This is something that I wonder about too - as I have a thick layer of sugar cane mulch over everything in my garden. My feeling is that the Sudden Impact disappears over time, and I don't think it evaporates, it must be going down. Whether it is just building up in the mulch, or is actually reaching the roots is another thing.

Unlike poppies, I believe roses are garden plants that need individual care to show their best. So removing some mulch and adding fertiliser, and covering again with mulch sounds normal to me. Also, bowing down on our knees, removing some weed and showing some respect to a rose is also a part of the ritual.
Adding fertiliser through mulch is same as applying night creme on your cotton gloves, and not directly on your skin. Well, it works to some degree, but it's a waste of creme, actually.
- Tom

I have thought about this too. I do like the creme reference Tom. LOL

At the risk of being shot down in flames by the perfectionists - I've just about given up mulching because my observation is that water runs off it rather than soaking in. Instead I underplant quite heavily, with Erigeron (Seaside Daisy) mainly, but also Delphiniums, Petunias, Nicotinia, Plumbago etc. I can rip the undergrowth away to feed, the roots are in the shade, and the water can get to the soil. Yes, I use more water and more food, but it looks beautiful and the roses seem very happy. Erigeron is my favourite because I can walk on it without doing any visible damage.
Sue

Susette, I don't think that anyone would shoot you down for not using mulch - applying a nice thick layer of mulch just seems to make things easier I reckon! If you have thick underplanting, it would probably act in the same fashion that mulch does - insulates from temperature extremes and retains water a bit better and so forth. People often recommend green mulch, and the only difference that you would have versus planting clover and what not is that you wouldn't get the benefits of plants that fix nitrogen. [But you do have the advantage of a pretty understorey!]

What kind of mulch have you used where the water runs off? I have used autumn leaves, and am now trying sugar cane mulch, and neither seem to have run off problems.

I've used sugar cane and pea straw. The sugar cane in particular seems to form a thatch, especially when it's really hot. The pea straw not so much, but I'm over trying to separate those bales.
Sue

Suesette - do you mean the tightly packed bales they sell in bunnings? I buy mine from the feed store, in farm cut bales. They are much looser and easy to seperate. Lucerne is another story - usually packs tightly.
I also have heavily underplanted beds - silene and the like - make nice dense mats, but i still put a little pea straw around the edges and packed around the roses. The pea straw itself contributes valuable nitrogen to the plants. I don't put it on very thick. I find a thin layer, while not completely suppressing weeds, makes it easier to pull them out, and keeps the soil moist. We have a lot of worms and they quickly turn it in, creating humus.
The beds with the least mulch and most underplanting here are the ones at mid thigh height - I find them so much easier to weed as required, where the ground level ones are becoming more of a chore. I am not big on getting in under rose bushes and getting thorns in my scalp. My major weeding is just after the winter heavy (severe) prune when i can get right in there and do a thoroughly good job, then put in a thick mulch of straw, and some newspaper on the really weedy spots.
I have been offered quite a lot of horse stable straw this year, from 2 sources. What do people think of this for mulching my roses? I will let it sit for a while to leech out the urine.
Cheers, Jan

Hi Jan - suggest you do some reading on manures - there are serious differences between horse, cow, pig and chicken manures but the main thing I got from my reading (oh dear, and this is only from memory...but...!) was that if you left it at least 3-4 months out in the weather, the nasties would have leached out and it would be great mulch. I bought a bag of sheep manure with wool in it and pooh-wee did it stink of urine every time I opened the bag. It totally put me off using it! I'd tip it out in my garden but I know my dog would roll in it every single day until the smell wore off !
Janine

I am sure both lots will have been piled up in the paddock for possibly longer. I generqally prefer to use sheep or cow manure because I have less weed growth. The seeds are mostly destroyed by the fermentation in the rumen in ruminant animals. The best lot of stable manure I have ever had was alpaca - full of little pellets :-)
With stable manure it is not so much a matter of "nasties" as you say - if you use it too fresh it is full of urine and can burn precious plants. Much like fresh chook manure.
The smell doesn't bother me. It is a natural part of country living.

Back again - the grandchildren effectively stuffed the computer last week.
Yes, Sparaxis, it was the pea straw from Bunnings. It was impossible, not even any use as duck bedding. I'll try the produce store.
Last year I used a mix of manures, it's for sale at every gate here in the winter.
I know I've read somewhere about the relative digestive systems and the effect on weed seeds, but can't remember what was thought to be best. I think I got more weeds with the stable manure than the alpaca poo.
I opened the bags pretty much when I got them home, put it all on a tarp, a long way from the house and covered it with another tarp. Didn't lose much at all to the weather, and didn't put the dogs in that part of the yard.
I've experimented with aged duck poo too, but gee you'd need a lot of ducks.

Or just one duck and plenty of patience? LOL

The arguement about mulch repelling water is a hoary old thing that goes on and on. The benefits of using mulch are substantial as Sparaxis's post about the worms, nitrogen etc. has described. If the mulch has become hydrophobic it is a simple task to just disturb it a bit with a rake, fork or hoe. You can also water on a wetting solution once every spring or summer. It is just the fungal Mycorrhizae that break down that yummy organic matter. Mulch definitely helps keep the moisture in the soil and protects those surface roots especially when water is scarce.

Here is a quote from an article off the web "Mycorrhizae extract mineral elements and water from soil for their host plant, and live off the plant's sugars. Trees and plants with thriving "mycorrhizal roots" systems are better able to survive and thrive in stressful man made environments."

Fertiliser pellets whether they are on the mulch or on the soil surface will eventually release nutrients etc. to the plant roots. It does not matter where they end up as long as they are above the root zone. If you have a lot of mulch and it is relatively fresh then it can pay to apply a bit of extra Nitrogen on like Urea or Sulphate of Ammonia. Do not put too much on as the plant might devote more time to producing leaf and less to flowers.

Personally, I am firmly of the belief that Roses do not like too much root disturbance so if you are growing stuff under them you are not getting the best out of them.