Watering and Fertilizing Roses Correctly is the Key to Stunning Rose Plants

Planting & Caring for Your Rose Garden

Roses are a great addition to anyone’s life, home or yard. They add color and beauty and they smell great, but over the years, roses have acquired a reputation as being one of the most fragile and time-consuming flowers you can attempt to grow on your own.

Now you can discover the amazing secrets to growing beautiful roses anytime, anywhere – No matter what your experience level... Planting & Caring for Your Rose Garden reveals tips, tricks and techniques you can use to consistently grow gorgeous, healthy roses with ease!

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All roses need a lot of water and fertilizing roses correctly is important for them to maintain their vigorous growth rate when blooming. One important point to consider is that water stressed rose plants should not be fertilized until they have recovered.

In the summer months, heat will make the soil dry out faster and so your rose plants will need more water than they do in the winter months. Even when it is a rainy summer your rose plants will still need to be watered, as normal rain often cannot provide enough moisture for optimum plant growth.

When you water your roses you need to ensure the water reaches all the way down to the roots. In general this means the water needs to go approximately 45 centimeters deep into the soil. During hot summer months your rose plants will need to be watered about twice a week. A good test to see if watering is required is to scratch down and inch or two into the soil and if the soil is dry, your roses need watering.

Roses tend to be vigorous growers when blooming and will also need additional nutrients to maintain this growth, so fertilizing frequently is essential. The essential primary nutrients for healthy rose growth are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These three elements can be identified by looking on the fertilizer container for the letters N, P and K.

Maintaining the right amount of Nitrogen (N) and Potassium (K) in the soil is important because they promote healthy green growth. Too much in the soil means your rose plant will have lush green growth but few or no flowers. Too little Nitrogen and your roses will have no new growth, yellow leaves and tiny pale looking blooms. Too little Potassium and your rose will have weak stems and poorly developed buds. One sign of a Potassium deficiency is the leaf edges turn yellow and then brown.

Phosphorus (P) promotes strong root growth and also results in abundant blooms. Not enough will result in thin weak flower stems, dull leaves which are prone to falling off, and buds which do not open properly. Unlike Nitrogen, Phosphorus does not wash away with excess watering so the best time to add this element is when the rose is planted. It can be applied by adding bone meal or superphosphate into the soil before planting.

When watering and fertilizing roses it is important to remember than lush green leaves are essential – It takes up to twenty five healthy leaves to produce one healthy rose.