Hey all.
I just ordered my first rose. The variety is Dublin Bay. https://heirloomroses.com/prod...

This will be my first rose plant. I am limited to pots due to HOA. Since this is a climber, I will be putting a trellis in the large pot. My questions however are how should I prepare now before the plant ships to me? What rose fertilizer should I get? I currently use Jack's Classic All Purpose. Would general potting soil and mushroom composed be worthy soil? Is transplanting right away into the larger pot safe? How should I know when to prune? What pests should I look out for? So basically all the questions haha. I'd really like to hit the ground running with this rose. I am willing to spend some cash to keep it healthy.
Thank you!! 🙂🌹

Petabread said: Hey all.
I just ordered my first rose. The variety is Dublin Bay. https://heirloomroses.com/prod...

This will be my first rose plant. I am limited to pots due to HOA. Since this is a climber, I will be putting a trellis in the large pot. My questions however are how should I prepare now before the plant ships to me? What rose fertilizer should I get? I currently use Jack's Classic All Purpose. Would general potting soil and mushroom composed be worthy soil? Is transplanting right away into the larger pot safe? How should I know when to prune? What pests should I look out for? So basically all the questions haha. I'd really like to hit the ground running with this rose. I am willing to spend some cash to keep it healthy.
Thank you!! 🙂🌹

Hi Peta....There are far more experienced people in here than me, but, I can tell you when you first plant your rose do not use fertilizer. It can burn the roots and kill your plant. Use about a cup of bone meal, some aged cow or horse manure, compost is good, too, and mix it about half and half with your native soil where you will be planting it. A lot of compost in the planting hole is not a good idea because when it rains it falls away from the other soil, so, just mix some in with the soil you are planting it in. I hope this helps and that others in here come in to give you some advice. We have people in here who have been growing roses for many years and know all the best tips.

Hi Peta,

Welcome to the forum. We'll provide you with advice and support as you start out with your first rose.

LittleAnnie's advice is good if you were planting a rose in the ground, but when planting it in a pot you should only use bagged potting soil or potting mix, not native soil. Be sure not to get the type of potting soil that already contains fertilizer; you should only get the type that comes without fertilizer so that you don't burn the tender new roots when you first pot up the rose. If you can't find potting mix without fertilizer at a big box store, then visit a garden center to find it. Make sure the potting mix stays consistently moist but not soaking wet (except when you water it). Read and follow Heirloom's instructions on fertilization. They will be shipped with the rose, but you can also find the information on their website. The rose will also need 6 hours of direct sunlight to thrive.

The roses sold by Heirloom are grown on their own roots and are very small, young plants when shipped, and will take a couple of years to grow up -- longer than if you had purchased a larger rose already 2 years old. Therefore, you'll start with a small pot, and move the rose to larger pots as the roots grow and expand over time.

You may want to get a fungicide spray to prevent your rose leaves from getting black spot disease. The spray is a preventative, not a cure. In other words, you'll want to use it regularly to prevent black spot from appearing. If you wait to use it until your rose has black spot, it's too late; you'll lose the leaves that are affected.

Mike: LittleAnnie's advice is good if you were planting a rose in the ground, but when planting it in a pot you should only use bagged potting soil or potting mix, not native soil.

I must have read too fast. I thought she was planting in the ground.

Peter---I grew roses in Florida (Winter Haven and Port St Lucie) for 40+ years. I grew many of them in pots of different sizes. I have used bagged soil of every kind you can think of. I have found that most of the expensive soils are a waste of money. I now mix my own and my roses do great in it.

I mix it one bag of top soil and 1/2 bag of soil conditioner, 2 or 3 shovels full of compost, and 1 big shovel full of perlite. Mix it all together good and you have your soil for a rose in a pot.
As far as feeding my roses, I use Espoma Rose Tone or Espoma Plant Tone. One big handful, once a month. Make sure you water deeply at least twice a week. Water is the life blood of your rose.
You live in a high humidity area (I know), so you will need to spray your rose to keep the foliage clean and happy. I use Bio-Advanced Disease Control every two weeks.
Growing good roses isn't all that hard. You just have to be consistent with the little things to keep them happy

Thank you, Kern for sharing your rose mix for pots. What size pots do you use?

Bear in mind that products sold and labeled as "top soil" can vary tremendously in their contents, because there's no regulated definition of it. A few weeks ago I picked up the same brand of top soil I've been using for years, which I generally think of as black dirt that will lightly stick together when I squeeze it in my fist. But I was shocked when I poured it out of the bag, because it was mostly gray sand mixed with I can only surmise was dark muck. This was completely different, and entirely unusable, so I returned the unused bags to Home Depot.

