Roses are extremely heavy feeders. If you want to enjoy them for a long time, regular fertilization is essential, whereby the plant should be supplied with essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, manganese and magnesium - but not in bulk Excess! Calcium or lime is not one of them, on the contrary: it is better to avoid fertilizing with lime.
Is it advisable to lime roses?
Should roses be limed? No, in most cases liming roses is not necessary and can even be harmful. Lime chlorosis, a common deficiency symptom in roses, is caused by too high a lime content in the soil. Instead, roses should be fertilized with essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, manganese and magnesium.
To lime roses or not?
In many gardening guides you can read that roses definitely need to be limed a few weeks before planting in order to adjust the pH value of the soil to the optimal value between 6 and 6.5. If this were not done, there would be a risk of poor growth and the flowers would not be as lush as desired. Well, you can rest assured: In this country, you can easily avoid liming the soil without fearing any damage - there are of course rare exceptions, but for this reason you should have a soil analysis carried out before planting to be on the safe side.
Lime chlorosis one of the most common rose diseases
Instead of a lime deficiency, lime chlorosis is one of the most common deficiency symptoms in roses. If the lime content is too high, the absorption of iron compounds is made more difficult because lime binds the important nutrient iron in the soil. As a result, iron deficiency often occurs in very calcareous soil. The leaves remain small and turn light yellow, only the leaf veins remain green. Yellow or chlorotic leaves are often observed on rugosa roses (i.e. potato roses) that grow in loamy, waterlogged soils. Wetness and poor drainage can also lead to chlorosis in other roses.
How to treat calcium chlorosis
If lime chlorosis occurs, you can remedy the situation by first loosening the soil and incorporating iron chelates into the soil or injecting iron preparations; Please seek advice from a specialist retailer. However, you should only lime the soil if the pH value is below 6 (exception: Rosa rugosa). You can measure the pH value yourself regularly using an appropriate pH set (€14.00 on Amazon) from a specialist retailer. Otherwise, it is advisable to have a soil analysis carried out every three to four years. Agricultural investigation offices prepare detailed analyzes and also make fertilizer recommendations.
Tip
In addition to lime chlorosis, incorrectly fertilized roses also quickly develop an excess of nitrogen. This leads to soft plant parts that are heavily infested with aphids. Overfertilization with nitrogen can be remedied with potassium.
