Hi all couple of questions
I have ordered 5 DA roses to grow in containers I'm in NYC
has anyone tried the terra-cotta in our climate
Second imp ?
What soil and any amendments ?
Third what liquid feed should I use and how often
Will appreciate any info
Thanks

I can only guess at an appropriate size pot. I observed when I moved a Desiree Parmentier rose this summer that all the roots would easily fit in a 26 or 28 inch pot, and the plant had about five or six canes each ten feet long. So I would guess that you could get a decent sized plant to grow in a pot this size. Buy the best potting soil you can find. I've had reasonably good results (for one season) with Miracle Grow with moisture control.

I have been amazed at how quickly potted plants run out of nutrients. I would buy one of those garden hose feeder attachments http://www.homedepot.com/p/Mir... and feed the rose a low dose of food with every watering session. Not sure I would use Miracle grow, though.

I'm thinking that when the plant is young something balanced like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TFTDPC/ . In the month or so before bloom season in May and in August something closer to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007TFTACS/. Make sure the fertilizer has minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, and iron. Or buy some chelated iron, epsom salts, and gypsum to add in tiny quantities when potting and again once a season. Adding a pound or two of clay will probably help with a number of things including evening out moisture level and making feeding less tweeky. I bought some Arm and Hammer kitty litter for this. This is all just a SWAG as I have never grown roses in pots for more than just one season.

You will probably want to water your roses about three times per week through most of the growing season, tapering off a little in mid or late September.

I hope this gets things off to a good start. I look forward to hearing how things turn out.

I use Dr. Earth's Organic. I don't add any other supplements except fish emulsion a few weeks after planting. I don't know about the idea of using clay ( kitty litter), as I would be afraid it might be too heavy and effect the roots. Top it off with some mulch. And water every couple of days. This is what I did this past Spring for my maiden roses and own root roses before placing in the ground recently.

I've kept roses in pots from their receipt in May to planting out in September, and they mostly seem happy enough with simple potting soil. Tomatoes, however, run out of nutrients in about four or six weeks. And I have other plants that have been in pots for more than a year that have suffered stunted growth and/or chlorosis from lack of regular feeding.

Clay certainly makes pots heavier and harder to handle, but the idea comes from two sources. One is that when I add about 30% garden soil to my pots the roses do better than they do with regular potting soil. The second is a recommendation from Lyn. Clay is really good at capturing and releasing water and nutrients. And it provides a lot of surface for bioactivity. One does not want to add too much, because open, porous, breathable qualities are also very important to soil in pots.

I wasn't aware that Arm & Hammer made non clumping kitty litter.

Maybe a different brand is better. I see that Ever Clean brand also has carbon. Carbon is also used to improve the fertility of soil. And Ever Clean is fragrance free. I will admit that I am not an expert of kitty litter. Is there a kind you would recommend for this application, Margie? Is there a special problem with clumping kitty litter? I did not intend to recommend any particular fertilizer, either. I just wanted to present examples.

I only use cat litter for my indoor cats.
I have read somewhere about not using clumping litter in outdoors soil. I don't recall the problem - maybe something to do with rotting roots. I have not read about using any type of cat litter for container gardening.

Steve ...

I only use cat litter in my planting holes to slow down drainage, but don't use it in my containers. I guess I wasn't clear about that when I mentioned it to you.

The clumping kind of cat litter can strangle the roots, so if you are going to use it, you need to get the other kind.

As long as you have good drainage, in your hot and arid climate, it might work out OK to use cat litter in your containers, but as a general rule, adding clay to containers inhibits drainage which can lead to root rot.

The ambient temperature and humidity in your garden impacts how fast the soil in your containers dry out. With commercial potting mixes it is wise to never let them completely dry out because they usually have peat in them. When peat dries out, it is difficult to get it moist again ...

I like the plant food you recommended. Unfortunately, I can't use it up here. Anything that smells, even slightly, like fish is bear bait. I don't think I want to deal with a bear in the garden ...

I do most of my roses in pots. Mostly in 18in square pots, but some larger round pots (for bigger roses....I use a number of species that grow over 7 foot in breeding....) and haven't had any trouble.

I use around 1/3 coconut coir, 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 composted cow manure and mix in some granular fertilizer.

Haven't had any issues yet.

I do repot every 3 or 4 years though.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Spe...

Thanks Margie! I'll be the only person on the face of the planet buying kitty litter for my roses. I wonder if it will make them smell better?

It's a nice recipe Protoavis. I will try to remember it. Without a question it allows roots to breathe. And it could make it possible to use plastic or glazed pots whereas heavier mixes might not.

Steve812 said:
It's a nice recipe Protoavis. I will try to remember it. Without a question it allows roots to breathe. And it could make it possible to use plastic or glazed pots whereas heavier mixes might not.

I use both terracotta and plastic. The plastic pots are ridiculous light (easy to move around) with the mix, if you're growing bigger plants in them be careful of placement and wind as they are prone to tip over.

Has anyone tried topsoil in containers to plant roses ?
And how about a slow release granular fertilizer ?

Yes, to some extent. As I mentioned, my best results with roses in plastic pots has been with a mix of 50% topsoil from my garden with 50% good potting soil. I expect some slow release fertilizer would help. My topsoil varies a little. It's all much finer than sand but not so fine as clay. Not exceptionally fertile, it does seem to please tomato plants more than potting soil, though.

We grow a lot of roses in pots here in RI. We use a soiless mix like Pro-Mix BX. It contains sphagnum peat moss with perlite and vermiculite, dolomitic and calcitic limestone as pH adjustors. It's also free of insects!
Water soluble fertilizers are good -- Miracle-Grow, etc.