How do I Fertilize Rose Shrubs?

Roses need food to grow healthy and beautiful.

Fertilizing rose shrubs will help your roses produce big beautiful blooms. Roses are heavy feeders and they need food in order to grow and produce flowers. The best time to fertilize rose shrubs is while they are dormant during the winter. Right after you prune your rose shrubs in the winter, give them a shot of fertilizer. When spring comes, the fertilizer breaks down in the soil giving rose shrubs food to grow.

Things You'll Need

• Small container
• Bone meal
• Cottonseed meal
• Blood meal
• Fish meal
• Epsom salts
• Water
• Rake

Instructions

1. Mix together 1 cup each of bone meal and cottonseed meal in a small container. Add a half cup each of blood meal, fish meal and Epsom salts.

2. Water the area around the rose bush thoroughly.

3. Sprinkle this mixture over the ground, out to the perimeter of the shrub.

4. Rake the fertilizer into the ground. Be careful not to damage the roots of the rose shrub. You only need to rake the fertilizer in a couple of inches.

5. Water the ground thoroughly again.

Tips & Warnings

• Give your roses an application of slow-release fertilizer in spring, midsummer and again in the fall.

• Add a tablespoon of cheated iron to the fertilizing mix.

• You can also buy a liquid fertilizer that you spray on with water or a fertilizer specifically for roses. Read and follow label directions if you choose to use either of these.

References

• Bridge and Bay Garden Club of Coronado: Bridge and Bay Garden Club
• Rose Bushes: All About Rose Bushes and Their Care
• "America's Garden Book" James and Louise Bush-Brown 1967