You can't really hurt them with this stuff. It isn't like ammonium sulfate where you can burn them in a second. I think the last label I read said something like a cup per plant per month during the growing season. I literally take a handful of the mixture and broadcast it like grass seed then water it in well. Nothing has complained yet!

I am in FL with similar temps but the amount of rainfall/watering may be different. In a normal summer we'll have a couple inches a month but it hasn't been normal for years. I have desert conditions whereas rain falls more inland Florida where many vegetable farms are located.

In the past my fert. schedule has been a cup or two (dep. on rose size) of alfalfa pellets plus some time release Dynamite fert. pellets twice a year, say March and then September. But I just "invested" in a more complete once-a-year fertilizer when I saw how beautiful CoolRoses plants looked. They graft roses onto Fortuniana and are on Florida's east coast (I'm on FL west coast).

Since using this fertilizer mix my roses as well as other plants really got a boost this year.

Johnny Becnels "once a year" rose fertilizer (from coolroses.com)
2 c. fish meal
1 c. time release fertilizer pellets
2 Tb. blood meal
1/2 c. alfalfa
1/2 c. epsom salts
1/2 c. dolomitic lime
1/2 c. Milorganite
1/2 c. gypsum pellets

The hardest ingredient to find in my small town was the fish meal because the local source was horribly expensive. Amazon had it much less expensive and FREE SHIPPING. How does this vendor make any money, it was 25 lbs!

Here's that link
http://www.amazon.com/Dr-Earth-749-Fish-25-Pound/dp/B0047BIW9E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1306592341&sr=8-3

Denise

Here is a link that might be useful: coolroses.com-fertilizer recipe at bottom

Denise, your recipe sounds "yummy" for the roses but it's not something I would use because of concern of possible extinction of the fish used for fish fertilizer and fish oil, which would upset the ocean ecosystem in the area where they occur. As always, the findings on this are controversial, but I'd rather err on the side of caution. It seems difficult to do anything nowadays which doesn't have some sort of negative effect on the environment. I suspect there are just too many of us nowadays to have a balanced environment.

Ingrid

No, probably no harm unless it clumps and molds around the bud unions. The only thing I have against the pellets is every rodent in miles is attracted to the stuff. The pellets take longer to break down and incorporate into the soil so it offers more feed for rats, squirrels, rabbits, etc. All of which are issues here on the edge of the chaparral. Kim

Kim, I don't use the pellets but rather the alfalfa meal which gets watered in more and more every time I water. The only one who seems attracted to it is my rat terrier. He also goes gaga over the coffee grounds I put down. A truly aberrant animal!

Ingrid

I use the pellets, but soak them first for several days; when it stinks, I pour it at the feet of the plants; some roses just get the tea, others get the pellet remnants which then break down slowly.

Ingrid, I well know the dog attraction of alfalfa! The Toy Fox Terrier here is a former breeder and she LOVES to eat any poop I miss in the yard. She has no health issues causing it. The vet says it's just her brood instinct. She WAS a great mother! The Chihuahua LOVES to eat dried, squashed snails, which is why I only use Sluggo in other areas than their run. She ignores the Sluggo but HE loves the stuff. Going out to do their "business" can become a real policing issue. Fortunately, no other animals can easily enter their run and I don't use any chemicals, including fertilizers (other than Miracle Grow liquid), in there. I KNOW they'd both go ga-ga over alfalfa, blood and bone meal! I'm not ready to police that far! Kim

I used to do the tea, but the stink and the hauling of pails all over the yard were too much. Then we tried chopping up the pellets in our food processor, but that was too much work. Last year I did it a bit different which I am going to repeat this year, actually today!

I took the alfalfa pellets and soaked them in a small amount of water. Not enough to make tea, but just to have them swell up and dissolve. Then I add in the other ingredients. I'm not that specific about the recipe. This year I scored some cottonseed meal and large bags of bone and blood meal. I also have some Milorganite and some old Miracle Gro that I'm going to throw in there (rather than throw out, I figure it's like a nice little boost for the roses). I wasn't able to find the fish meal (thanks for the link!) but I do use fish emulsion when I spray sometimes.

The mixture winds up very muddy. I joked last time that it looked just like wet cow plop, without going through the cow. Then DH shovels a scoop or two under the roses and I follow with the hose and went it down so it hopefully melts into the soil. I put down compost and manure earlier this year so the soil around the roses is very loose and porous.

I also use the pellets and water in immediately. They turn to mush instantly and don't seem to attract varmints once they're mushy (except my varmint horses who adore alfalfa). I learned the hard way not to get the pellets up close to the canes when I killed several potted roses I had put them in. Once they expanded, they were right up next to the canes, and the roses rotted.

I have a stainless steel Martha Stewart soil scoop, and I give roses in the ground one scoop each. Potted ones, I give a handful, making sure to stay away from the base of the plant.

poor DH put way too much under each rose and almost buried some of my potted plants with it, LOL. So I had to go around and move some of it. In the end, we only got 1/2 done and ran out of alfalfa. It's too hot to finish anyway. We'll do it next weekend.