It’s spring and it’s high time to take care of the flower treasures in the garden or on the balcony. To help noble roses reach full bloom, now is a good time to fertilize. We offer some of the best fertilizers specifically for roses.
The sun is higher in the sky again, temperatures are rising. Your roses will therefore receive enough light and warmth in the spring. With watering they also get regular water – but this is not enough. Noble plants need nutrients to thrive. A good rose fertilizer provides them. However, it is not easy to find the right fertilizer, because there are many forms of fertilizer under different names: liquid fertilizer, slow release fertilizer, mineral fertilizer but also compound fertilizer and flower fertilizer, for example.
So that you don’t have to wade through the tangled thicket, we’ll compare different rose fertilizers and tell you when and how best to fertilize your roses.
Beautiful roses come in many varieties. If you want to refresh your garden or balcony in the spring and equip it with new flowers, we recommend the following roses as an eye-catcher:
In order to take care of them from the start and provide them with enough nutrients, roses should be fertilized for the first time when planting. Here we show you which rose fertilizers are best suited for this purpose:
Our favorite: Compo long-lasting organic fertilizer for roses
Compo’s slow-release fertilizer consists of purely organic substances and is therefore even suitable for organic farming. It ensures vigorous growth and more flowering power for your plants in the garden or on the balcony. The application period is between March and August.
The long-term fertilizer with all important nutrients is worked three to four centimeters deep into the ground. Roses should also be watered with enough water. Only 70 grams of fertilizer are needed for one square meter. Fertilization has a long-lasting effect of up to five months, so the consumption is the lowest in this rose fertilizer comparison.
Particularly positive: The natural fertilizer granules with 50% sheep’s wool have a particularly good water storage capacity for loose and living soils, which is good for roses, especially in the dry phase.
For humus formation: Oscorna rose fertilizer
The organic rose fertilizer from Oscorna also consists of purely natural raw materials. According to the manufacturer, it should not be brought directly to the roots, but spread and slightly hacked into the ground.
In addition to providing plants with nutrients such as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, the fertilizer also ensures the formation of humus. It is therefore particularly beneficial for good soil and stimulates soil life.
The months of March and April and June and July are recommended for use. For fertilizing in early spring, 120 grams per square meter are needed, for fertilizing after the first flowering, 50 grams per square meter. Consumption is therefore higher than Compo’s competing product.
For beautiful flowers: Plantura Organic Rose Fertilizer
Plantura Organic Mineral Lawn Fertilizer is suitable for potted, bedding and garden plants. The fertilizer is enriched with valuable nutrients and ingredients that ensure long-term rich flowering. This is partly due to the phosphorus contained in the fertilizer.
Rose fertilizer has a long-term effect of three months. The recipe serves to prevent typical diseases and deficiency symptoms of roses. The manufacturer recommends applying the fertilizer to the plants from February to September.
Rose fertilizer has an organic quality and is therefore suitable for organic farming. There is no chemistry. On the one hand this protects the environment and on the other hand all domestic and garden animals which are allowed to enter the beds even after fertilization. The production of rose fertilizer is also sustainable and resource efficient.
For the greens: Substral Naturen complete organic fertilizer for roses
The complete fertilizer from Substral Naturen also consists of 100% natural ingredients and is suitable for organic farming. It is particularly suitable for environmentally conscious gardeners who seek a balance between effective plant nutrition and the natural use of fertilizers.
The application period is from March to October. If the dust-free granules are about five centimeters deep in the ground, they have a long-term effect of up to three months. This is due to the zeolite it contains, which increases the soil’s ability to store water and nutrients. The content of the 1.7 kg package is sufficient for 68 roses.
A big plus for all organic fertilizers with natural organic ingredients: they are safe to use, which means that children, for example, can help with gardening without any problems.
Ideal for houseplants: liquid rose fertilizer from Compo with extra magnesium
Compo’s liquid mineral fertilizer can be used all year round and is suitable for outdoor roses, in containers or beds, as well as for indoor plants. As the only rose fertilizer in comparison, it can also be used indoors. From the first application, it provides roses with all the main nutrients and important trace elements, promotes flower formation and strengthens their resistance. The latter especially because of the extra magnesium.
The Compo liquid fertilizer is very easy to dose using the lid, which minimizes the risk of over-fertilization. The respective amount of the fertilizer solution depends on the size of the plant or the size of the pot. You water so that the root ball is well soaked with the mixture of fertilizer and irrigation water.
This rose-based fertilizer must be added weekly from March to October, so the consumption is relatively high. Fertilizing once a month is sufficient from November to February. Another flaw: the liquid fertilizer is not organic, but the manufacturer uses selected raw materials and has its own laboratories and independent institutes that carry out quality checks. In addition, the packaging is made from 90% recycled plastic.
Our conclusion
He convinces us Compo Organic Long-Lasting Rose Fertilizer due to its purely organic composition and its simple and economical use. We also find its effectiveness in dry conditions particularly good. The Compo rose fertilizer is also practical complete set with horse manure and a fungicide for the complete care of your roses.
What you need to know about rose fertilizer
When and how often is the best time to fertilize roses?
In the spring, more precisely after the roses have been cut or when the roses are growing, a first supply of fertilizer is necessary. One fertilization per year is often sufficient, but sometimes additional fertilization is necessary. Basically, the fertilizing season is in spring and summer, from March to August. Also, fertilizing usually needs to be done when the roses are replanted. In any case, you should follow the manufacturer’s instructions to avoid over-fertilization.
What alternatives are there for fertilizing roses?
Roses have high nutritional requirements. Special rose or other organic fertilizers can be used to meet these spring nutrient needs. As an alternative to rose fertilizer, compost soil can be worked into the soil. If you don’t have compost in your garden, you can also open it all year round horn shavings fall back, because horn shavings are also an organic fertilizer. For spring fertilizing, however, it should be used instead of horn shavings horn meal be used because flour releases nitrogen faster.
For the second fertilization, pure mineral fertilizers such as blue grain to be used. The blue grain quickly develops the effect, but must be dosed correctly. Otherwise, the shoots will not lignify in time for the onset of winter.
Why not just use a universal flower fertilizer?
Of course, you can also fertilize your roses with fertilizer for different types of flowers and provide them with nutrients. However, these blended fertilizers are compounded differently than a specialty fertilizer. So you’ll have to pay more attention to the ingredients and determine whether your roses are getting all the nutrients they need from the flower food – or too much of a certain ingredient. A rose fertilizer, on the other hand, is perfectly suited to the needs of noble plants. It is therefore also much easier to use.
What should rose fertilizer contain?
Organic fertilizers such as well-rotted compost, horn shavings, coffee grounds, horse manure or cattle manure can also be used when caring for roses. However, not all of these natural fertilizers provide enough nutrients. Therefore, a special rose fertilizer is often the best choice for controlled fertilization.
Before buying, you should look at the composition of the fertilizer. The main components of rose fertilizer include nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Also, the ingredients magnesium and iron should be listed. Other important components include copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum and manganese. This gives your roses the nutrients they need for healthy root growth and beautiful blooms.
The NPK value, which indicates the ratio between nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) in the fertilizer, can be of interest. If the main purpose of fertilizing is to enhance leaf growth, a nitrogen-rich fertilizer is suitable. Fertilizers with a high phosphorus content, on the other hand, are more favorable to the formation of flowers. Potassium gives roses great resistance to disease. However, since rose fertilizers are perfectly suited to the needs of noble flowers anyway, you do not need to pay as much attention to the NPK value as with fertilizers for different flowers.