Intresting re tanin... I'll give that a whirl. I'll try it on two potted desdemonas I have. One with one without. On a side note I tried diluted milk to see if it would combat some BS I had, but I say no real results
Jason, personally, I am sceptical about those effects of companion plants. I can't imagine a single way how a plant could prevent blackspot on a neighbouring rose. Maybe a ground cover plant could limit soil splashes on leaves during watering but that can be achieved with a bit of care without any plants around (by the way one of the reasons why I like bark mulch). I have alliums with roses and it doesn't make any noticeable difference with aphids. Where there are ants, there are aphids. They put them on the roses and farm them. My beds with fewer ants (and pots) have fewer aphids than my dryer sunnier beds full of ants. Interesting about the tannins.
@micearguers Nettle tea is usually used as a source of nitrogen and comfrey tea as a source of potassium. So you could use nettle tea at the beginning of the season and then switch to comfrey tea. People use comfrey tea for tomatoes so I would guess it should be good for roses too. Depending on your soil, you may need something else for a balanced result. I am not really sure exactly but if you want completely organic approach, mixing various sources of nutrients works best. One possible downside is that organic sources of nitrogen need soil bacteria to make N available to plants. The bacterial activity is dependant on moisture and warmth. So early in spring, when the soil is still cold, they are less effective than inorganic liquid fertilizer which has N in soluble form, immediately accessible to plants. But I wouldn't worry about this too much, roses don't need fertilizer early in the season.
Marlorena, interesting about the temperature. We had 8-9° night temperatures last week but probably not consistently enough (but I had tomatoes in the greenhouse overnight and will move them there again from 2nd May... I've never done this so soon).
I enjoy comparing photos from this year with last year, I have tons of them. And yes, roses are good 3 weeks ahead. Gertrude Jekyll is ready to bloom, one bud almost opening, several more showing colour. It won't open during the cold weather this week but it's very probable for the weekend. Last year, she bloomed in the 1st week of June.
I notice it having grown the same rose for 30 years in various gardens, and I have never ever had a bloom on it before May 15.. it opens on that day like clockwork, not a day before nor a day later... this year for the first time it should open this week...
Incidentally, the black tea refers to spent tea bag leaves, not the liquid from a tea pot, just to clarify.. I have no idea if it works on potted roses,... I save them then cut open to empty out the leaves into a bowl... you are supposed to wash them through then dry in the sun, but I don't bother with all that... they are only ground up Camellia sinensis leaves after all... the research looked into effects on trees and apples, not roses specifically...
Thanks @edhelka, very informative. I try to garden without buying any feeds, more as life-in-the-slow-and-easy-lane than anything else. The soil is good fertile clay and I compost a lot. I do buy bark mulch each year, which can have a detrimental effect on N. Longer term it seems to have had great benefits for soil life. Comfrey, borage, alkanet and nettles all come up in the garden or adjacent field, so it's easily made - I only started this year, but anecdotally it seems to have been a good pick-me-up for various shrubs so far. Prompted by the lockdown I've started a wormery as well, apparently that yields eventually a quite potent product. In the same vein, OH trialed nettle soup - it's very tasty!
I wonder if sparrows are responsible for breaking a few new shoots off my Fighting Temeraire.
@Marlorena I’ve been really surprised at how quickly Boscobel has grown and how many buds it already has. I only planted it last year. It does look very healthy, And survived my over generous feeding a month or two ago...
Fighting Temeraire has lots of new growth, and buds. It has really filled out since I asked for some advice on whether to prune it or not. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m looking forward to seeing it this year as last year I was not sure what I thought of it, it may have been a bit of an impulse buy, as most of my plants are if I’m honest.
Another impulse buy are two bare root roses I bought a while back, I’m now a bit worried that I’ve bought them a bit too late as they will only be delivered a his week. I’ll add them to my “nursery” and see what happens. Establishing a garden is a marathon and not a sprint as my mother keeps reminding me.
@Jason-3, I interplant roses with a lot of salvia and agastache because I like the combination from an aesthetic perspective. I don’t have a huge aphid problem, but as the roses have never been without the other plants I couldn’t say if they actively help or not.
The idea behind inter-planting strong-smelling aromatics such as rosemary, scented-leaf geraniums, tagetes, etc., is that they mask the smell of the roses from predators, but whether it confuses and deters the predators of aphids as well, I don’t know.
