Key Point of Early Spring Management for Roses - Top Dressing
This article provides an introduction to the related experience of rose cultivation focusing on the first key point of early spring management - top dressing, with detailed information as follows:
Now that the year is over and a new year of work has begun, the temperature has been rising these past days. The new buds of roses are sprouting at a visible speed. If you want your roses to bloom more and have fewer blind buds in spring, it's important to grasp the timing of top dressing now.
Key Point of Early Spring Management for Roses - Top Dressing
In early spring, as temperatures rise, the new buds of roses will quickly sprout, changing from day to day. At this time, roses require a lot of fertilizer and water. If the fertilizer is not sufficient, the new buds may easily fail to develop flower buds properly due to insufficient nutrients, eventually turning into blind branches. What are blind branches? See the following picture; branches without flower buds are blind branches.
The fundamental cause of blind branches is insufficient nutrients, but there are various reasons for the lack of nutrients, including the following common ones.
1. Severe Insufficient Light
In spring, it's common for roses to have some blind branches, especially the new buds inside the plant, which can easily become blind branches. This is a normal phenomenon. It happens because the new buds inside the plant are shaded by the upper new leaves, leading to insufficient nutrients due to a lack of sunlight for extended periods.
Therefore, in early spring, you can appropriately remove some weak buds to reduce blind branches while also enhancing the ventilation within the plant.
3. Poor Root System
If there is good lighting and frequent fertilization but the rose still has a large number of blind branches, it's time to consider the root problem, especially for newly planted bare-root rose seedlings. The first batch of new buds in spring are often blind branches because the root system is not well-developed yet and cannot absorb enough nutrients for the growth of new branches. In this case, with normal care and sufficient fertilization and watering, after the first batch of blind branches is lightly pruned, the second batch of new buds will grow and bloom.
Key Point of Early Spring Management for Roses - Top Dressing
3. Failure to Top Dress in Time
The failure to top dress roses in time is one of the important causes of a large number of blind branches. Especially in early spring, when new rose buds sprout rapidly and require a lot of fertilizer and water, many gardeners may think, "I've already buried a lot of organic fertilizer in winter, so it should be fine without water-soluble fertilizer, right?"
In fact, the release of the effects of organic fertilizer and slow-release fertilizer is relatively slow. During the rapid growth period of roses, the speed of nutrient release is not enough. It's like a very thirsty person drinking water with a very thin straw; even though there is a large bucket of water, the straw is too small, and the drinking speed is slow.
Therefore, even if winter fertilizer has been applied, it is necessary to grasp the time of rapid growth of roses in early spring and apply fast-acting water-soluble fertilizer promptly to quickly replenish nutrients for roses. This ensures that the vast majority of new branches obtain sufficient nutrients for normal growth and blooming.
So, when should top dressing begin? What kind of fertilizer should be used?
In early spring, different rose varieties have relatively large differences in the timing of new bud sprouting. The timing of applying fast-acting water-soluble fertilizer should be determined based on the growth of the new rose buds.
Generally, when the new rose buds grow to about 1.5 centimeters or start to unfold leaves, you can apply the first water-soluble fertilizer. On the same rose plant, there may also be some variation in the uniformity of new bud sprouting. If several buds on the same plant have started to grow leaves while others have not, you should also apply a fast-acting water-soluble fertilizer promptly to promote the sprouting of new buds.
As for fertilizer selection, it is recommended to use a balanced nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilizer, such as a ternary compound fertilizer diluted 1000 times for root irrigation, or a general-purpose water-soluble fertilizer is also acceptable. However, in early spring, during the new bud sprouting period, it is not recommended to use fertilizers with high phosphorus and potassium content.
The above information from GreenEnthusiast.net about the first key point of early spring management for roses - top dressing and how to have more blooms and fewer blind branches in spring is provided as a reference suggestion for everyone.