Nutrog's Go-go juice is a probiotic-blend for plants, containing billions of beneficial bacteria. Here's an excerpt from below link, which also has pics. of less blackspots when Go-go juice is used.

http://www.neutrog.com.au/gogo-juice-2/

"The carefully selected microbes have been proliferated utilising

complex carbohydrates and sugars through a unique aerobic

brewing system in which the kelp, seaweed, humic acid and

manure have been digested by the beneficial bacteria."

*** From StrawChicago: I notice that my roses are most healthy when there's is a balance of nutrients to support micro-organisms. These beneficial bacteria suppress the growth of pathogenic fungi on the surface of soil. Balance of nutrients & organics also feed earthworms, which fluff up and aerate soil.

My 3 years of healthy roses? I used alfalfa hay and horse manure together, NO OTHER FERTILZERS. I should go back to doing what worked best. Below poster in HMF from Australia, also did the same. Lucerne hay is alfalfa-hay. Patricia Routley grows 546 roses in Australia.

25 MAR 14 by Patricia Routley

"A really simplified interpretation of NPK. N = nitrogen (for leaves); P = phosphate (for roots); K = potash (for flowers). It depends on your soil. If you have an excess of potash, then 14-14-14 would do. Roses like potash and if your soil has a deficiency of potash, then 15-15-30 would be better.

I almost never use chemical fertiliser for potted roses. Too burny. I use lucerne hay topped with sheep manure, and once every three months perhaps, 1/4 teaspoon of sulphate of potash."

My favorite poster in HMF is SteveinAustralia .. he posted great pics. & also gave good tips (sulfate of potash for blooming), plus other info.

27 OCT 11 bySteveinAus

I also put some thyme in the pot with it, to deter aphids (through the smell) ... Throw in the fact there's also a drainage hole in the side of the pot ... Thanks for the tip on the Seasol, too. How often do you use it? I've used some of that on most of our roses this season, as well as other things like blackstrap molasses, epsom salts, worm wee and coffee grounds, plus some kelp and blue green algae supplements (spirulina, chlorella and barley grass) from the health food store. I've also recently given some of them some chook manure granules and for the first time have spread around some lucerne mulch, which is apparently by far the best mulch, as it is loaded with nutrients and nitrogen, which feed the soil."

Lucerne hay is alfalfa hay.

I googled "alfalfa" in HMF, click RESOURCES, then click Q & A comment, then type in the search word. I notice that I use alfalfa: it stimulates healthy & balanced growth, Carol wrote the same in HMF:

21 JUN 12 byCarol T

I decided I have too many roses , over 200 not to have an irrigation system, I got one in August 2010. ... There was another year I noticed all my roses didn't look as great as they should. I looked back and hadn't given them alfalfa meal for three years. I find alfalfa meal rejuvenates the soil and the roses. Now we are having 95-100 degree heat wave, but I gave half of my roses alfalfa meal last week. Once it cools down I will work a cup into the soil of the roses I did not get to last week. I also give them Epsom Salts one a month. I have been an ARS member since 1986, I think I bought my first roses in 1985.
Back then they used to say to break the basal shoots once they reached 6-8 inches. Today they say to leave them alone, the rose knows best. I have tried it both ways and find the roses grow much better when the basal shoots are broken off at the correct height. The new shoot has a chance to harden off and can support the new growth on the stem, rather than end up with a candelabra which is unattractive and I end up cutting it way back after its done blooming.

Another recommendation for balanced & slow-realeased & low-dose fertilizer from HMF. Cass has 373 roses in San Francisco Bay.

5 FEB 10 byCass

Please contact a Master Gardener in your area to get information about the local soils. In my opinion, one-size-fits-all recommendations for fertilizing are generally unsound. The possible exceptions are annual applications of a cup of some form of alfalfa, good compost and mulch. Sound programs for fertilizing garden plants are those recommended after a soils test. I base this opinion on my experience with repeated soils tests in two gardens. I was wasting resources (time and money) using unnecessary fertilizers. A soils test demonstrated that my garden soils need only gypsum for calcium and a modest 1/4 cup of a very particular nitrate fertilizer. Epsom salts, so universally recommended, are harmful in my soils. Urea nitrogen, so common in commercial fertilizers, was already present in ample quantities.

