Trace elements for blooming and antifungal agents against diseases
Many thanks to Khalid and Anna for their honesty in posting pictures of mineral deficiencies in their roses' leaves. Khalid and Anna triggered my curiosity to dig up useful info. Blooming takes a lot of potassium & calcium & magnesium, plus trace elements. Roses become diseased after blooming, due to depletion of potassium & calcium, plus trace elements.
Rust, mildew, and blackspots are fungi that grow on leaves when the trace elements are depleted after blooming. The below link lists the antifungal agents.
http://www.thesilveredge.com/pdf/Antifungal_Properties.pdf
"Lukens (6) reviewed the work of S. E. A. McCallan and F. Wilcoxon, who examined the fungitoxicity of the elements in relation to their position in the periodic table. Generally, toxicity within a group increased with atomic weight. Silver and osmium were the most toxic elements. Data from J. G. Horsfall have been summarized (7) and show that metals are arranged in the following descending order of fungitoxicity: Ag > Hg > Cu > Cd > Cr > Ni > Pb > Co > Zn > Fe > Ca.
http://www.thesilveredge.com/pdf/Antifungal_Properties.pdf
*** From Straw: Listing in the order of the most potent antifungal properties: Ag stand for silver. Hg stand for Mercury. Cu stand for Copper. Cd stand for Cadmium. Cr stand for Chromium. Ni stand for nickel. Pb stand for lead. Co stand for Cobalt. Zn stand for zinc. Fe stand for iron. Ca stand for calcium. Let's see how Woodash stack up in anti-fungal properties later.
Below is a picture of 100% clean roses in my garden in late fall 2012, after frost zapped tomatoes in October (see dead tomato on right corner). They were mulched with a thick layer of horse manure at pH over 8 (stable limed their manure with shell-lime). There are many trace-elements and beneficial bacteria in horse manure which suppressed pathogenic fungi like blackspots, mildew, and rust. The roses pictured below are: Francis Blaise, Liv Tyler, and Pink Peace .. all were own-root roses:
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Elemental Magnesium
Comments (31)Brad - if you thought what I said was, adding Mg is = to snake oil and will ruin soils in the long run, you don't really understand what I was trying to convey. Simply put, thinking that increasing the amount of Mg your plant is getting based on the assumption that more Mg is necessarily better, is far more likely to end in loss of potential rather than gain. Increasing the level of Mg to eliminate a known Mg deficiency is about the only scenario I can think of other than increasing the Mg supply beyond what would normally be reasonable to fix one of those unusual situations where an excess of Ca is blocking uptake of Mg. In addition, the color of hydrangea blooms is an entirely different topic and much more complicated than the discussion about adding Mg to soils in willy nilly fashion. From something I wrote a few years back on another thread: "Three different pigments - chlorophyll, flavonoids, and carotenoids - mixed in different proportions, give color to plants. By mixing and matching the three pigments, an endless variety of colors can be created. E.g. most reds are the result of mixing orange carotenoids with magenta flavonoids. Cellular pH (not to be confused with soil pH) has a profound effect on plant color. Even most experienced gardeners think that lowering soil pH produces blue blooms in hydrangea. Technically, it is only a part of the equation. Lowering soil pH makes aluminum ions more available for plant uptake. The aluminum is then available to bond with pigment compounds (anthocyanin, the colored component of flavonoids) changing the way color is reflected. Our perception is blooms changing from pink to blue. The anthocyanidin group is what makes apples, autumn leaves, roses, strawberries, and cranberries red. They make blueberries, cornflowers, and violets blue. They also make some grapes, blackberries, and red cabbage purple. One of the things that changes the color of anthocyanins is the level of acid or alkali (the pH) in the cell surrounding the pigment. As cellular pH increases, the pigment changes structure and reflects different wavelengths of light. The anthocyanin reflects bright pink in acid cell environments, reddish-purple in neutral and green in more alkaline cells. When I write things it's never from the perspective of one size fits all; and when I disagree, it's usually because I see someone offering a 'one size fits none' perspective that has the potential to diminish someone else's growing experience, either because it's simply wrong or not qualified to the degree it can simply be overlooked. Al...See MoreAnti-fungal nutrients for roses
