The New Year’s holidays are over and the new year has officially begun. In the last few days, temperatures have been rising and new buds are sprouting on roses at a rate visible to the naked eye. If you want roses to bloom more in the spring and reduce the appearance of blind branches, it’s time to seize the key moment of chasing fertilizers now.
The first point of early spring management of roses – chasing fertilizer
As the temperature rises in early spring, the new buds of roses will sprout rapidly and grow very fast. At this time, roses need a lot of nutrients and water to support growth. If fertilization is not done in time, the new buds will not be able to nurture the buds properly due to the lack of nutrients, and will eventually become blind branches. What is a blind branch? Simply put, it is a branch without flower buds.
Reasons for the formation of blind branches
Blind branches are formed mainly due to insufficient nutrients, which can be caused by many reasons, the following are some of the common ones:
1. Insufficient light
In spring, it is relatively common for roses to develop blind branches, especially on new shoots inside the plant. This is due to the fact that the new shoots are shaded by the leaves above them and do not receive enough sunlight for a long time, resulting in a lack of nutrients. In order to avoid this situation, you can prune off some weak buds in early spring to minimize the appearance of blind branches, and at the same time enhance the ventilation inside the plant.
2. Root problems
If the rose still has a lot of blind branches despite sufficient light and frequent fertilization, then it is time to consider the root system. This is especially true of newly planted bare-root roses, whose first shoots in the spring are mostly blind shoots because the root system has not yet recovered sufficiently to absorb enough nutrients to support the growth of the new shoots. In this case, as long as you maintain normal maintenance, ensure adequate fertilization, the first batch of blind branches pruned, the second batch of new shoots will be able to bloom normally.
3. Failure to catch up fertilizer in time
Failure to fertilize in time is one of the most important reasons for the emergence of a large number of blind branches in roses. Especially in early spring, the new buds of roses sprout very quickly, requiring a lot of nutrients and water. Many flower lovers may think, “I’ve already applied a lot of organic fertilizer in the winter, so it shouldn’t matter if I don’t follow up on the fertilizer, right?” However, organic and slow-release fertilizers release their fertilizer relatively slowly and cannot meet the needs of roses during the rapid growth period. It’s like a very thirsty person with a big bucket of water in front of him, but the straw is too thin and the rate of drinking remains slow.
Timing and Method of Fertilizing
Even if you have already applied winter fertilizer in winter, you still need to seize the opportunity of the rapid growth of roses in early spring to apply fast-acting water-soluble fertilizers in time to quickly replenish nutrients to ensure that the new shoots can get enough nutrients to grow and bloom normally.
So, when to start chasing fertilizer? What fertilizer should be used?
In early spring, the sprouting time of new shoots of different varieties of roses will be different, and the time of applying quick-acting water-soluble fertilizer should be decided according to the growth of new shoots. Generally speaking, the first application of water-soluble fertilizer can be made when the new buds of roses grow to about 1.5 cm, or when they start to spread their leaves. Even on the same rose, the neatness of the new buds sprouting can vary. If a few buds on the same plant have already developed their leaves while others have not yet done so, a quick-acting water-soluble fertilizer should also be applied in time to promote the sprouting of new buds.
As for the choice of fertilizers, it is recommended to use fertilizers with a balanced ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, such as diluting the three yuan compound fertilizer 1,000 times and then irrigating the roots, or using water-soluble fertilizers with a general formula. However, it is not recommended to use fertilizers with high phosphorus and potassium during the sprouting period of new shoots in early spring.