Mulching Roses!
Roses will grow better if the beds are covered with a thick porous mulch.  There are many advantages of
mulching your roses.














There are many types of mulches you can use.  Here is a list, with advantages and disadvantages.























What each mulch provides for soil conditioning, and providing the nutrients and humas needed to grow
1.  A good mulch helps conserve moisture.
2.  Well-mulched beds require less frequent watering and stay more uniformly moist.
3.  A good mulch, will help with weed control.  Mulch should be free of seeds.  Manure
can contain weed seeds.  Weed-free mulches such as cotton seed hulls, pine needles,
leaves, straw, bark and aged wood chips, etc, can go a long way towards relieving part to
the onerous chore of weeding.
4.  Mulches minimize the splattering of rain-borne black spot spores.  Mulches hinder the
spread of disease.
5.  Good mulches keep the ground cooler in the summer, sometimes as much as 10 to 15
degrees in the heat of the day.  Thickness should be 2-4 inches.
6.  Mulch protects root damage from an unexpected early freeze in the fall.
7. Mulch is one of the best insulators available.  
fresh chicken manure is most likely to cause burns.  

2. Grass clippings - are a good short-lived mulch but should be spread thinly
after each mowing.  They tend to mat and sometimes need to be stirred to allow
water to penetrate.  Do not use clippings if grass was treated with weed control or
high nitrogen fertilizer, this will cause burning.

3.  Leaves make fine mulches if precautions are taken to avoid packing.  Oak
leaves are good; maple leaves tend to pack unless shredded.

4.  Bark, from whatever source, provides a good mulch and can often be
decorative.  Pine needle much is a very good material, if enough is used.

A mulch should be applied rather early in the growing season to obtain its
maximum benefits, such as on about the time of the first flush of bloom, after most
of the spring basal canes have made their appearance from the base of the
bushes.
Organic Material
Good & Bad Qualities
Nutrients & Humus
Bark
 Long-lasting, but ties up nitrogen as it decomposes.  Add
1 lb. actual nitrogen per 10 cubic feet of bark.  Needs to
be shredded.
Humas
Sawdust
 Ties up nitrogen as it decomposes, add 1/2 lb. nitrogen
per 10 cubic feet of sawdust.
Humas
Wood Ashes
 Good source of potash the usuable form of potassium.
Potassium
Leafmold
 Somewhat more nutritive than newly fallen leaves.
Humas
Leaves Fallen
 A tree withdraws most of the nutrients from its leaves
before they fall, but their fiber content is excellent for soil
texture.
Humas
Compost
 Requires careful handling to generate sufficient heat to
kill disease organisms and kill wee seeds.  Should be
enriched with organic, or inorganic fertilizers (nitrogen)
to make a complete soil conditioner.
Humas
Corncobs
 Higher in sugar than most mulches.  So add extra
nitrogen to use up the excess sugar.
Humas
Cotton Seed Meal
 Part of its nutrients are readily available, the rest will be
released slowly.
Nitrogen
Lawn Cuttings
 Decays rapidly, must be replaced often.  Avoid clippings
treated with herbicides.
Humas
Cattle Manure
 Often free for the hauling.  Can be highly saline, so do
not use in containers.  Must be thoroughly decomposed
or it will burn the plants.  Requires large qualities if used
as a fertilizer, but is excellent for adding humas.
Humas
Chicken Manure
 Generally the same as cattle manure.
Humas
Horse Manure
 Generally teh same as cattle manure.
Humas
Sheep Manure
 Generally the same as cattle manure, less odorless.
Humas
Peat, Sphagmum
 The most widely availabe source of humas, hard to wet,
but retains water well.
Humas
Fish Scraps
 Excellent fertilizer, should be uried to avoid the odor and
to prevent cats from stealing them.
Nitrogen
Hoof/Bone Meal
 A good supplement for bark or sawdust.
Nitrogen
Blood Meal
 The best organic fertilizer available, slow to break down.
Nitrogen
Bone Meal
 Freshly ground bones containing marrow, meat scraps,
and blood are best.
 Phosphorous
Oklahoma Rose Society