Comments (140)Hi Sharon: You benefit me & others with your intelligent questions, which enable me to see what I did wrong with my past experiments. How did I cause rust by throwing POWDER GYPSUM on top? I repost the info: There's a U. of Nebraska research on rust, with the title, "Medium pH and Leaf Nutrient Concentration Influence Rust Pustule diameter on leaves of dry beans." Their conclusion: Plants grown in pH 5.8 medium show significantly larger rust pustules than plants grown in pH 6.5 or pH 7.9. Concentrations of Cl (chloride) and Mn (manganese) were more in high rust. In contrast, concentration of K (potassium) were less in high rust." From Straw: Alabama Agriculture Cotton Research also recommended potassium fertilizer to reduce rust. Info. about gypsum from USAgypsum.com: Elemental Calcium......21.0% Elemental Sulfur (S)....17.0% pH...................................6.8 Kelp4Less sells 5 lbs. of GRANULAR GYPSUM at 18% sulfur for $12.50 .... more than my local feed store, or Menards at $4.49 for 25 lb. bag. There's a quarry nearby that manufactures gypsum, so cheap here in my Chicagoland. I WOULD NOT use Pennington gypsum plus lawn fertilizer, if it's chemical nitrogen (high in salt). What I did wrong was to throw 1 cup of POWDER-gypsum on top ... it's acidic, plus fast release of calcium, which drove down potassium, necessary for rust-prevention. Previous times with 1/8 cup of GRANULAR gypsum, along with sulfate of potash ... no problems whatsoever. I would use even less GRANULAR gypsum, like 1 teaspoon, along with 1 teaspoon sulfate of potash, plus 0.2 cup of Milorganite. The best ratio for veggies is 1 part nitrogen, 1 part potassium, and 1/2 part calcium. Roses have a higher need for calcium, so I use equal amount to potassium. Sulfate of potash NPK is 0-0-50, and Milorganite NPK is 5-2-0. Take 50 divide by 5, you'll get 10. Ten teaspoons of Milorganite is equivalent to 0.2 cup, best with 1 teas. of sulfate of potash, and 1 teas. of gypsum. I would use more sulfate of potash & gypsum with pale own-root like Jude which needs more potassium for blooming, plus more sulfur for leaves to be darker-green. PALE own-root like Duchess de Rohan, W.S. 2000, Jude, Eglantyne, Honey Bouquet, Comte de Chambord can take more gypsum at 17% sulfur, and more sulfate of potash at 23% sulfur. DARK green roses grafted on Dr. Huey, and French roses dislike acidic sulfates. Bone meal has high sulfate at 2000 ppm, and 400 iron & 300 sodium, with the dark-green roses break out in diseases. I put too much bone meal in Gruss an Teplitz hole ... he's the parent of Dr. Huey, it became a BS-fest, and I had to fix the hole. Pennington fish pellets NPK 4-6-6, high phosphorus with fish bone meal. The pale & lighter-green roses LOVE that tea, today tiny Jude broke out in 2nd flush, 3 more buds with that tea, very fast repeat. Austin roses, bred in an acidic & high rain England like that ratio ... The ratio in David Austin Rose food has NPK 9.5 - 7.5 -10 ... a bit higher nitrogen due to high-rain England, which leaches out nitrogen. Acidic sulfates help pale-own-root to bloom better, but sulfates also burns if in direct-contact with roots, best as SOLUBLE. Pennington pellets is best as SOLUBLE tea under hot sun, to spoon-feed wimpy own-roots which can't acid-phosphatase as band-size. Bone meal is OK for pale own-root the planting hole, if mixed-thoroughly and buffered by plenty of soil. Bone meal burns if applied on top. Concentrated amount of sulfates near the stem burn. One person killed his tomato plant by topping with Jobe's Organic tomato fertilizer NPK 2-7-4, high in bone meal. When I mixed that stuff THOROUGHLY in the planting hole, I got bumper-crop tomato. Same with gypsum, at 17% sulfur, and sulfate of potash, at 23% sulfur. Both burns my finger, and burns any root, best used as soluble. If I sprinkle some on top, I flood the basin immediately with water, to