Rose manure

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Rose Manure

Every rose-grower, whether large or small, is keenly interested in the subject of manures for feeding rose trees. Some, unfortunately, become too keenly interested therein for the welfare of the plants. They get a mistaken idea into their heads that the rose is a gross-feeding plant, and that the soil in which it is to grow cannot be made too rich. We grant that a rose tree in good health requires a generous diet, but the ingredients of that diet must be supplied with a certain amount of caution and judgment, otherwise more harm than good will be the inevitable result.

The Philosophy of Rose Manuring

In the first place, the intelligent rosarian should appreciate the patent fact that a plethora of animal manure or fertilisers mixed with the soil before planting has a tendency to make the soil sour, and this, coming in contact with the ordinary roots, is apt to cause decay or disease of their tissues, and hence, instead of promoting healthy, vigorous growth, it has the opposite effect, namely, general ill-health and the ultimate death of the plant. In the second case, no plant, and least of all a rose, can, until it has been established some months, derive any benefit whatever from additional fertilisers applied to the soil. The existing roots must from the reserve food stored in their tissues, and in those of the stems and shoots, form new cellular tissue to ultimately develop into fine hair-like roots, which alone have the power of absorbing food in liquid form from the soil before a rose tree can derive any benefit from any manure or fertiliser added to the soil. In other words, the tree must produce a mass of new fibrous roots from the older ones before it can absorb moisture from the soil. Until then the tree exists upon the reserve food stored in its tissues. And, thirdly, by supplying lavish applications of food, it is just as possible to do as much injury to a rose tree as it is to overfeed a man, or a child, with an excess of food which it cannot properly digest. It will thus be seen that, while food may be beneficial to a rose tree, yet, at the same time, such food must be applied with judgment and caution.

The primary consideration to be borne in mind in manning the soil for successful growing of roses, and for maintaining the trees in good health afterwards, is first of all to induce them to make plenty of new fibrous roots and root hairs before manures or fertilisers are freely supplied.

To that end, he must, therefore, not make the soil too rich, so that it may remain in a sweet condition until the new roots are sufficiently plentiful to absorb additional food. It may be accepted as a golden rule that no additional food is required in the soil for the first year after planting.

Essential Manures or Fertilisers for Roses

We now come to the question of what manures or fertilisers are essential for rose growing. It is a commonly accepted fact that three main elements of plant food are indispensable for all crops, and these are nitrogen, phosphates, and potash.

Other elements which combine with the foregoing to form a complete plant food are oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulphur, chlorine, soda, calcium, magnesia, and iron, but these exist in sufficient quantity in a natural state in the air, water, or soil, and therefore do not require to be taken into consideration.

To provide phosphates (phosphoric acid) we have at our disposal horse manure, cow, sheep, pig, or poultry manure, bone-ash, superphosphate, bone-meal, basic slag, guano, dissolved bones, and fish guano; potash kainit, sulphate of potash, nitrate of potash, wood ashes, stable and poultry manure; nitrogen stable and poultry dung, nitrate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, nitrate of lime, nitrate of potash, sulphate of ammonia, soot, nitrolim, blood, dried blood, and hoof and horn parings.

Liquid manure, such as urine from the stable or cow byre, or drainings from a manure heap, is also rich in potash and nitrogen, and of the greatest possible value as a fertiliser for roses.