What kind of fertilizer is best for my roses?
I use a balanced fertilizer that we get from a local rose society that orders a custom blend 15-10-10 with the micronutrients needed for our area.
I highly recommend getting your soil tested every 3-5 years to determine your soil pH, structure and nutrients before making any soil amendments or suggesting fertilizers.
The soil test should be conducted by a laboratory versus a retail test kit. Local extension offices can provide guidance.
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I use various fertilizers for my roses and I think that it benefits them. I have Rose Tone, fish emulsion, worm castings, compost and compost tea, miracle grow, and black cow composted manure. Osmocote too! I donât use them all at once, of course, but I do use something every 3/4 weeks during the growing season starting in Mid March where I live in the Raleigh area in NC.
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Totally agree! I found out the hard and expensive way. Used all kinds of fertilizers recommended for my area in San Antonio year one. I made raised beds there with soil specifically blended for roses. Year one not so many blooms. Year two I had cancer and the garden spraying and fertilizing took backseat to the pruning and shrub control. Year two and three they did amazing without amendments of any kindâŚso I tested the soilâŚthe recommendations for the area did not fit my soil profile, all I really needed was to continue adding compost and good organic mulch and spray to fight the darn thrips and I was good. Test, you never know what you have. First thing I did here in Hampton was soil test and this is my first garden with sandy loam while the majority in Richmond have clay.
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If there is a âmagic potionâ for roses, I firmly believe it is Alfalfa Tea as recommended by Howard Walters - the Rambling Rosarian - in his columns in the old ARS monthly publication.
In a 32-gallon plastic trash can, put in 10-12 cups of alfalfa meal and fill with water. Stir well a few times a day for 2-4 days. Place in the sun and keep the lid ON except when stirring. When it stinks, and when the alfalfa all sinks to the bottom, itâs ready to use. I have a one-gallon plastic milk jug where I have enlarged the spout by cutting out a bit of the plastic, and I use this to dip into the tea and fill a 2 gallon watering can. This will treat 2-4 bushes - just pour around the plant. In two weeks you will notice the difference - longer, straighter stems and vibrant bloom color. You could also âfortifyâ the tea if you wish with micro nutrients, kelp, chelated iron, etc.
Yes, it stinks but it sure does work. You could just put the alfalfa meal on the ground around the bushes, but I prefer the tea. Either way is a bit labor-intensive but if you want great rosesâŚ
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I tried that once - years ago. I couldnât put up with the smell. I do use alfalfa in my beds however.
I use Max Sea every 3weeks , Rose Tone every 6weeks and alfalfa pellets every 4-5 months. I tried to do the tea and was gagging from the smell. I will do anything for my roses 
but I just couldnât stomach the tea. Just had all my soil tested and I am between 6.5-6.7 samples taken from 5 locations in my garden.
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I havent yet tried the alfalfa tea, everyone says it smalls so bad! 
Nothing Iâd want to drink, Iâm sure!
I plant my roses with quite a bit of alfalfa in the hole, and then treat with it in the spring (scratch it in). Seems like both methods would eventually yield similar results, possibly the âteaâ being more immediate. Is there an advantage to the âteaâ method that is known based on it soaking into the water?
Ariel, that is a very good question â if the tea has an advantage over using alfalfa in the soil. I believe the tea DOES have advantages. First, the tea would be much faster acting - taken up by the roots almost immediately. Second, to coax the alfalfa secret ingredient out - which is Triacontanol, the growth stimulant - I believe the alfalfa meal needs to be fermented. Thatâs why you put it in water with a lid on, in a sunny location, and let it steep/ferment for 3-4 days. I canât imagine alfalfa in the ground fermenting at all, but it still is a very good thing to provide to your soil. I just believe the tea provides a quicker and more pronounced benefit. Yes, it stinks, but in my experience the stinkier any fertilizer is, the better it will work in your garden. Fresh, smelly horse manure can work wonders as well, and it sure does smell!
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Thanks for the advice! Best way to find out is to test it!
(Hint: Not 5 gallons of Matcha pictured! 
)
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You may want to wear rubber kitchen gloves when you start dispensing it to your bushes (so your hands wonât stink). Give a half gallon to each bush - more wonât hurt. Remember which bushes you gave the tea to - and within two weeksâ time you should see longer and straighter stems. You can also brew up another batch without adding more alfalfa, although I do add one-sixth as much new alfalfa and keep the old right in there. So I use 12 cups in 32 gallons to start, then for the second batch I only add 2 cups alfalfa meal.
Let us all know how your experiment works out!
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Alright, my final report is in. I believe I would highly recommend alfalfa tea, fermented/soaked for a few days, specifically. There is some doubt though, read on:
So I asked a chemist (not a bio-chemist, no plant specialization) and this is what they said:
âHi Ariel. Iâve not ever heard of Triacontanol, but now Iâve read up on it. This compound contains a long chain hydrocarbon, so it has almost no solubility in water. Making a âteaâ with alfalfa to extract it probably doesnât extract any tricontanol, but it probably extracts plenty of ammonia, phosphate, and potassium compounds, which would work well as fertilizer. So, the idea that making a tea works better probably has some truth to it, but probably not because it has extracted any tricontanol.â
However, after some light googling, it seems soaking alfalfa tablets in water and stirring âagitatingâ is a known method to extract this substance. So then my chemist friend states:
âMaybe the levels needed for benefit are extremely low so the extremely low levels that would dissolve in water are enough.â
So now, while I have no true control as I simply added the alfalfa tea into my routine for my gardenâs roses and didnt stop other routines, I have seen some pretty strong results from my roses this year. Lots of new/strong canes. More than previous year, by far. Photos attached.
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Thank you for following up, Ariel. If memory serves, there are some research papers out there from many years ago regarding the use of alfalfa to enhance crop yields. There was a positive effect noted. But what sticks in my mind is that the benefits were greater from using only a little alfalfa as opposed to using a lot of alfalfa. Maybe the tea does only produce a little of the triacontanol which as it turns out, is the best amount! I only know that the alfalfa tea seems to do wonders in my garden.
Makes me wonder if 1-2 cups of alfalfa meal/pellets scratched into the soil for each rose bush might be overkill.
Some believe that the SuperThrive liquid supplement contains triacontanol. The late Bob Martin believed it did. Most top exhibitors seem to use SuperThrive.
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