dilute that, along with milorganite for nitrogen. Tomato Tone has NPK 3-4-6, neutral pH & less phosphorus ... it didn't burn my tomato plant, so that can be applied at 1/4 cup before a rain. It's finer particle & tend to float, best to let rain work that in. Milorganite is best 0.2 cup with 1 teas. sulfate of potash and 1 teas. of granular gypsum .... spread that on top before a rain, if you are lazy like me. Safe approach would be Milorganite on top, then make soluble out of potassium & calcium per gallon of water. Roses are all different from each other, the pale ones require more sulfates, potassium, and phosphorus via SOLUBLE to bloom. The darker-green leaves like Dr. Huey can secret acids to utilize nutrients from soil, thus breaking out in diseases when too much acid is supplied, like rain-water (pH 5.6 in East coast), or sulfates in bone meal, gypsum, and sulfate of potash .. which are components of Pennington Pellets. Sharon, best wishes with your roses. They all are different from each other ... such as pale Graham Thomas which required an ungodly amount of potassium & phosphorus as soluble to bloom for a Texan. It took me 3 years, and countless failed experiments to learn the above. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Sun, Jul 20, 14 at 11:19...See MoreAdding trace elements to prevent fungal diseases
Comments (13)Hi Jim: thanks for the picture of the mountains in your PA area ... that's so beautiful !! I live 1/2 hour northeast from DeKalb, IL. You are right that DeKalb is flat, mostly corn fields. I have more trees & and varied scenery here. My heavy clay is fertile too. I don't need to fertilize much, but I need to add trace elements for disease-resistance. This is my first year WITHOUT horse manure, and it's the most black spots, and disappointing year !! Horse manure NPK is low, but high in trace elements, thanks to its being a good source of bacteria. Plus zinc and copper vitamins added to the feed. Even if the soil is tested sufficient in NPK, with constant rain, and after heavy blooming .. nitrogen and potassium are leached out. Nitrogen can be re-supplied again with nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which is abundant in organic matter like composted manure. But potassium has to be supplied via fertilizer. Henry Kuska, professor of chemistry and once had a garden of over 1,000 roses, made an excellent observation that perhaps roses become depleted of potassium after a bloom cycle, esp. late fall. I agree, I gave Comte de Chambord a big-dose of potassium at the start of its 2nd flush ... it gave many petals-bloom, and the bulk of the blooms are heavier than the leaves plus the wimpy root. Now at the end of its flush, it's breaking out in B.S. To make zillion-petals bloom, a lot of potassium and calcium are needed prior to each flush. Less-petals like Knock-out are more disease-resistant, because the bulk of its roots is more than the bulk of the blooms ... the roots can easily fetch more nutrients. So for wimpy-root roses like Comte de Chambord and Jude the Obscure, immediate soluble fertilizer is needed for blooms & disease-protection. Why Mr. Lincoln is more disease-resistant for your soil than else where? Perhaps Mr. Lincoln root is most vigorous in your particular soil to fetch the nutrients needed to fight against diseases. Romanticas are clean in my alkaline soil, since their roots are very vigorous at my soil pH, with plenty of dolomitic lime for them. Your pic. shows the mountains in PA, which means less air-flow than my open Chicagoland. Plus I don't get dew, as you stated, "Here we get heavy dews outside. So around 10pm the leaves on our roses are getting wet as if it rained. They dry off early to late morning so perfect breeding grounds for BS." I find that dry & leathery leaves like Crimson Glory (prone to mildew in dry climate) tolerate wetness on its leaves. Crimson Glory is my top-clean rose, even after 1-week of constant rain. Same with shiny leaves like Pat Austin ... that one is known as a water-hog & loves the rain, but become droopy in hot & dry weather. Christopher Marlow has thick & shiny & rain-resistant leaves. It's the thin-leaves like Comte de Chambord that can't take the humidity nor wetness. I have to give that SOLUBLE calcium & potassium to make its leaves thicker. Same