Feed Your New Pets!
After you plant 'em, you gotta feed 'em too!!
Roses are NPK kinda things, as are most plants: Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potash. Most formulations you see for roses and for that matter other flowering or fruiting plants are numbers like 5-10-10, lower in Nitrogen, higher in Phosphorous and Potash. We recommend, without hesitation, Mills Magic (available from our supplier directly to you).
Mills Magic Rose Mix is a 100% natural product that combines steamed bone meal, alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, fish meal, activated sludge, blood meal, and an organic compost activator. NPK analysis is 6-5-1.
General rules about feeding (remember, general rules, not the Holy Grail!): Roses should be fed at least three times a year. If you are using liquid fertilizer, you may feed up to six times a year-use organic fertilizers if possible. Some rose lovers feed when they "dead head" the old flowers, others feed quarterly during the season.
A few easy things to remember:
- Water in the morning
- Fertilize in the morning
- Spray in the morning
- And like most of us, it's a great time to garden!
Check with your local nursery or local chapter of the American Rose Society to identify the chemicals and fertilizers recommended and permitted in your locale. And, as a famous Rosarian stated, "Roses are Pigs! Feed them!!"