Feeding is dependent on whether the rose is a once bloomer, or repeat bloomer. I feed my once bloomers and repeat bloomers ONCE with an organic mix in the spring (mid to late April here in MD) and my repeat bloomers (those that I water) a second time a smaller dose in mid to late June. Finally, I had recommended feeding again in mid to late August every couple of weeks for 2 or 3 feedings with something like fish emulsion. Folks who want to grow repeat bloomers HT size to the MAX, like exhibitors, and for Fall shows in late September or early October are recommending a 1X ( = 1.75 cups) spring feeding with an organic fertilizer (~3-2-3) in mid April, a X in mid June and a 1X mid August. These are spread across a 30" circle around the rose and very lightly scratched in (not deep). Of course water is necessary to keep these organics working. This is what some HT folks do for the MAX, and it may include fish emulsion as well in August and September. Note that I vary the amount of fertilizer that I use by the size of the rose. The amounts above are for mature HTs that grow up to 6 or 7  each season. I use somewhat more fertilizer on shrub roses  perhaps 2 to 4 -12oz coffee mugs. Very large plants might use1 to 2  1 lb coffee cans. I have had reasonably good results with an organic formula used by some other HT folks  see below. The roses seem to almost explode out of the ground by June with reasonably good basal breaks. Nearly similar results have been observed with Rose Tone. Others use Mills Magic Mix or Fertrell. Some rose people are now using a once per season product, Osmocote Pro, comprised of coated spherical chemical for slow release with an IBDU fast nitrogen phase. Organic recipe that I use: 1 - 50 lb bag of Soybean Meal 1 - 50 lb bag of Alfalfa Meal 2 - 18 lb bags of Cottonseed meal (Espoma) 1 - 18 lb bag of Dried Blood (Espoma) 15 lbs of Bone Meal (~ 1/2 of Espoma 30 lb bag) Mix on the driveway or a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, and store in a 32 gallon trash can. Note the weight (~170 lbs) Âso that the filled trash can will remain in place until partially empty. This can challenge DH! However, I find that it gets emptied very fast. One mix can fertilize well over 100 plants depending on the size, and I can go through a "trash can of mix" in a weekend. Note that I find that night "critters" (probably foxes or racoons) sometimes dig around my newly fertilized plants. Note also that for reasonably good growth, I have observed that folks using alfalfa meal and compost get very respectable results that keep the plants growing well. The bottom line is that for good continual growth, nutrients must be available on a continuous basis. Nitrogen and potassium are taken up or leached out of soils rather quickly, more slowly with the organics. That is why some dahlia growers use sulphate of potash (0-0-50) and urea (40-0-0) on a 2-4 week schedule during the active growing season. Most of the organic formulations appear to last 6 to 8 weeks (some claim 12 weeks) depending on their composition, the abundance of soil microbes, temperature and water. Note that in the HT case, those growers back off on fertilization in the very hottest part of the summer when soil temps get higher than optimal for rose growth, and the nutrient components may break down faster as well  thus the shorter effective duration. The nutrient dose may be raised again when the cooler temps of late summer and fall will again support more vigorous rose growth, if it is desired. In my case, I fertilize most roses once and many of the repeat bloomers a second time. By then I am knee deep in dahlias and the roses are just enjoyed the rest of the season and are not grown to the MAX. However surprisingly, the moderns, teas, chinas and hybrid musks seem to keep growing fairly well. I believe that my bourbons and hybrid perpetuals will need to be fertilized on a regular basis in order to perform throughout the season. Note also that I am still developing my soil and it still is not sufficiently well permeated throughout with organic material. I need to get one of those multiple prong fork things that JohnnnyÂs Seeds sells! I suspect that if my beds were prepared as they are at Montisfont - deeply dug and I believe a high composition of organic (manure) material, I would need precious little additional nutrient for years  except perhaps a manure mulch in early spring. However, Jon is the one to comment on Montisfont beds. Good growing!

I start off the season with organic intentions. I'll scratch in rose-tone once a month, and toss around some alfalfa pellets and manure throughout the beds. I don't mulch until around Memorial Day since I'm usually planting seedlings around that time. Then as summer heats up, we get busy, all sort of creepy insects start hanging out in the beds, and things really fill in, it isn't as easy to meandre around scratching in rose-tone. At that point, I usually realize I'm way off schedule, so I start using MG. Since my roses are mixed into beds with other shrubs and plants, I think this August I may experiment with MG Bloom Booster on my spring flowering shrubs since they'll be developing flower buds at that time. I do like a mix of organic and chemicals. Though I really do prefer the organics, they seem to work better in the spring and early summer when we have a lot of rain. Things get dryer in the summer, and since I'm watering anyway, I figure I might as well just go for the MG at that time. One caveat though: We get hit extremely hard by Japanese Beetles around the 4th of July. The little monsters can hang around until October some years. So that is another reason that it doesn't really matter to go around with the organics. The JBs are just going to eat everything anyway. *sigh*

My Mary Queen of Scots is about to burst bud - but that's normal for her :) Fertilizer burn wouldn't do that though - not to the leaves...and Osmocote is good stuff. If they don't snap out of it very soon I'd start looking at viral causes. OH wait! Do you have a digital camera? The folks on the Rose Forum are wonderful and would be more than glad to help, but will request you post a picture. I wouldn't mind seeing one as well. I'm a little nervous with this weather, and last years that there may be some nasty stuff going around. I'll post a link of diseases w/ pics below and you can take a look. I really don't think you overfertilized... Here is a link that might be useful: A pretty good rose disease site...

Organic fertilizers have much lower nutrient concentrations than do synthetics so application rates are always higher. Compare an organic granular all-purpose fertilizer to a synthetic all-purpose and see the difference in application rates.....a synthetic 10-10-10 might only suggest 1/2 cup per plant. IME, my only concern about providers/manufacturers encouraging one to use too much fertilizer is with the frequency of application, not the amount. They would like you to think that your plants cannot possibly grow well and healthily without frequent, routine applications of fertilizer. And both organic as well as synthetic providers are guilty of this. But this is simply not true as a blanket supposition - both Sara and I never (or very rarely) ever fertilize established plantings and countless 1000's of others follow similar practices. The plants just do not require it or the gardener mulches with some sort of good organic matter that routinely resupplies necessary nutrients.