with Gruss an Teplitz, leaves can't take wetness, and he's the parent of Dr. Huey rootstock. Zinc and copper are the 2 strongest antifungal agents, and some soil are more deficient in those. That's why this year without horse manure, my roses are the worst ever. Calcium is a weaker antifungal agent, but it still works. That's why my Duchess de Rohan planted in my clay fixed with tons of gypsum, is 100% clean despite being a shady, perpetually wet spot where other perennials are mildewed, and other roses with BS. My clay is dolomitic lime, and I'm next to a limestone quarry, yet my soil is tested barely adequate in calcium. One hundred plus-petals bloom like Austin roses require lots of calcium and potassium, versus less-petal Knock-out. Below is a bouquet picked today, July 23, showing the many petals roses. The firm-petal one like Stephen Big Purple which lasts long in the vase, also requires an ungodly amount of calcium. It does very well next to my limestone-based patio, and doubled in growth after application of gritty lime. Pink is Sonia Rykiel, yellow is Golden Celebration, small beige Mary Magdalene, big peachy pink are Evelyn. This post was edited by Strawberryhill on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 22:56...See MoreOrganic Way to Fight Fungal Disease??
Comments (7)Question for Lynn: Is the calcium level in your soil high as well? I checked my 12 tomato plants this morning. The ones in the front (flat ground) with gypsum, plus bagged cow-manure are perfect, zero yellow lower leaves, but the ones in the backyard (without gypsum for this year) ... all have yellowish lower leaves, despite the advantage of on a tall raised bed. Will post pics. later. Below are some pics. from the internet of calcium deficiency in tomato. I see blackspots on Carding Mill, which I DID NOT put gypsum in the planting hole, only alfalfa pellets. But the other roses with gypsum & cracked corn in the planting hole are 100% clean, despite another all-night rain last night. This is our wettest year !! Calcium has anti-fungal properties. http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/calcium-deficiency-tomato-fruit-19943968.jpg For those who don't have access to red-lava-rock to buffer rain-water against black-spots, rock-dust is equally good in re-mineralization of plants (good defense against fungal disease). Below is a link that sells rock-dust at 5 lbs. for $16 (includes shipping). "Agrowinn-Minerals Rock Dust (CDFA Registered) is the best rock dust on the market (also known as rock powder or stonemeal) - and can be used successfully on all varieties of plants, trees, and vegetables. This Volcanic Rock Dust is environmentally friendly and will not leach into your ground water." http://www.fertilizeronline.com/rockdust.php Agrowinn Minerals provide natural Phosphoric Acid, Soluble Potash, Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, and numerous other trace minerals with this guaranteed analysis: Guaranteed Analysis: Available Phosphoric Acid (P205).....................................0.13% Soluble Potash (K2O)..........................................................0.11% Calcium (Ca)........................................................................ 1.23% Magnesium (Mg)...................................................................1.74% Iron (Fe)................................................................................ 0.8465% Sodium (Na) ......................................................................... 1.20% More info. on rock dust: "Locally, I have granite dust available from the gravel pits, which is okay to use but not best. The mixed gravel dust from the local stream beds is better. A better yet rock dust comes from glacial gravel or volcanic rock like basalt. Another is montmorillonite. Montmorillonite is a very soft phyllosilicate mineral that typically forms in microscopic crystals, forming a clay. It is the main constituent of the volcanic ash weathering product, bentonite. [6] Read more: http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/727/#ixzz3e5UQAn00...See Morestrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoLet's compare the copper content in red-lava-rock versus cracked corn:
http://www.palmercc.com/lavarock.htm
Nitrate Nitrogen.................................4.0 p.p.m.
