What kind of soil do roses like - acidic or alkaline

Content:

What soil is needed for roses
How to determine the acidity of the soil
How to make soil nourishing for roses
Mulching and mineral fertilizers
How to determine soil moisture

The success of planting rose bushes in open ground depends on the condition of the seedling and the quality of the soil. If you need to choose the first one in the store, then in the second case you will have to work with the already existing data. Before planting, you need to find out what kind of soil the roses like, and also choose fertilizers for proper feeding.

What soil is needed for roses

Roses are capricious garden plants, they are sensitive to moisture and acidity of the soil. The only type of land that no rose bushes of any kind will grow on is swampy.

Planting roses requires proper soil preparation

For your information! Even for stony soil, dwarf varieties can be selected, but with an excess of moisture in the soil, the root system will begin to rot. The aboveground part of the bush will quickly die without ever getting stronger.

Roses love loamy soil with a high humus content, in which they quickly grow stronger and give a lush bloom. You can create soil for a garden rose yourself, for which you need to find out the type of soil and apply the necessary fertilizers.

sandy soil. It is required to add clay for weighting;
clay soil. It will be softened by coarse sand;
waterlogged soil. You will have to add clay, sand, compost and lime to it;
loamy soil. It is enough to add compost.

If the composition of the soil for roses is extremely poor, you can buy ready-made soil and fill it in the hole.

Important! It is strongly discouraged to plant rose bushes where others have recently grown.

The point is not even that the soil is depleted; pests that attacked previous plants could also remain in it. If you cannot find another place, then before planting, you need to update 50-70 cm of the topsoil in order to protect the planting.

Roses need nutritious fresh soil and pruning damaged shoots before planting.

Novice gardeners do not attach importance to the properties of the soil in their area. It seems to them enough to know its type (stony, clay or sandy) in order to properly care for the garden. However, to grow rose bushes, you need to know what kind of soil the roses like - acidic or alkaline. These moody flowers prefer slightly acidic soil, which is ideal for them. You can find out this property using a special indicator (like a litmus strip), which is sold in the store for the gardener.

For your information! Chamomile, meadow clover and coltsfoot usually grow on slightly acidic soil. The preferred fertilizers are peat and manure.

How to determine the acidity of the soil

The optimum level of soil acidity for planting roses is 5.5-6.5 pH, which corresponds to slightly acidic soil. There are several ways to find out what this level is at the ground in the garden. The most reliable is to purchase a well-known acidity indicator, namely, litmus paper in a pharmacy or a household chemicals store.

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A soil sample taken from the proposed planting site is dried and placed in a container. After that, it is poured with distilled water and stirred. Now you need to attach the litmus paper to the wall of the vessel (the inner one, of course) and wait 30 seconds. During this time, a color should appear on it, which must be compared with the scale attached to the measuring material.

Below will be considered a popular method for measuring soil acidity, but it cannot be recommended for an accurate result. It will only make it clear the general type - alkaline, neutral or acidic. For roses, this is not enough, but it will at least allow you to understand what fertilizers need to be applied.

Note! The best accuracy is shown by electronic meters, it is enough to stick them into the ground, and the result will appear almost instantly. Their only drawback is cost, but such a thing will undoubtedly come in handy for an avid gardener in his work.

Picture 3 Before planting roses, you need to measure the acidity of the soil

The popular way of measuring is as follows: the future earth for roses is placed in two jars, filled with distilled water. Then soda is poured into one container, vinegar is poured into the other. If there is a reaction to soda, the soil is acidic, if to vinegar, it is alkaline. If the soil has not reacted in any way, it is pH neutral.

Important! It is not recommended to use a mechanical meter, it is not accurate.

Sorrel, plantain and horsetail grow well on acidic soil, potatoes and strawberries grow well on acidic soil. Carrots and tomatoes are tolerant of high acidity levels.

