Apply Rose Fertilizers Now

Q. In previous years I started fertilizing our roses in March. They performed poorly last year so I want to feed them earlier. Is it ok to start now, and if so is there any special formula or nutrients required for the first feeding?

Fertilizer for Cactus Is Limited by the Quality of the Soil

Q. I was wondering whether you could help and point me in the right direction. I had been using a great liquid fertilizer which I was able to obtain from the 99 cents store in Henderson. They have discontinued the product and I can't seem to find it anywhere.  I have succulent plants and cacti on my patio and the liquid fertilizer really seemed to help. Could you suggest where I might obtain the liquid fertilizer or suggest some other product for my plants?
 

A. I know you probably got a pretty good deal with that fertilizer and that may not happen again for a while but there are some good liquid fertilizers out there. Sounds like you are into the bargain bins when you buy things so you may not like my suggestions.

Good fertilizers are nearly never inexpensive. One of the best ones you could use would be to make your own compost tea using high quality compost. I can’t compare all the products out there available in Las Vegas but one that I know about is called Happy Frog compost. Be careful when using it because it has had fungus gnats in it still working the compost so don’t use it inside the house. It is fine for making tea or using outside (our desert heat will kill the gnats).



Happy Frog products are good quality organic products to use. There are others but this is one.

You take about two handfuls of this compost and put it in about a gallon of warm water and let it soak overnight. No longer than this because you want the water to have air in it or the process will go anaerobic and kill all the microorganisms. Or bubble air through it to keep the microorganisms alive.

The soaking will leach out a lot of the nutrients and microorganisms (goodies). Happy Frog still has a lot of microorganisms in it. Many do not. Use this gallon of water to water your flowering cacti.

If you want a mineral fertilizer then any fertilizer made for tomatoes or roses will do well. Just use very small quantities. Products to look at include Peters, Miracid, Miracle Gro, Jobes, and others.

Peters makes excellent fertilizers but they are expensive.
In many cases, you get what you pay for in
fertilizers

Most importantly for cacti, make sure you amend the soil when you plant them with organic material such as compost or some manure based amendment. Cacti do much better in an amended soil than pure sand or our unamended native soils. If the soil was not amended, lift them during the warm months and replant using soil that drains freely and incorporating compost into it.

Crape Myrtle and Mimosa (Silk tree) Similar in Care

Readers silk tree in excellent shape in rock mulch

Q. I have a mimosa tree and I am giving it a lot of TLC and it seems to do well here.

A. Your Mimosa or silk tree looks great and is doing well judging from the picture you sent to me.  It looks like it has good growth and a nice dark green color.  You must be giving it a lot of attention as it seems to be thriving there in rock mulch.  I will caution you that these are not long-lived in our climate and tend to suffer a lot of branch dieback or decline as they get older.

            They particularly struggle in rock mulch that is fully exposed to summer extremes.  They seem to live a bit longer when surrounded by grass rather than rock mulch.  It has never been diagnosed, to my knowledge, but this decline may be mimosa wilt disease, a disease that infects and plugs the vascular or water transporting system in the tree. 

Crape myrtle 20 years old growing in
alkaline pH 8.2 soil with little soil amendment
 following regimen suggested here. There is some
wood mulch at the base of the tree in
the irrigation well.

            Continue to keep it healthy and it’s possible to keep it going for quite a while.  Another plant which can suffer here in rock mulch is crape myrtle but is, in my opinion, a better tree for here if you give it some TLC like you are doing.  With this tree you can keep it looking good growing in desert soils by fertilizing it with a well balanced fertilizer like 16-16-16 in late January along with iron chelate applied to the soil and watered in. 

            Follow this about two months later with a liquid fertilizer applied to the leaves until the solution begins running off the leaf surface and dripping onto the soil.  I usually apply a wetting agent with the liquid fertilizer applied to the leaves.  If you can keep plants healthy, they can withstand diseases and extremes of temperature and soils better