Ben- thanks for posting this.

Sharon

Thank you Ben! I tried reading this before I had my coffee this morning and my brain was on fire hahahaha! Seriously though I'm going to print this out and post it on the fridge and starting in late march, I will be following this! Do you think this would be ok for newly planted roses that I plant in the spring also, or only my established ones?

Nice reference! I've not used urea before, maybe it would help after winter. Is Mill's comparable to the "Tone" fertilizers? Way more product than I'm used to using, would be interesting to see the results.

Hey Jackie,

I have the schedule taped to my garage wall, right by all my all my fertilizers and sprays :). I followed it for all my roses, newly planted or old, and got great results. I've grown to look forward to mixing up a batch of whatever according to the calendar. K&M roses of Mississippi, where I order most of my plants, recommends a similar routine. I posted Ryan's routine because I like his calendar format, but that's two great rose professionals in the humid south doing about the same thing.

Sharon,

I think it'd be great for the frigid NE too, of course you'd adjust the calendar a bit.

Dingo,

Yes, Mills Rose Magic is similar to Rosetone. Mills Easy feed is more like the dissolvable MiracleGro, except it also has a bunch of organics, too (fish emulsion, seaweed etc). It smells bad but works great! It does come with a nice tight lid haha. I thought using Urea to jumpstart roses in early spring was interesting too, might try it next spring.

One more thing:

That list was made in 2013. If anyone plans on spraying miticide, may I recommend a newer treatment called 'Forbid 4F'. It's special in three very important ways: It's known to kill Eriophyid mites, which transmit RRD, while many of the others do not. Mites cannot build resistance to it. It has residual of a month or more. You can buy it economically by the ounce on EBay (we have the booming Cannabis business to thank for its availability, lol). An ounce will last a season or more, unless you have hundreds of plants.

I have homemade compost and composted turkey manure. Does anyone know if that could be substituted for the Rosetone/MillsMagic?

Ben,

Which miticide; Avid, Floramite, or Tetra Sun, does Forbid 4F replace?

Thank you for the clairification.

vaporvac,

I think your homemade would be a fine substitute for the organic portion of the program.

syri brown,

I think Forbid could replace any of the three. Avid seems to work better than Floramite for me, so I'm alternating Forbid and Avid. Never tried Tetra Sun.

Thanks again Ben! I ordered the forbid 4f today and the generic version of banner maxx. It was half the price but had the same formula according to the packaging so I'm hoping it will suffice. Still looking for a generic compass lol. Where I am I have a big problem with Katy dids and grasshoppers and I've read that Bifin IT is a great insecticide that can used on roses, so I'm going to try that with the 4F and see how it goes. I'm super excited about having this calendar. I know it's going to make it a lot easier to keep up with.

Ben T

Love your healthy rose pics .Is your soil sandy or clay ? How many roses do you grow ?

Jackie,

I had thought of using BiFen myself, since it kill both insects and mites...seems like it could do double duty. I use a generic version of Banner Maxx myself, I think it's called Honor Guard, and it works great used in combination with Mancozeb.

pink rose,

I have about 60+ roses (soon to be 70+ when the new orders come in!) which I plant in three different soils:

1. My native dense black alkaline clay. If I enrich it with a good helping of compost and expanded shale, it can grow very nice roses. I have two plants (St Patrick and Gemini) on Fortuniana in this soil, and they both do great. The rest are Dr Huey.

2. Rose soil on raised beds. I buy this from a local soil company, it's a heavy loam with compost.

3. In 15-20 gal pots, in potting soil. I find my young roses actually grow best in pots. Haven't done this for over a year, so not sure how they'll be long term. Here's Heirloom in her pot, rescued from the Lowe's Clearance Bin three months ago.

Thanks again ben! I just have one more question do you still rotate the honor gaurd(this is what I bought) with the compass each month or only use the honor guard in conjunction with the mancozeb?

Hi Jackie

I have mainly been doing honor guard + mancozeb. Mancozeb is a contact fungicide which gets rid of blackspot fast, while honor guard is more a preventative systemic, and keeps it away with a residual of 2 weeks.

In the spring and fall, I sometimes do a round of honor guard + daconil instead. (I believe Daconil can burn in hot weather,so I apply it only during the cool season).

BenT

I wish we had clay in FL .we have fast draining sandy soil which quickly eats up any amendments l add .l have only 40 roses so far .All my roses are on Fortuniana .Dr.Huey did not thrive for me .l never tried multiflora though .Love that rescued Heirloom rose .