While there, I checked out Miracle Grow's and Scott's top soil / garden soil products, but they looked like brown finely shredded mulch, composted forest product, and peat moss - probably good for making one's own potting mix, but far too light weight for what I needed; it wasn't what I think of as earthy soil, but rather, soil conditioner.

I was about ready to go to the nursery and buy some proper black "dirt" based top soil, but decided to check out the garden center at Walmart, which was next door to Home Depot. They had the usual brands of top soil that I had just seen at Home Depot, but also one I had never seen before: Expert Gardener. It was very generic looking, with a plain block-lettered label on a white plastic bag, that only cost $2.49 for a 2 cubic foot bag. I looked for a torn bag that was leaking its contents so I could see what it was comprised of, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that it was high quality top soil, mostly black "dirt" that would lightly stick together when I squeezed it in my fist, rather than a crumbly mix of peat moss and forest products. I got ten bags I was so happy with it.

All of this is to say that one needs to know ahead of time what they have in mind when they buy "top soil".

I use different pots for different types of roses. Everything from 5 gal. to 15 gal. pots.

Thank you , Ken, and thank you Mike for the tip about WalMart's Expert Gardener topsoil. I will have to check it out. I know at least one that is sold on Kellog's products at Lowe's.

Hey wow thank you all for your insanely awesome advice! Apologies for my delayed response.

@KenNEGA @Mike @LittleAnnie - I have a few questions for the gang.

* Is it safe to use bone meal 3-15-0 more than once within the first 6 months of my new rose bush? I purchased this one from the Heirloom Rose website as the instructions told me to do so when purchasing the plant. I ask because Annie advised not to use fertilizer in the first year, but I am not sure if that statement does not include bone meal. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WJKQG2G/

* Is it okay to plant some annual flowers in my 20 gal pot that I have the rose bush in or do roses like to be left alone?

* Ken, will your Bio-Advanced Disease Control contain downy mildew? In a different thread I recently opened, Mike advised it looks like downy mildew. I looked at the product on Amazon and it does not list downy mildew.

Petabread said: Hey wow thank you all for your insanely awesome advice! Apologies for my delayed response.

@KenNEGA @Mike @LittleAnnie - I have a few questions for the gang.

* Is it safe to use bone meal 3-15-0 more than once within the first 6 months of my new rose bush? I purchased this one from the Heirloom Rose website as the instructions told me to do so when purchasing the plant. I ask because Annie advised not to use fertilizer in the first year, but I am not sure if that statement does not include bone meal. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WJKQG2G/

* Is it okay to plant some annual flowers in my 20 gal pot that I have the rose bush in or do roses like to be left alone?

* Ken, will your Bio-Advanced Disease Control contain downy mildew? In a different thread I recently opened, Mike advised it looks like downy mildew. I looked at the product on Amazon and it does not list downy mildew.

When I recommended not to use fertilizer it's chemical or synthetic fertilizers I was referring to for a new rose. After 6 months I believe it's safe to use a fertilizer for roses or even Miracle Grow if you wish. Just follow the directions for roses.

I just planted my roses in May and have been using fish emulsion and a mix of fish emulsion and kelp from Kelloggs every few weeks. I have not added more bone meal, but, ,my roses are in the ground, so, the folks in here who plant in pots can answer your question about adding bone meal again.
I hope your rose does great for you!

Thanks @LittleAnnie for confirming. I was thinking that was the case

I don't know what FL soils are like in terms of phosphorus, but where I live, there is plenty of it. I believe that is the case for many areas, and have read that bone meal is often unnecessary and much overused. Whatever well-balanced fertilizer you use will have plenty of phosphorus without your having to add bone meal.
Speaking as someone who grows 90% of my 250 roses in large pots, I'd advise against putting annuals in the pots. Growing roses in pots gives them a restricted area for growth, so competition is not great for them. Although, the annuals always look great!

Regarding potting soil, if you don't want to mix your own and they sell it in your neck of the woods, the Kellog Organic Potting Soil or Kellog Organic Raised Bed/Potting soil (2 choices) sold at Home Depot is an excellent potting soil, I have used it for 2 years now for my rose pots. I live in New Mexico. Not sure if this is available nationwide, or ...? It costs $10 for a 2 cubic foot bag.