How to make soil nourishing for roses

Do I need to bury a rose inoculation when planting

The correct answer to the question is what kind of soil do roses like - fertile and rather loose. Therefore, fertilization and preparation of drainage before planting are necessary. In order for the soil to become nutritious, you need to adjust the acidity level. For planting a flower in a pot, it is best to purchase ready-made soil. The success rate for seedlings to take root depends on their quality: if they are healthy, they can take root in almost any soil.

Important! You shouldn't even try on swampy and saline ones, since they are unsuitable for growing roses. In other cases, you can improve the composition of the soil and safely plant the future garden decoration.

How to improve the soil in one case or another:

clay soil is well nourished by a mixture with sand: 1 part of humus, compost, sod and leafy soils and 6 parts of coarse sand;
loamy soil can be improved by adding a nutrient mixture to it: 1 part of turf, humus, compost and 3 parts of sand;
sandy soil needs clay: 1 part of compost, humus, turf and 2 parts of clay powder.

If it is not possible or if you do not want to prepare the earthen mixture yourself at home, you can purchase ready-made soil for planting in the store. In this case, it is better to use the advice of the seller, providing him with information about the acidity of the soil and varieties of roses.

Note! Humus, compost and sod can be replaced with one component - vermicompost, which makes the soil nutritious.

Nutrient Blends to Prepare Roses

Mulching and mineral fertilizers

When is it better to plant roses in open ground

Regardless of whether a room rose or a garden rose, it prefers warmth, cold is not suitable for these flowers. But at the same time, rose bushes do not like the scorching sun, as it leaves burns on the petals and leads to dehydration of the plant. Mulching the soil for roses will be an excellent protection for the topsoil. It is especially necessary if the bushes are not planted closely, but far from each other.

Note! Lawn grass or sawdust can be used as mulch, but it is important that moisture does not accumulate underneath. An alternative method of land mulching is to plant low-growing plants so that they cover the roots of the roses.

Mineral fertilizers are applied in early spring to prepare the soil after winter. They cannot be used during the flowering period, therefore it is not recommended to be late with early flowering varieties. However, some growers consider such fertilizers to be an extreme and not quite necessary measure, replacing them with HB 101. It is a squeeze of cedar, pine, cypress and plantain. It contains 6 mineral elements and is a growth stimulant for flowers.

The drug improves plant immunity, increases disease resistance. It is available in two types; granules are suitable for root feeding. It is enough to put a few pieces in the seedling hole and be calm about leaving with mineral fertilizing.If the soil is poor, you can apply a slurry every 3 weeks.

Roses need a deep planting pit, this is a necessary condition.

Common mistakes made by florists are insufficient planting pit depth and lack of drainage. The depth and width of the pit should reach 70 cm, the top layer is neatly deposited on its edge. Drainage is laid out at the bottom of the pit - pebbles, gravel or other material. A thick layer (about 40 cm) of prepared soil is poured on top, a fertile soil layer for roses is placed on it.

Important! Along with drainage for roses in the garden, you need to take into account the fertility of the soil: the lower it is, the greater the depth of the cultivated soil.

The old methods should also not be forgotten, for example, the clay talker perfectly nourishes the roots of the rose seedling before planting. To do this, you just need to combine equal parts of manure and clay, getting a creamy consistency. The rhizome is dipped into it before planting for 8-10 minutes, after which it is planted in a pit.

How to determine soil moisture

This criterion will allow you to understand whether the soil is loose enough for roses, since damp earth does not suit them. Special devices are not needed here, you just need to take a handful of earth in your hand and squeeze it. If it does not roll into a ball and crumbles back, its moisture content is close to zero, so nutrition is needed. If it connects, but not for long, the humidity is no more than 30%, which is a little too little for roses. This means that the soil needs watering. An acceptable degree of moisture for roses can be called the one at which the soil rolls into a lump and does not crumble back.

Important! If the earth hardly crumbles into separate parts from a wet lump, it is not suitable for planting roses.

The soil for roses must be sufficiently moist.

The queen of the garden, the rose cannot be planted in any place where it will look most impressive. She is whimsical about the properties of the soil, so she will have to do a little research. Once the acidity of the soil has been determined, the correct nutrient mix can be added to make it suitable for planting roses.