Great info Straw... You know I can't find Alfalfa Hay in my area...Even our local feedmill does not have it... :-/

Anymore I don't like to even disturb the top layer of soil under roses...So if I ever have to apply a fertilizer it will be one that is effective just sprinkling on the top of the soil without having to scratch it in..

Jim: The pet store sells alfalfa hay in a small bag to feed rabbits. About $6 for a bag. Alfalfa pellets for rabbits IS NOT RECOMMENDED, due to the salt & sugar added. Alfalfa meal works just as well, if a balanced out with a touch of Garden Lime to neutralize the acid in rainy weather.

For those in CA, Cass provides excellent info. as to how her many roses (373) behave in Northern CA, hot & dry climate. VERY USEFUL info. for CA rose-growers. Lots of pics, plus honest reports of each rose's fault & diseases:

http://www.rosefog.us/

I find Cass to be very experienced & honest .. she grew 373 roses and offered excellent insights. That's why I love FlowerCarpet, no matter how heavy a blooming is, it never loses its leaves .. plus FlowerCarpet holds on to its blooms so long, and it's always in bloom. Cass wrote in her website:

http://www.rosefog.us/Resources/Horrors.html

"What makes a disease resistant rose? Roses go through cycles of new leaf growth and flowering, followed by petal dropping. Almost all roses drop leaves where a new flower stem emerges. My definition of good roses means they hold onto their leaves with good color and health after they flower and only start aging the lower foliage after new growth emerges -- and even then, they don't kill off much foliage. Not-so-good roses anticipate new growth: they prepare to drop leaves below the flowers even before the flowers drop. As those leaves age and die, they begin to show fungal disease. Experiment for yourself: cut off a perfectly healthy stem off a healthy rose and stick it in the ground. It will blackspot, rust, and/or mildew before it dries up and turns crispy brown. Growth patterns are thus a factor is disease resistance.

A fastidious rosarian can anticipate some problems by careful dead-heading that includes the removal of enough leaves below the spent flowers. That means knowing beforehand which roses need to have the entire stem removed! Other roses go through an unavoidable cycle of fungal disease after flowering before new clean growth emerges. These are not so good roses. To me, disease-resistant means disease resistant during and after flowering. After all, everything looks great in the early spring when the new growth is just emerging." Cass http://www.rosefog.us/Resources/Horrors.html

You like your flower carpets and I like our D. Ko's for that reason...lol

Interesting info on this Straw and Jim!

The rose garden has red knockouts that are not thriving at all Jim. Could be no water getting to them but they're very leggy and sparse on the leaf front, very much the OPPOSITE of your beautiful beauties.

Because I spend a significant time volunteering at the UGC, I can see what affects ground roses and I haven't seen a correlation between applying one thing to the ground versus what I am doing to my potted roses ...

Argh I think I'm rambling (luckily I'm amongst friends).

Agree with Msgirl: Knock-outs are water-hog compared to drought-resistant-Flower-carpet. In dry spells, I don't see much blooms on Knock-outs. Lynnie, bred by Kim Rupert in DRY CA, beat knock-out. Lynnie was earlier to bloom in dry & cold spring, and now blooming in our dry period, along with Flower Carpet. I don't water my landscape roses for the past many years, so I can see which one is drought-resistant.

I don't have any trouble with our Double Knockouts here... I really like them as they are always in bloom... And I do not water them...

Other areas of town I see some regular Ko's & D Ko'd struggling...It must depend on the care given and the garden soil they are planted in etc......

Our neighbors 2 pink Ko's did poorly this year...Her pink D.Knockouts did fine!

Our local Catholic Church has around 20 Ko's roses a mixture of D. Ko and KO's of different bloom colors... All are doing poorly! So they probably need to be replaced with something of the non rose type for the churchs type of conditions and the little care that's provided from the church...

Better pruning, soil, care by the Church and the Ko's might be ok but I'm not sure...

They had 40+ different KO roses at one time but are down to 20...

I don't think Knock-out likes our heavy alkaline clay. The townhouse nearby has a dozen knock-outs, they all died. So does Walmart nearby, they once had over a dozen knock-outs in their parking lot ... they all died. But FlowerCarpet has been around the neighbor for 15+ years .. none of them die, including the very double-clusters (zillion of petals).