Phosphorus........................................6.0 p.p.m.
Potassium.........................................59.0 p.p.m.
Zinc.........................................................6 p.p.m.
Iron..................................................10.0+ p.p.m.
Copper...............................................5.5+ p.p.m.
Magnesium.......................................2.0+ p.p.m.
Boron.................................................10.0 p.p.m.
Sulfate.................................................7.0 p.p.m.
Organic Material...........................................5%
PH.........................................................8.2 Units
Calcium..................................1.3 Meq/100 gmAbove are values for red-lava, let's consider cracked corn below.
Cracked corn is acidic at pH 4, to neutralize my alkaline soil at pH 8.
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5687/2
NPK of corn meal is 1.6 / 0.65 / 0.4 .... that's better than horse manure NPK of 0.44 / 0.17 / 0.35. Whole-grain corn's minerals profile: 53% magnesium, 25% iron, 35% phosphorus, 14% potassium, 40% manganese, plus anti-fungal agents of 37% selenium, 24% copper, and 26% zinc.
The copper in corn is more available to plants since it's chelated to an organic, rather than hard-mineral like red-lava. I put corn in a few planting holes: very good in deepening the color. Yves-seedling is giving me dark pink blooms now in a pot (I moved it, to loosen up the hard-clay). When it was in its previous hole (fixed with cracked corn), the blooms were deep red.
Crack-corn with a balanced supply of trace elements, plus good-drainage gave 24% copper anti-fungal agent to my Tchaikosky, Double Delight, Gruss an Teplitz, and Comte de Chambord. I also water them with red-lava-water. See July pics. below:
Both Double-delight and Gruss are known as blackspot & fungus-prone ... but they are clean with cracked corn in the planting hole. Also cracked corn gets moldy, which provides mycorrhyzal fungi for optimal nutrients uptake. Red lava is a good supply of anti-fungal trace-elements, but it needs to be soaked in acidic rain water. Some pics. of Double-Delight and Gruss taken during July, 2016 in humid & rainy weather: Gruss an Teplitz with Sundowner next to it:
Double-Delight picture taken July 27, 2016, after prolonged rain & humidity over 60%:
Tchaikosky, 2nd year own-root with cracked corn in planting hole. Pic. taken July 27.
Comte de Chambord, as 4th year own-root (tons of cracked corn & gypsum in planting hole), picture taken early July:
Radio Times (an Austin rose), picture taken July 15, also has cracked corn (pH 4) in the planting hole, and red-lava-rock (pH 8.2). Both provide slow-released anti-fungal agent of copper & other trace elements.
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
Above pic. is the base of Gruss an Teplitz (BS-prone) after week-long of rain and humidity over 60%. Picture taken July 27, only a few leaves with blackspot. Gruss, the parent of Dr. Huey, is known as blackspot and mildew prone.Note the crinkled leaves (copper-deficiency) of Sundowner rose on the lowest right side of picture. I did not put cracked corn in Sundowner's hole, and regret it terribly, it's infested with blackspots, while Gruss is OK. I'm testing pureed mint on Sundowner right now.
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago2 tablespoon of fresh peppermint has 5% manganese, 3% copper, and 3% vitamin C. Mint wilted my cut-blooms really bad in the vase (salicylic acid, which is used in rooting) .. I tested too much mint with cut-blooms, like 1/2 cup.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=102
Lentils is very high in molybdenum (most lacking in acidic soil), plus high in copper. It's easier to soak lentils overnight, then pureed it with a blender, to feed to Sundowner rose, than to dig it up ... I'll try lentil-pureed if the mint fails on Sundowner.
