How To: Feed Your Rose

What is liquid feed? #

Liquid feed comes ready-diluted or in a liquid concentrate, and is applied directly to the soil. It directly reaches the roots to deliver the nutrients, which can be absorbed quickly. It does drain from the soil quite easily, so regular reapplication is necessary.

There are many types of liquid feed available that you can use on your roses, such as specialised rose tonics, liquid seaweed feed, or even tomato feed. Usually you would need to apply this to the soil every couple of weeks, although always follow the manufacturers instructions.

Does English Roses sell liquid rose feed? #

Liquid feed is a half-way house between slow-release granular feed, and fast-acting foliar feed. If you want the rose roots to have long-supported nutrients, you’re better off using a granular feed for ease of application. If you’re wanting to feed your roses regularly with fast acting nutrients, then foliar feed is a better choice.

While liquid feed may be the best option for some people, we recommend using both granular feed and foliar feed, as they support different aspects of growth as the year progresses, and therefore don’t stock a liquid soil feed.

All feed has three main nutrients to support plant health and growth – Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P), and Potassium (K). You may see this referred to as the NPK ratio, and this will vary depending on brand and application type. Each nutrient supports a different growth aspect of your rose.

There is a handy way to remember which nutrient supports growth: Up, Down, and All Around!

• Up – Nitrogen (N) supports strong stems and shoots, and encourages leafy growth.
• Down – Phosphorus (P) helps with creating strong roots, plus also encouraging beautiful blooms.
• All Around – Potassium (K) improves overall health, hardiness, and disease resistance, plus also encourages flowering.

Roses prefer a balanced NPK ratio for overall health, however in the summer months you might want to opt for a higher Phosphorus and Potassium ratio to increase blooming.

Our granular slow release feed has an NPK ratio of 5 – 1.5 – 4, so great support for year round, overall health. Our rose foliar feed has an NPK ratio of 4 – 25 – 16, so encourages strong health and beautiful blooms – perfect for the summer months!

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) are macronutrients, meaning they are the main nutrients that your rose needs to thrive. There are also some other micronutrients that support plant health, although these are needed in much lower quantities.

Calcium (Ca) helps to create strong stems and prevent bud failure. Magnesium (Mg) and Iron (Fe) both support the foliage, leading to healthy leaves. Zinc (Zn) and Manganese (Mn) help with the absorption of nutrients and supports overall plant health. Sulphur (S), Boron (B) and Copper (Cu) are also among other micronutrients that help a rose to thrive.

Most rose feeds will also have a blend of these micronutrients, although the NPK ratio is the most significant indicator when comparing feeds.

Sometimes, when there is not enough availability of nutrients, your rose can become deficient. Deficiency in any nutrient will lead to weaker growth, lower overall health, and greater susceptibility to diseases.

• Nitrogen – Nitrogen deficiency leads to weak stems, slow growth and yellowing leaves. However, roses need a balance of Nitrogen; too much and you get lovely strong, leafy growth but a lack of blooms.
• Phosphorus – Weak stems and dull foliage can also be a sign of Phosphorus deficiency, as well as buds that may form but fail to open.
• Potassium – Plants that are lacking in Potassium have lower overall health, as well as weak stems, yellowing or browning of leaves, and small flowers.

Nutrient deficiency also contributes to replant disease, which is why it not recommended to plant the same plant in the same area a previous plant of the same species has recently been, as the soil will have been leeched of the essential and specific nutrients. Roses are particularly susceptible to replant disease, and are likely to grow slowly or even fail if replanted directly into an area that recently had a rose.

Unfortunately, you can over feed a rose. More feeding doesn’t mean more growth, and can sometimes do harm such as root burn. To ensure optimum growth of your rose, always follow the application guide from the manufacturers.

Potted roses need more watering than roses that are planted, however they don’t need more feeding!

Water will drain through a pot, meaning that containerised roses are more susceptible to drying out, thus the increased watering schedule. Feed is far more stable though, and will rarely leech out the soil. In fact, the soil in pots is more likely to suffer from nutrient excess, especially if using a granular feed, which can then lead to it’s own issues. For best results always follow the manufacturers instructions.

For more information on watering, please see our help guide here.

Tomato feed is generally safe to use on roses, and has a high Potassium (K) content which roses love for all round health. However, we’d always recommend using products that are specifically designed for roses, as these have been tailored to a roses nutritional need and often produce optimum results.

While using feed designed for roses on other plants is unlikely to harm them, as different plant species have varying nutrient requirements it would always be best to use feeds that are specifically made for use.

Roses are seasonal plants, and their main growing season is March – September (although temperature and weather has a significant impact). In the colder months, the rose will be in dormancy, and busy developing strong roots under the surface. Although we may want our roses to have a short period of dormancy so that we can enjoy their beauty for longer, dormancy is a necessary period in the growth cycle of a rose, and important in order to have a healthy and thriving plant.

If we feed our roses too far in to the colder months, it can delay or reduce dormancy, which may result in a less healthy rose long term. Any growth that a rose does make in the colder months is also more susceptible to frosts, which in turn can lead to further issues. Not only that, but its also largely unnecessary as the rose will be dormant and therefore not using the nutrients at any significant rate.