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Recommendations for Rose food
happycottontail
Posts: 394
in Plants
What should I be feeding my climbing roses right now? Some are in pots and others in the ground. Which is better, liquid feed or granules? Is there any food that will help prevent black spot? (For health reasons I can't use a foliar spray)
Any advice on the above would be gratefully received. Thanks in advance!
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Most of the rose foods come from the same manufacturer so all I look for is extra magnesium. A well fed and watered rose will be stronger and more able to cope with any disease thrown at it. Mulching after feeding helps as well.
I buy all my plant food in Home Bargains or even PoundLand. ! The Doff range of rose, tomato and flower foods. I use it regularly from mid-April, stepping up in June and July and get good results.
Thanks for all the help everyone. I went to my local garden centre, and bearing in mind what Dave Morgan had said, bought some Toprose granules, which was the only one that mentioned extra magnesium.
I use toprose as well. Fed both my rose's last week.
I put banana skins under the soil near the roots
As Dave says, a healthy rose withstands disease and pests better than a weak one.
I put banana skins in their planting hole or pot then feed each year with pelleted chicken manure in early spring when buds start to break. I scatter this on all my borders with extra dollops for roses and clems. They may get a mulch of compost if we have some spare from the veggie plot and I give liquid feeds of home-made comfrey tea later in spring and early summer.
If the foliage looks a bit yellow - eg after a very wet winter - I do a foliar feed of Epsom salts poured on from a watering can, not sprayed.