Fertilizer for Rose Plants

Rose Fertilizers

• Southern Living magazine recommends using slow-release rose fertilizers, specifically Mills Magic Rose Mix. You may wish to check with your local chapter of the Rose Society to see which slow-release rose fertilizers do best in your region's soil conditions. When the slow release fertilizer is applied in spring supplemental liquid fertilizers are applied throughout the blooming season. Again, Southern Living garden experts suggest using fish emulsion or alfalfa tea liquid fertilizers.

General Purpose Fertilizers

• Fertilizers list the ratio of available nutrients found in their recipe using a formula with three digits such as 10-10-10. The first number refers to the nitrogen content, the second to the phosphate content and the last to the potash content. Gardeners from Texas A&M's horticulture department recommend fertilizing roses with general purpose fertilizers composed of the following ratios: 10-10-10 or 5-10-10 (for spring feedings) and 0-10-10 for the final fall feeding.

Home-Made and Organic Fertilizers

• Commercial organic fertilizers are available for purchase at garden centers and nurseries. Some nurseries have their own mixes and this is a good option if you have already purchased roses from this location. Rose Magazine recommends choosing slow-release fertilizers. Confident and experienced gardeners often experiment with stock ingredients like compost, bone meal, fish emulsion, epsom salts as well as blood and alfalfa meal. In this way, through trial and error these gardeners are able to concoct fertilizers which bring out the best in their chosen rose species and specific soil conditions. Stock ingredients are available in bulk at most garden centers.