Organic fertilizers are a great way to promote growth in your rose garden while adding beneficial nutrients to your soil. Most big box stores have one or two organic products on their shelves that provide nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium by mixing various fertilizers together. Purchasing the fertilizers individually, such as bone, blood and feather meal, then mixing to create your own balanced organic fertilizer saves you money and is fun in the process.

While synthetic fertilizers aren’t bad, organic fertilizers offer additional benefits. These benefits include everything from increased microbial levels to a high level of earth worms. Organic fertilizers are broken down at a slower rate than synthetic fertilizers. This allows your roses to have a constant source of nutrients available while decreasing the risk of overfeeding. Organic fertilizers can save you time and money since you’ll have to fertilize less frequently. When using organic fertilizers you’re improving the long term health of your rose’s garden soil with each application. This isn’t something that can be said of synthetic fertilizers.

If you’re new to organic fertilizing it’s actually quite easy. Your local garden center will carry a variety of individual organic fertilizer products. Some of the more commonly found types are blood, bone, feather, kelp and cotton seed meal as well as fish emulsion. It’s easy to provide all of the nutrients your roses need if you make sure you include all three numbers or nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. With individual organic fertilizers you’ll need to apply more than one type. Some examples of good mixes would be blood, bone and feather meal or cotton seed, kelp and bone meal. Try different combinations based on what you can find locally.

Organic fertilizers take longer to break down. The microbes which currently exist in your soil process the organic fertilizers thus making them available to your roses. Don’t expect your roses to be greener and have additional growth within a few days. Think of results with organic fertilizers in terms of weeks rather than days. Since organic fertilizer is made available to roses slowly you’ll see healthier growth that is steady and consistent.

Once you get into the habit of using organic fertilizers you’ll notice positive changes in your roses and garden soil. Most people don’t realize how their garden soil is an entire ecosystem. Providing the microbes and earthworms in your soil with a healthy environment in turn lowers pest and disease problems while increasing beneficial insects and plant health. This means less time toiling over your roses and more time spent enjoying them.