Another possibility is the bare-root hasn't grown well in soil (bought in May as a tiny stick grafted on Dr. Huey). It was healthy during blooming, but became a BS-fest after blooming, so the tiny root wasn't able to obtain nutrients from soil.
See below link for lentil nutrients:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=52
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
Above picture is my Austin roses (Mary Magdalene, Pat Austin, and Radio Times) at 80 degree summer heat .. that's during their 2nd year in 2012. They were planted in Scott's Top soil (made of acidic peatmoss & local clay & woodash to impart the black color). They were very healthy & bloomed lots, until I gave it a 2nd application of acid-fertilizer with chemical nitrogen .. that was too salty, and some leaves got mildew. That's the 1st time I had mildew on roses !!
From that time on, I quit buying chemical fertilizer with ammonia and urea (salt index of over 80). These roses were 100% healthy in Scott's bagged soil .. good stuff made from local clay and wood-ash mixed together. Bagged Soil (with wood-ash) is a cheaper buy and more anti-fungal agents than fertilizer.
Wood-ash has 233 of zinc, Boron 123 .. these are vital for blooming.
Cadmium 3 Chromium 57 Copper 70 - These are anti-fungal agent.
Lead 65 Mercury 1.9 Molybdenum 19 More anti-fungal agent.
Nickel 20 Selenium 0.9 More anti-fungal agent. pH of woodash is 10.4My roses were healthy (zero blackspots) when I topped them with bagged soil (with wood-ash). But my roses had more blackspots when I used chicken manure (too much salt & phosphorus & plus antibiotics)
Chicagoland Ace Hardware has the best bagged-top-soil. I once put some of that bagged top soil, plus grass seeds .. and the grass were twice taller than my lawn !!
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7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agoBest buffer for acidic rain is Clay, esp. the lighter color has free lime, or available calcium. The lighter & heavy clay is high in pH.
Clay with free lime (calcium) helps with nitrogen and calcium uptake, to keep leaves solid. My William Shakespeare 2000 (own-root) used to have large holes in its leaves after at least 30 gallons of rain dumped on it (overflow from the rain-barrel).
I fixed the drainage, but when it rained, there's holes in the leaves. Finally learned that calcium & potassium & magnesium leach out the most during rain. Since W.S. likes it acidic, I gave it gypsum plus clay on top, and no more holes after that. Alkaline clay is high in calcium & potassium and magnesium.
Acidic clay, or soft clay like my last house is high in manganese, iron, and aluminum (toxic to root). Raising the pH through dolomitic lime makes aluminum LESS AVAILABLE, plus RELEASE calcium & magnesium. Below are excerpts from CLEMSON Extension:
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/other/soils/hgic1650.html
"Rainfall also affects soil pH. Water passing through the soil leaches basic nutrients such as calcium and magnesium from the soil. They are replaced by acidic elements such as aluminum and iron. For this reason, soils formed under high rainfall conditions are more acidic than those formed under arid (dry) conditions.
Application of fertilizers containing ammonium or urea speeds up the rate at which acidity develops. The decomposition of organic matter also adds to soil acidity."
Clay is the holding substance for nutrients, without clay, nutrients get leached out fast during heavy rain. Below are some pics. taken Sept. 30 showing the effect of reversal of blackspots by topping with calcium plus anti-fungal trace in chicken manure. Veteran Honor is a wimpy own-root in a fast-draining pot (I drilled at least a dozen holes), can't put clay on top, so I put gypsum (21% calcium) and chicken manure (high in anti-fungal trace elements)
The danger zone is when leaves are really dark-green, that's when I put alkaline clay to make leaves paler & less prone to blackspots. Below is Pat Austin, pic. taken Sep 30. Note the DARKER-GREEN BS-prone lower half, and the PALER clean leaves, achieved by high pH clay, plus chicken manure to stimulate new growth, and sulfate of potash for buds. It's in less than 4 hours of sun, poor drainage. Will dig that rose up to fix drainage after it's done blooming.
