prairiemoon2 z6b MA Thank you for the tip of Beverly being a late bloomer, plus the tip of alfalfa and compost in spring. What type of compost do you use? Mushroom compost or cow manure compost? Thanks for any info.
sharon2079 Yes, Azomite make tissue of roses thicker since it has mostly SOLUBLE calcium.
I never use CalMag since my clay is super high in magnesium, plus I use tons of pelletized lime to break up my hard clay. CalMag solution has both calcium for formation (rose tip turns to mush & twisted and curled upper leaf if not enough calcium), plus magnesium to toughen the tissue.
Magnesium is what hardens tissue of plants, and calcium is the building block to form roots, more petals, leaves, stems. SOLUBLE fertilizers have zero calcium and zero magnesium. Magnesium is often deficient in sandy soil, but exceedingly high in rock-hard clay like mine.
My tomatoes do better with 6 cups of alkaline pelletized lime to break up my heavy clay, than with acidic gypsum. For your sandy soil, dolomitic lime is best since it has 10% magnesium and 20% calcium.
For scales on roses, Pakistan rosarian in zone 9b recommended Neem oil. Another website recommends horticultural oil spray, plus using Diatomaceous earth. From Wikipedia: " The typical chemical composition of oven-dried diatomaceous earth is 80–90% silica, with 2–4% alumina (attributed mostly to clay minerals), and 0.5–2% iron oxide. In order to be effective as an insecticide, diatomaceous earth must be uncalcinated (i.e., it must not be heat-treated prior to application) and have a mean particle size below about 12 μm (i.e., food grade—see below)."
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