If I'm going to mulch with hay or straw, would my best option just be to go to a feed store? I live in Dallas, but there are several feed stores within driving distance... I remember when I had guinea pigs, this one store offered to give me all the sweepings out of the hay trucks for free (the stuff that fell off the bales). How thick do you put on the mulch, and how do you continue to fertilize after you mulch? Pull some up, add fertilizer, and lay the mulch back down (or re-mulch)? Feed store might be your best option if a day trip to the country with a truck is out. Here the big round bales go for $30 and that is enough to mulch a huge garden with or smaller beds with for years. :) How thick? Like shebear said, timing is everything. You want the ground to warm first but not get too warm. For that reason my 6-8" total goes on in 3 layers, 1 2-3" layer at a time so that it is all on by the end of June or early July. You may need yours on sooner in your locale. For fertilizing you just rake a narrow slot of it back about 6" from the row or the plants, lay down the fertilizer, work it in to the soil, and rake the hay back into place on top of it. X X X X X --------- Or if you use drip irrigation (or soaker hose) like I do on some of the garden you can feed with fertigation through the water system. I also agree with shebear that some added leaf mold if you can get it would be great and if you have lots of fall leaves available be sure to collect the compost them this fall for the beds next spring. Dave

I wish I had a nickel for every time someone came to my yard, admired my plants and then said since I was a "professional" I must be using some secret fertilizer on my plants to make them look so nice. Are they surprised when I explained I buy what is cheapest at the time! K-grow from K-mart for a liquid fertilizer. High in Urea so it takes about two weeks before you see any reaction by the plant. I mention this because their are no "miracle fertilizers". I am not buying tomato grow, rose grow ect for each plant i fertilize. Yes I agree some plants are more heavy nitrogen feeders than others. Sometimes the issue is the fertility of the soil you have. I have used 10-10-10 on my tree fruits with good results. I have used lawn fertilizer (28-0-16) and had good results too, just use at a much lower rate as higher in nitrogen. My soils are fine on phosphorus and we have a phosphorus ban here anyway unless it is a new planting. I did not spring for a soil test but let the trees tell me the problem. I strive for 18"-24" of new growth on young fruit trees. If I don't get it, then next year I fertilize. Too much growth, then cut back or eliminate fertilizing the following year. I fertilize all my young fruit trees with a granular fertilizer just after leaf out by broadcasting it around the drip-line of the tree. My soil must be very low in nitrogen as imust apply a lite application around old established trees too or their foliage turns yellow-green by mid-June. I fertilize the old trees at about half the rate I use on the young ones so I do not promote a lot of growth but have good leaf color. I know this is not scientific but it has worked for me and I am happy with the results. If I was professionally growing fruit for a living, I would gladly pay for a soil test as well worth the cost and not worth the risk of going without it.

Using just Easy Feed won't have any detrimental effect on your roses. Think of you drinking a can of Red Bull once a week for your energy boost. It'll last for an hour or so but then another can would be necessary to maintain the energy. Easy Feed is similar. It shows in the plant's growth. A quick spurt of green and larger leaves is followed by smaller leaves until another dose is applied. Feeding a slower release product results in a steady even growth pattern. A little fertilizer applied often is better than a lot all at once. Organics or slow release chemicals such as Osmocoat release nitrogen at a slow steady rate, while the high nitrogen liquids give a quick shot then are gone.

Yes, the fertilizer recommendation is almost certainly a wild shot in the dark. As bb has already said, get someone there who knows something, or take sample to plant pathology lab if there is one in your area. Do you see any resinous globs of material below any branches that are unhealthy or dead? +oM