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7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoThis summer I bought 14 own-root roses from Roses Unlimited, I kept them in pots to do experiments. Some pics. of Louise Este taken Sept. 30 to show how tons of rain can cause blackspot in very loamy potting soil, and reversal of blackspot through anti-fungal trace elements in chicken manure and horse manure.
Note the BS-old leaves from too much rain plus weekly SOLUBLE fertilizer NPK 5-3-5 (too low for fast leaching in rain). The pale leaves is through my testing high pH 9 tap water :
The same anti-fungal trace-elements (zinc, boron, and copper) is also used in forming flowers. This is to show roses consume a HUGE amount of nutrients in forming buds, and that's best through manure, or high NPK of 20-20-20 (with added trace elements).
At pH below 5 (acid rain), less calcium & magnesium & phosphorus and potassium available, thus high NPK fertilizer plus calcium is needed. Also loamy soil leaches out nutrients fast.
I grew roses in pots with weekly NPK 20-20-20 before, achieving 15 buds on Sonia Rykiel as 1st year own-root, but that didn't have daily acidic rain. My hard-well tap-water at pH 9 was actually good, it's high in calcium.
Now I understand why Chicago Botanical Garden recommends 3 applications of SOLUBLE NPK 20-20-20 per year for loamy soil. A high NPK is needed for loamy soil, since there's no clay to retain nutrients.
Below is Louise' 100% clean upper part through RECENT horse manure/chicken manure, plus it's forming a bud. Pic. taken Sept 30, after 3 days of constant rain:
Note at pH 8 (alkaline clay), there's plenty of the major nutrients: magnesium, calcium, sulfur, potassium, phosphorus, and nitrogen, which contributed to healthy leaves.
At pH below 5 (Midwest or East coast acidic rain), magnesium, calcium, phosphorus are less available, and a bit less potassium & sulfur.
There's a study that show less mobile nutrients: calcium, zinc, boron, copper, iron are best supplied frequently at low-dose, rather than a big dump per year. Thus the logic for frequent, but low-dose of manure, or trace elements in SOLUBLE fertilizer.
strawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agostrawchicago z5
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agoQUESTION FOR KHALID: Pertaining to the fantastic deep color & many petals in your OWN-ROOT William Morris ... did you use the below fertilization? Thanks. My goal is to have deep-colors like yours !!
Khalid wrote: The composition of trace element supplement is Zn 4% / 40 grams per liter, Fe 2% / 20 gram per liter, Mn 2% / 20 grams per liter, B 1% / 10 grams per liter and Cu 1% / 10 grams per liter. Than, 36-0-12 also contains trace elements with the ratio of B 0.013%, Cu 0.025%, Fe 0.050% and Mn 0.025% with no Zn.
Khalid wrote: "I have twice given this rose (and other roses in pots) a doze of soluble mineral @ 1 tea spoon potash + 1 tea spoon soluble nitrogen fertilizer 36-0-12 with trace elements + 1 tea spoon of trace elements supplement (includes Fe,Zn, Cu, B, Mn) + 1 tea spoon of gypsum + 1 tea spoon of organic apple cider vinegar (to reduce effect of tap water) mixed in 15 liters of water. I did this because my routine compost was not available and during monsoon, the pots usually drain out most minerals when it rains for hours and hours."
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4211928/problem-rosesstraw-please-help?n=38
Other questions for Khalid: Does the apple cider help with deeper pink in own-root William Morris? Does the apple cider help with deeper blue in Rhapsody in Blue? THANK YOU. In my experience, horse manure (pH 8) really deepen the pink/red blooms ... from its iron & chromium & nickel & aluminum. BUT horse manure made my blue roses more red !!
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