Rose Gardening - Watering and Fertilizing Tips

Watering your roses can be a tricky thing. It is one of the most important aspects of taking care of your roses. Roses need almost as much water to stay healthy as people do. Of course there are quite a few things that must be considered before you water your roses. They are as follows:

• Like people, roses need more water during the hotter weather than during the colder ones. Heat makes the soil dry faster and the roses get “thirstier”.

• Keep in mind that even during the rainier times, roses still need to be watered with fresh water because rain alone cannot provide the right amount of moisture for your roses.

• You want to water your roses in a manner that goes deep enough into the surrounding soil so that it reaches the roots. Try going approximately 45cm deep.

• You do not want to water the petals directly or the canes because it can cause fungal disease in your roses.

• To help you lower the risk of your roses getting diseases, mulch is a nice way to keep the soil moist, without allowing all of the fungal problems that too much moisture can cause.

• Watering your roses in the morning also helps to dry the dew off of the leaves.

• Once your roses are fully established, you should water them once a week. You should do it twice a week if its in the hotter months.

Fertilizing Your roses
It is really important to fertilize your roses. That is how your roses get their much needed nutrients. Roses are much like people in the things that they need in order to remain healthy. Just like people they need water and food (fertilizer).

Most types of roses have to be fertilized frequently to keep them growing at a fast pace. You should fertilize with a fertilizer that is slow to release like fish emulsion or Osmocote at planting time. Be certain to follow the instructions properly from the label.

Avoid over fertilizing during the winter because by trying to promote new growth in the winter will make your roses more available to freeze damage.

Important Tip: You should never fertilize plants that are heat or water stressed. Water stressed plants that grow under a lot of heat will cause leaf and bud burn.

You want a steady temperature of approximately 70-80 degrees because your plants will get the most nutrients that are available to the plants. During the growing season, you can give the plants a water soluble fertilizer every two weeks.

Next article: How to Care for Your Roses

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