Dorset, United Kingdom
I have been feeding my roses with first Rose grow but recently every two weeks with tomato feed. In early feb I fed a hand full of Rose fertiliser. Now three capfuls of tomato feed to 2 gallons of water. Am I doing the right thing. In advance thank you for advice. I planted a yellow climber. .... Thomas it seems to have very small leaves am worried I have been sold a miniture patio Rose.
- 14 May, 2012
Answers
I agree, I feed mine with Top Rose twice but I also add a handful of Epsom salts to keep the magnesium levels from dropping.
14 May, 2012
Thank you. It was Toprose not rose grow! I was sure that the tomato feed would help as I was told it would help the clematis along. This was by a clematis grower. However I will stop!
15 May, 2012
Well, forgive me for saying this, complete beginner, but dosing your roses because you were told its good for clematis is like giving a friend your drugs for stomach trouble when they've got a headache, lol!
I don't know why the clematis guy told you to use tomato food - if the clematis is in a pot and it isn't flowering, then a couple of applications of something higher in potash (which tomato food is) might be useful applied at the right time. But for roses, tomato food is entirely inappropriate - specially formulated rose foods like Toprose are worth using, and will do the job all on their own if used according to the directions. There might be a place for tomato food (other than on tomatoes, obviously) on summer bedding, but again, there are other products available which are more suitable. Each group of plants is different, with different flowering habits, and different treatment is required.
I note you say your rose has small leaves - as you suggest, perhaps you've been sold the wrong variety, but feeding with tomato food could have created that problem - its very high in potash (for flowering) but not very high in nitrogen (for leaf growth).
15 May, 2012
Thank you very much bamboo for the very informative and amusing answer. I will no longer drug my roses but will wait in anticipation for the flowers and will post pictures when they at last arrive. Due to the weather they like everything else are a little behind.
16 May, 2012
Lol! I hope you were actually amused and not offended - truth is, drugs are only chemicals, and plant feeds are also chemicals. Formulations differ, but all chemical nonetheless. As for being behind, yes, everything is, feels like summer will pass into autumn with not much difference between the two, currently.
16 May, 2012
What is Rose grow? I cannot find any reference to it as a product on the internet. If its a granular specialist rose food in a box, similar to Toprose, that should only be used twice in a year - first in late March or early April, as the leaves start to appear, and then again 6 weeks later. And that's it... Tomato food is not good for roses, so stop using it immediately.
14 May, 2012