Hi, I’m in Palm Beach Gardens (Zone 10B) There are three varietals in this bed, the two taller ones are Mammoths. The one on the right is 10ft. This is my first try at Mammoths but, I’ll share what I did and what I think worked well. Planting Time: Direct sow in February, thin out slow growers to prevent crowding. Two seeds every 30”. Soil Prep: Dug a 2ft deep trench, 1ft wide. I have sand as well so I amended the soil with a compost/top soil mix from HD and granulated fertilizer for shrubs. Next go around I‘m going to add bone meal earlier, probably around thinning. Watering: Water in the morning daily until they get about 1ft tall, then I typically water every other day if there’s no rain. Important to make sure soil dries a bit between waterings and very important to give them a slow deep soak to encourage good root growth. These just survived a severe storm with 40mph+ gusts and hail. I think the care to the root system helped them. Feeding: Liquid fish fertilizer heavy nitrogen every 14 days. Added an inch of manure on the surface when they got about 2ft tall and dug out a 3” deep moat, 1ft radius around the stalks. This really helped to direct the fert and water to the roots. Added bone meal to the surface around the stocks in mid April, I’m going to do this earlier next time. Although it seemed to really help with producing new buds on the Autumn Sun varietal. I applied neem oil at night a couple times early on, soak the leaves on top and bottom as well as spray the soil surface. Also I had to apply copper fungicide early on to fight leaf rot. Got a little lazy and the Jerusalem Golds suffered. These get great morning light, slight shade in midday from a palm. The shed in the background blocks a significant portion of direct afternoon light and there’s a row of Autumn Suns on that side as well. I think they’d be taller with more light but, that’s a guess. I also, didn’t apply liquid fertilizer as regular as I could/should have. I think they could’ve benefited from a couple more feedings. Next go around, I’ll experiment with the feedings. I hope this helps.

I have a lot of experience with planting roses in pots. Consider why you want to use pots instead of planting your roses in the ground. If you want to keep your roses in pots for a long time I would consider a larger pot (10gal+) such as: I got this one at Costco ($20) a few years back. Now, if you want to pot up your roses temporarily for the purpose of giving your roses a head start, which is what I did this past year, I would recommend using cheaper nursery pots (the big box stores don't sell these, I buy mine from Diamond Fertilizer for around $1 each). I go all out and create my own potting mix by mixing top soil with compost, Perilite, granular fertilizer, and peat moss (1 bag + 1 bag + ten cups + 3 cups + 5 cups). It's an inexpensive way to pot up several dozen roses, but is very labor intensive. I used to mix in the crystals for hydration, but I didn't see much of a difference so I cut out the expense. I have found that the Miracle Gro Rose Soil is good, but I get the same outcome using the competitions garden soil (it costs around $6 a bag). I did cover my garden beds in professional grade ground cover to stem off the weeds and prevent the roses from rooting down in the ground, as this sets them back a bit when you have to relocate the pot and tear up the roots in the process. I only have a problem with needing to raise the roses off of the ground during the extreme wet months, and even then there's no predicting what will happen. I have planted several roses on Dr. Huey directly into the ground and the average life span runs between three and five years with very good care. The ones that survive past five years are those that set off on their own roots and tend to be very hardy (Don Juan, Sonia, Mister Lincoln, Queen Elizabeth, etc.). You will have to keep to a regular spray program in order to achieve success with these roses. I've found that planting these roses close to a house tends to increase their success. Unfortunately, I've had limited success with those bagged roses once placed in the ground. They are extremely difficult to start to begin with. Once you DO get them started, they tend to be less healthy than potted roses you'd find in the garden center (my experience). Try posting pictures of your situation for better feedback. Good Luck! -Adrian.

Blooming in flushes sounds nice! I don't spray either. I don't mind a little black spot and my garden is really very casual and spread out and no one can see if from the street lol, so I'm not really that picky. Of course, if it was so bad that it affected the health of the plant so it couldn't bloom then I might reconsider. I've got a back acre on one side of the property that has absolutely nothing (garden wise) on it except some trees around the perimeters. It is kinda hideous right now with tangled brush, wild little trees that sprouted up, and stuff I need to clear out. I want to make some nice garden rooms with roses back there and I need some that can get large. There is a fence on only one side of it between us and the neighbor and the barn and well on the other side. The back, backs up to woods that belong to the city and they don't keep it up at all so its like some huge thicket. I am planting Mermaid along the back to keep out trespassers lol, but not sure what else. Do you have your Purple Skyliner in full sun?

My recent harvest has a ton of these extra tagalongs. Some are quite long, four or five inches in length and thicker than the finger rhizomes. I decided to separate them and dehydrate them and grind them separately to compare to the flavor of the mothers and fingers. Well… they are sticky, starchy, white, flavorless… basically a sticky potato. I dont think im going to process them because they are flavorless goo raw and I don’t think dehydration will help the flavor; might make a good hashbrown though. Has anyone eaten them and lived to tell the tale?