No, it's not too late.

It it almost too late here, where you are perhaps some alfalfa tea but absolutely no chemical fertilizer. The growth that would start in a few weeks as a result of the fertilizer would be all killed in October. Even my more tender roses are not getting anymore this summer and our cold weather wont be here until November.

Lance

This is another of those questions that you can get as many answers to as there are rosarians who answer. I used to quit feeding mine every year by August 15th, because that was what I was told was required. A few years ago, I started to question that. The new growth would be killed by Ol' Man Winter, was the conventional wisdom. Well, guess what, in my climate most of the old growth bites the dust, too! All but about 6-10" of cane has to cut away in the spring due to winter kill. So that year, I experimented. I continued to feed a few of my many roses until the end of September, enjoying lush growth and blooms like crazy right through October. When spring came, the roses that I continued to feed didn't fare any worse than those that I had stopped by mid-August. In fact, I have a feeling that because their roots were stronger, they probably came back stronger because of it. So I no longer quit feeding in mid-August. For what it's worth, my roses all continue to get Miracid right through the end of September.

For what its worth , I give them the last feeding Aug 15 too. I fed them July 15 and june 15. I like to see how tall they get. I enjoy growing roses, so thats what I do. I like to see the plant grow as well as the blooms. I find when I do alfalfa tea , Its a bloom encourager. So thats I did June and July. Waiting for the snow and Ice to leave took so long this year, so my roses didn't break out fast. I know how you feel.

Rosenutty - that's quite interesting. I'm not sure I'm brave enough to do that. I did add compost tea two days ago, but I'm stopping now. I would really like to see if you have the same results next year or if you had a really warm winter, so would have had good survival anyway. This is really interesting!! This is really important information for the further enjoyment of cold roser growers everywhere!! :)

Carol

I have stopped feeding mine for sure. (just go with no fertilizer after July rule) I Have seen beautiful new strong canes develop late in the season to be stunted because just too late in the season. I would rather the energy be saved for next years bloom'n season. I am with Lance, popparoseman on this. We are pretty close geographically. I still get a good show in September and am happy with that. After that, I am ready to shut her down anyway. Do not want the odd balled and soggy blooms after that. No point to me.
Pauline - Vancouver Island

rose nutty,
I did the EXACT same thing a few years ago with the exact same reults! I, like you, will continue to feed right up until the end of September, and enjoy the blooms I am getting up until early November!

I have stopped with the granular but still pour and spray the liquid stuff to the roses untill the dogs bark. I didn't buy anymore alfalfa this year as the leftover makes the basement smell like a hayloft all winter. New basal shoots are rabbit food anyways this time of year.

I used to withold all high nitrogen stuff this time of year, and that is probably still a good idea, although I am not as fanatic about it anymore.

DW has been working this summer and the garden looks like it. She is off for August so things should go better for our long anticipated fall flush.

Foghorn

Not sure for your location! Mine get Rosetone still and up till September! I feed them again after that in late January! Somthing I got from the rose Garden at The Planting Fields gardens in Oyster Bay. Roses around here tend not to go fully dormant with a good number of winter warm ups inthe last 10 years.

canadian_rose, this is either my 4th or 5th year of doing my roses this way (I can't remember for sure when I first did it). We've had some warm winters in there, but we've also had some pretty cold ones. I think I'm pretty safe.

I don't see anything particularly important about the manufactured vs. organic factor. In midwestern zone 5, nitrogen will continue to be released by organic feritilizers probably through September anyway. And it seems like alfalfa tea would be the first thing you'd stop if you want to reduce late-season basal growth. If I've applied several cups of organic fertilizer during the season, I assume there's enough there to support fall bloom. If I haven't, I would apply fast fertilizer lightly through mid or late September. One consideration is whether the plants get enough light to grow well in late fall.

I used to put kitchen scraps in the blender with some water and pour the slurry around the roses. I found that I had to discontinue this practice during September as it stimulated lush, late-fall growth and blooms. I'm sure that is safe enough for well established plants, but for plants which are declining or weak, it was damaging, and sometimes a death sentence.

In a very cold climate where weak plants will die in any case, that might not matter. For my climate, it did.

I can understand doing this to get the most out of this year's bloom, but I think, as usual, it all depends - I would not fertilize late (after mid-August here) with weak plants I really wanted to keep safe.

Regina

Rose nutty
I live in canada too, zone 5b and I think your process is very interesting. I was in two minds whether to fertilise or not but hearing your experience will go ahead and try it out this year. The first frost in our zone is not on till middle of october, so there is still plenty of time for the roses to think of dormancy.
Thanks for your comments.

You have to feed them something every month throughout the blooming seaason. If you haven't done this, you should have, so, NO, it's not too late to fertilize!

We have mild winters here. Very seldom get any snow (maybe once every 15 yrs. or so). I fertilize every month until I prune.
Roses here, are generally pruned in late August or first week in September (30"), but not as severe as in late winter(15"). I always fertilize after pruning, always. Bonne chance. T

Rose nutty - How cool is that!! Thanks so much for sharing your experiences - I going to give this a go with some of my roses!

Carol

I will spray my whole garden (roses and all) with
a hose sprayer, (I use miricle grow), around the
15th of August.

(Boy I bet I catch h--- for this)

John

Rose nutty,

Do you have extrememly alkaline soil? Is that why you feed with Miracid?

Just curious because we have alkaline soil also. Do you foliar feed with it? Does it hurt the roses any?

Before we hear rose nutty's reason, I'll just mention that Miracid is not acid and doesn't acidify the soil particularly. It differs from the other MG products in having more chelated iron and other trace elements, and in having more nitrogen (30-10-10). It is fine for roses except, in soils lacking clay, the low potassium isn't appropriate. With soils that retain nutrients, it should be a good rose fertilizer and you could use 1/3 less than with MG for Roses. (Because the fertilizer dose should be based on the nitrogen content.)

I have used Miracid for a number of years. I read somewhere long ago that it was better, and in my experience, it is. No, I don't believe that we have particularly alkaline soils, although I've never had a soil test done. I sprinkle it dry around my roses maybe once a month (and then water it in with my oscillating sprinkler), and I add 3 heaping TBLSP to a 2-gallon sprayer along with my fungicide when I spray that every 10-14 days.

When I fertilize I use MG. I sprinkle some at the base of each plant, then I turn on the sprinkler and let er go. Voila. Bonne chance chere, T