis is 19-6-12.

The label says "derived from coated ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphate, calcium phosphate and potassium sulfate. I have repeatedly read that nitrogen in the "nitrate" form can be deadly on blueberries?"

One person answered "However, nitrate fertilizers can be detrimental to the blueberry. For this reason, ammonium forms of fertilizer are recommended, such as ammonium sulfate or urea. Ammonium sulfate is particularly good because it acidifies the soil...."

Here is a link that might be useful: Ammonium nitrate in Osmocote

This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sat, Apr 27, 13 at 14:49

I propagate roses for a hobby and also buy them from time to time,
when I get a too-small band plant from a nursery I now do three things, after trial and error and loss of tiny plants:
1. Plant the little rosebush in a gallon sized pot, or larger. I use Orchard Rose Soil, it has all my favorite amendments.
2. Put a big glass jar over the canopy, and push it into the soil about a quarter of an inch. A clear plastic jar or container will work too.
3. Place the pot in partial shade so the plant doesn't burn. In Soca I would place the pot in filtered shade, not partial.
I fertilize only with single digit fertilizer while a band sized plant is in the pot only 4-4-4 for a plant with roots that fill a band only partially.

The jar is important because it returns the plant to a greenhouse environment, where baby roses grow up under higher humidity.
Be sure the foliage does not touch the glass or plastic.
I'd leave an undersized band in the pot for 4 to 6 months depending on the season. The jar can be removed when the canopy is a about .75 foot square.

Right now protecting the life of the plant is the bigger issue, that is where the pot and jar come in, fertilizing will help it grow while in the pot.

Luxrosa