From Roses for Dummies, 2nd edition, by Lance Walheim:
The links are to the products I use, not the places I shop. I don't have a 16-4-2 available anywhere around, so I use a 12-4-8.
Does it work? Yes, the bushes grow like rockets and bloom like maniacs. However, the local deer think this is a good way of growing deer food.
One trophy winner (and former president of the American Rose Society) we know has a particularly high-powered fertilizer program.
About a week after his plants leaf out in spring, he applies a water-soluble 20-20-20 fertilizer, diluting 2 tablespoons of fertilizer in 2 gallons of water and giving each plant the whole 2 gallons. A week later, he puts ½ cup of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) around each bush. The third week, he applies fish emulsion at the same dilution as he applied the 20-20-20 fertilizer two weeks earlier. During week four, he applies a liquid fertilizer (16-4-2), which includes chelated micronutrients, at one tablespoon a gallon, 2 gallons per bush. In week five, he starts all over again.
The links are to the products I use, not the places I shop. I don't have a 16-4-2 available anywhere around, so I use a 12-4-8.
Does it work? Yes, the bushes grow like rockets and bloom like maniacs. However, the local deer think this is a good way of growing deer food.
