Growing Roses Organically

Growing roses organically is something many people believe is healthier for them and their environment. Others have health problems caused by using the pesticides and insecticides that are usually considered to go along with growing roses and keeping them healthy. Maybe you just don’t want those kind of chemicals in your garden and around your children. For these reasons or others, you may wish to join those who grow their roses organically. We have some pointers…

Growing roses organically is something many people believe is healthier for them and their environment. Others have health problems caused by using the pesticides and insecticides that are usually considered to go along with growing roses and keeping them healthy. Maybe you just don’t want those kind of chemicals in your garden and around your children. For these reasons or others, you may wish to join those who grow their roses organically. We have some pointers in this article for using more natural methods of growing your roses.

1. Do your homework to find out what type of roses grow well in your area. Growing roses organically can start with buying disease resistant varieties. If you live in an area that has problems with a certain disease, look for a variety that is resistant to it. If you can, purchase organic roses. As they have already been grown so far with organic methods, this supposes they are “healthier” and not already loaded with chemicals. This should mean they have a stronger immune system. Of course, buy roses with no blemishes on them.


2. Roses like full sun. Make sure they are placed so as to get 6 to 8 hours of full sunlight a day.


3. Don’t crowd your roses together. Give them lots of space for air to circulate around the bush. Crowding stresses the plants and certain diseases like the more “stagnant” environment that crowding provides. Take growth of the rose bush into account.


4. Plant your roses in good loamy soil. If your soil is not loam, then add good organic material such as from your compost pile to it. You do have a compost pile, don’t you? What’s an organic gardener without one? Roses like well draining soil but they don’t want it draining as fast as you might get with sand, so amend your sandy soil. If you have clay soil, an alternative, which requires a bit of work, is to build a raised bed for your roses much like some vegetable gardeners use. It should be at least a foot deep but more is better. Fill it with well-amended soil.


5. Be consistent in watering your roses. Water is an important nutrient in growing roses organically as well as any other way. Don’t allow your plants to dry out and suffer stress before watering. Roses can need up to 2 inches of water a week. Water every two to three days. This, of course, depends on your area and the type of weather (how much rainfall) you are getting. By the same token, be careful not to stress the plant by overwatering and depriving the roots of oxgen.


6. Mulching is another aid in growing roses organically. It can reduce the stress on your roses in several ways. It helps to hold in moisture which can be very good in a hot, dry climate. It helps maintain a more even temperature in the root zone. And mulch can smother weeds that would compete for available nutrients with your lovely roses. As the mulch decomposes, it adds more nutrients to the soil around your plant. Lastly, it can cut down on some of your work. But don’t put the mulch right up to the rose canes (trunk/stems). Leave just a little space around the bottom of your rose bushes without the mulch.


7. Roses respond well to fertilizer and should be fertilized on a consistent schedule. Most organic fertilizers are slow-acting and may produce less spectacular results than a non-organic fertilizer but is required for growing roses organically. Some organic fertilizers to consider are composted manure, fish emulsion, alfalfa meal, blood meal, and cottonseed meal. If you want a truly organic rose garden, then your fertilizer should also be organic.


8. Prune your roses in the early spring. Growing roses organically and keeping them healthy means getting the dead wood, damaged wood and anything that starts to look diseased (and don’t compost these trimmings) out. Thin out your rose bushes to keep them from being crowded. Don’t allow branches to rub against each other. This will allow air and sunlight to get to the whole plant keeping it healthier.