i use a small hand full of alfala tea and a small handfull of Rose-tone around each bush, all of them. they are both organic and seem to work well . I do this once in the spring and then around June/July. i use about half of what the boxes say to use. Then I put about a small spoon of epsom salt on the feed. i do not make my own anymore. i found I used way too much stuff and bags and throw away things. I now have three bags and I use them gingerly and they last a year. I have found through the years that if you start with great soil that is 80% of the trip.
Here is an article about an elderly woman in San Fransisco. she fertilizes with fish.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2000/05/03/green.DTL

Happy growing,
rosa

Check the label on that Rose=Tone. Yes, it incudes some organic ingredients but also has a variety of chemical fertilizers. I thnk the labelling is a little deceptive. You can use their Plant-Tone instead; last I looked it was completely organic. If you compare Rose-Tone with Mills Magic Mix you will be struck by how different the two products look and smell! If you search on the forum for "Amy'd recipe" you'll find she has a good mix; rather than (chemical) Osmocote she uses Milorganite, which is dried sewage sludge.

The "recipe" for growing roses is the same as that for growing any other plant, a soil well endowed with organic matter that is evenly moist and well drained. A good reliable soil test from a lab recommended by your state universtities USDA Cooperative Extension Service can be of great help in getting the soil nutrients in balance and using these simple soil tests to get to know your soil,
1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

idahobiker,

is this what you're looking for?

Here is a link that might be useful: Roser Fertilizer Recipie

rose tone is completely organic, they changed the product recently.

kimmsr, you must have to add something to feed the microorganisms or when they deplete what's there, they'll starve. Your soil has been building to its current level of fertility for 35 years. The rest of us have to start from scratch to get to where you are. To say feeding the soil is a waste of money is not effective or helpful. We are wanting to have healthy soil but snapping our fingers won't make it happen.

*** Get your soil into a good healthy condition and...

That's exactly what we're interested in. My sand has been improving my adding these organic ingredients for 2 years. I'm sure if I stopped, they would be used up, and my garden would quickly revert to Florida sand because all organic activity will have ceased when the organic matter runs out. What gets used up has to be replenished. Maybe down the road that depletion process will slow, but I can't imagine it stopping altogether. Living expends energy which without replenishment won't be life for very long.

Where am I wrong?

Sherry

What the Soil Food Web lives on is the organic matter you add. No organic matter no Soil Food Web and plants that do not grow strong and healthy better able to withstand plant diseases and insect pests. If you do not have sufficient levels of organic matter in your soil depending on synthetic, or even "organic", fertilizers would be very much like you depending on drugs to keep you alive.

Here is a recipe for rose food from the Rosarian magazine, probably 40 years ago.
1 TBS epsom salts
2 cups perlite
1 handful milorganite(wear gloves)
1/2 cup bone meal
1/2 cup alfalfa pellets
1/2 cup fish meal(leave out if you have cats or dogs)
1 TBS greensand
use 1 recipe per rose in early spring

I was reading something about Jack's classic for roses. Is this a no no? I forget where I was reading it.

Hi cottagegarden: years ago I looked into Jack's classic soluble 20-20-20 and it's expensive. The one that is clinically proven to be the best soluble fertilizer is Daniels low-salt soluble (similar to Jack's, but lower-in-salt). Daniels is only commercially available to large green-house (High Country Roses uses Daniels soluble).

My neighbor works for Ball Nursery and uses Daniels soluble on his tomatoes: amazing: thick stems & dark-green leaves ... but my tomatoes ended up beating his in hot weather, because I use slow-released organics, which doesn't burn like chemicals. Even the most expensive chemicals cannot measure to organics in terms of health. The best soluble is still Fish Emulsion, and slow-released organics like alfalfa pellets, and red-lava-rocks.

Chemical soluble work best for pots, where it's constantly leaching. But to use chemical-soluble for in-ground roses ... it depends on your soil. If you have sandy soil, that's great, since it works immediately. But if you have poor-drainage & dense clay like mine ... it retains salt too well, and chemicals will induce diseases with salt-accumulation. I already tried that for my rock-hard clay, soluble DID NOT help Le Nia Rias rose to bloom for 3 years, only when I fixed the soil with red-lava-rock & cracked corn, that rose finally bloomed & healthy.

Jack's is chemical then? I was unsure that is why I asked. I definitely want to get some of that red lava rock, I plan to check Home Depot first before I get from Amazon. I do have prime, so wont take long. I have a few to plant in the next few weeks that are in pots. You advice is very helpful.

Hi Cottagegarden: Please update on your pots & would love to learn from you. Thanks.

Warning on Milorganite: it's high in iron and salt, which promotes fungal growth. One lady killed over a dozen of her roses by fertilizing once month with Mill's Magic mix (has Milorganite). I already tested Milorganite and Encap dry-compost (made from cow-manure & leaves).

For best growth, here are my ratings: 1) cocoa mulch or alfalfa meal (both are ingredients in Rose-Tone) 2) blood meal 3) Milorganite (sewage sludge), it stinks like sewage, plus high in salt & promote fungal growth. 4) Encap-dry-compost has no smell, but it promotes fungal growth, due to high phosphorus, high salt, and antibiotics in cow manure which kills beneficial bacteria.

Oh boy! Thanks fo rthat warning! maybe that is part of my problem. I thought Mills was good stuff since it was made close by. Maybe that is my problem! I only put into posts until I can get them in the ground. I am confused about Jack's is it ok or no?

Jack is OK as a SOLUBLE NPK 20-20-20, in rainy weather. For hot & dry weather, NPK 20-20-20 is too much, would use 1/2 dose. The Chicago Botanical Garden with 5,000 roses recommend fertilizing in-ground roses with SOLUBLE 20-20-20 three times a year. I'm going there this weekend to see how well their roses look. The smaller rose park nearby really overkill on granular chemical fertilizer, I saw tons of those granules on Tamora-bed, and it was burnt-out two-years ago. This year, the entire bed of Tamora is almost gone with fertilizer-burnt. They have Pink Traviata which has RRD (rose rosette disease), thanks to over-fertilizing with chemical. I did that one summer, I over-killed on chemical-fertilizer and that MADE MY easy elegance rose came down with RRD. That's the only rose with RRD in my 60+ roses .. that happened 3 years ago, so I learn my lesson.