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In order for roses to bloom profusely and winter well, they need to be fed from early spring throughout the summer and even at the beginning of autumn. But it is important to strictly observe the terms and doses of fertilizers.
How to feed roses
As already mentioned, roses need two types of fertilizers – mineral and organic. Minerals allow the plant to obtain nutrients in the right form and quickly enough. Organic matter releases nutrients as it decomposes, but this is not its entire function – manure and humus, for example, improve the structure of the soil, making it loose and fertile (1). Therefore, it is necessary to make all kinds of fertilizers.
The first portion of top dressing is given at planting. Moreover, it doesn’t matter if your soil is poor or fertile – in any case, these fertilizers must be applied to the planting pit:
- humus or compost – 10 kg (1 bucket);
- ash – 200 g (half-liter jar);
- superphosphate – 200 g (1 glass).
All these fertilizers must be thoroughly mixed with the soil, which will then fill up the planting pits.
Well, then during the summer you need to give the roses a few dressings.
Mineral Fertilizers
They must provide roses with a complete set of nutrients in exactly the proportions that are needed at each stage of development. Therefore, in the classic version, different top dressings alternate:
- in early spring (immediately after the roses were opened and cut) – 10 g of urea (1 tablespoon) per 10 liters of water – a bucket for 3 bushes;
- in the first decade of May – urea in the same dose;
- as soon as the buds begin to appear – 15 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium nitrate (1 tablespoon each) per 10 liters of water – a bucket for 3 bushes;
- during the first flowering – 10 g of Kemira Universal (1 tablespoon) per 10 liters of water – a bucket for 3 bushes;
- 14 days after 4 top dressing – 15 g of potassium magnesia (1 tablespoon) per 10 liters of water – a bucket for 3 bushes;
- after another 2 weeks and then every 14 days until mid-September – 15 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon each) per 10 liters of water – a bucket for 3 bushes.
When fertilizing, it is very important to observe the doses. Especially nitrogen fertilizers, because they provoke excessive growth of shoots that do not have time to mature before frost and freeze in winter (2).
Organic
Although the folk saying says about the love of roses for manure, fresh manure cannot be brought directly under the bushes – they will burn. For top dressing, mullein is used – a fermented infusion of manure.
It is prepared like this: half a bucket of fresh manure is poured into 5 liters of water and allowed to ferment for a week in a warm place. And it is better to keep this fertilizer away from home – it smells very unpleasant during fermentation. The result is the so-called mother liquor. Before use, it must be diluted in a ratio of 1:10.
Roses should be watered with mullein infusion from mid-May to mid-summer. The consumption rate is the same as for mineral fertilizers – a bucket for 3 bushes.
Basic rules for feeding roses
When using liquid dressings, it is important to follow 2 rules:
- apply only to moist soil – if you pour fertilizer under roses into dry soil, they will burn the roots, so the rose garden must be watered the day before;
- pour strictly under the root – if liquid fertilizers get on the leaves, there will be burns, because the concentration for root dressings is always very high (for foliar dressings, it is many times less).
It is undesirable to apply dry fertilizers under roses, especially for phosphorus – it is fixed exactly where it originally hit. That is, in the case of dry top dressing, it will be in the upper layer of the soil, and the rose is a shrub and its roots are deep.
Popular questions and answers
We asked the popular questions of summer residents about dressing roses to answer agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mykhaylova.
Why is it impossible to apply nitrogen under roses in the second half of summer?
What can replace manure for feeding roses?
Another option is to mulch the soil under the roses with compost (you can prepare it yourself on the site) with a layer of about 5 cm – when watered, it will gradually give nutrients to the roses.
Is it possible not to feed roses at all?
Sources of
- Shuvaev Yu.N. Soil nutrition of vegetable plants // M.: Eksmo, 2008 – 224 p.
- A group of authors, ed. Milovidova I.B. Flowers around us, 2nd ed., add. // Saratov, Privolzhskoe book publishing house, 1986 – 160 p.