The classic combination of roses with alliums, but especially garlic, is said to work because of a combination of the smell confusing predators and the allelopathic effect of the root exhudations and decaying foliage, which include sulfates and antibiotics. The antibiotic compounds work against some plants, for example, the impede the nitrogen-producing nodules of bean roots, which is why you should never plant legumes and alliums together. It could be the sulphates are the source of the view that they also help control fungal disease in roses.
Allelopathy and companion planting is a fascinating topic which I became interested in via growing vegetables, but apart from the roses/allium combo, I have no idea of the effect on roses of the other plants you mention.
The tea thing is very interesting, @Marlorena, I feed all my roses weak tea because of my hard water, as you had recommended. If it has further benefits, thats all to the good! I must say, my tea-drinking roses were all looking particularly healthy this year - until they got battered by heavy rains interspersed with very warm, sunny spells, the combination of which has caused some balling and early bloom distortion, plus kicked off the blackspot.
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Bonica (above) and Stormy Weather (below) beginning to open:
Burgundy Ice fully open:
Plus, for colour/form comparison, Munstead Wood and the The Prince: The Prince has changed colour overnight - going more dark red than the previous pinky burgundy - fascinating to watch!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Posts
Intresting re tanin... I'll give that a whirl. I'll try it on two potted desdemonas I have. One with one without.
On a side note I tried diluted milk to see if it would combat some BS I had, but I say no real results
I have alliums with roses and it doesn't make any noticeable difference with aphids. Where there are ants, there are aphids. They put them on the roses and farm them. My beds with fewer ants (and pots) have fewer aphids than my dryer sunnier beds full of ants.
Interesting about the tannins.
Depending on your soil, you may need something else for a balanced result. I am not really sure exactly but if you want completely organic approach, mixing various sources of nutrients works best.
One possible downside is that organic sources of nitrogen need soil bacteria to make N available to plants. The bacterial activity is dependant on moisture and warmth. So early in spring, when the soil is still cold, they are less effective than inorganic liquid fertilizer which has N in soluble form, immediately accessible to plants. But I wouldn't worry about this too much, roses don't need fertilizer early in the season.
Incidentally, the black tea refers to spent tea bag leaves, not the liquid from a tea pot, just to clarify.. I have no idea if it works on potted roses,... I save them then cut open to empty out the leaves into a bowl... you are supposed to wash them through then dry in the sun, but I don't bother with all that... they are only ground up Camellia sinensis leaves after all... the research looked into effects on trees and apples, not roses specifically...
So far, it hasn't done any harm, … just as well..
Comfrey, borage, alkanet and nettles all come up in the garden or adjacent field, so it's easily made - I only started this year, but anecdotally it seems to have been a good pick-me-up for various shrubs so far. Prompted by the lockdown I've started a wormery as well, apparently that yields eventually a quite potent product.
In the same vein, OH trialed nettle soup - it's very tasty!
Fighting Temeraire has lots of new growth, and buds. It has really filled out since I asked for some advice on whether to prune it or not. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m looking forward to seeing it this year as last year I was not sure what I thought of it, it may have been a bit of an impulse buy, as most of my plants are if I’m honest.
The classic combination of roses with alliums, but especially garlic, is said to work because of a combination of the smell confusing predators and the allelopathic effect of the root exhudations and decaying foliage, which include sulfates and antibiotics. The antibiotic compounds work against some plants, for example, the impede the nitrogen-producing nodules of bean roots, which is why you should never plant legumes and alliums together. It could be the sulphates are the source of the view that they also help control fungal disease in roses.
Allelopathy and companion planting is a fascinating topic which I became interested in via growing vegetables, but apart from the roses/allium combo, I have no idea of the effect on roses of the other plants you mention.
The tea thing is very interesting, @Marlorena, I feed all my roses weak tea because of my hard water, as you had recommended. If it has further benefits, thats all to the good! I must say, my tea-drinking roses were all looking particularly healthy this year - until they got battered by heavy rains interspersed with very warm, sunny spells, the combination of which has caused some balling and early bloom distortion, plus kicked off the blackspot.
Bonica (above) and Stormy Weather (below) beginning to open:
Burgundy Ice fully open:
Plus, for colour/form comparison, Munstead Wood and the The Prince:
The Prince has changed colour overnight - going more dark red than the previous pinky burgundy - fascinating to watch!