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'COCgrand' rose Reviews & Comments
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I have quite a few of these and so far, there have been plenty of blooms and very nice fragrance. But the blooms seem to shrivel in heat, don't always open in high humidity, and immediately shrivel up in the vase. Can anybody comment on whether this is just something that happens when they are new? Mine are all less than a year old, own-root, both in the pot and in sandy soil. Very vigorous otherwise.
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Amazing Grace is a deep-cup bloom with many petals .. that means a HIGHER DEMAND for calcium and potassium. My Pink Peace as own-root fried in the heat & full-sun ... then I gave it sulfate of potash/gypsum AS SOLUBLE-FERTILIZER WEEKLY, and blooms no longer fry in the heat & last longer in the vase. Calcium makes petals solid. Potassium regulates water-osmotic pressure to force bud to open, and to move water UP the stem. Clay has more potassium & calcium than sand, thus it's easier to grow zillion-petals Austin roses in clay. There's a Texas A & M study that showed calcium helps plants to cope with heat.
Same with Wise Portia as own-root: blooms fried in the heat in partial shade !! It improved with Azomite (mostly calcium powder). Blooms had less petals as the bush aged, so I knew there's a depletion of calcium. I dug that up, put tons of gypsum (calcium sulfate) to break up my hard clay. This year, it gives TWICE more petals, very firm, and long-lasting in the vase. I also give it SOLUBLE sulfate of potash NPK 0-0-50 to balance out the calcium in the planting hole.
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Thanks for much for the information! Do you think that since alfalfa is so high in calcium, the compost made from it should be sufficient?
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Grass clippings at NPK 4-1-2 is cheaper and higher in nitrogen than alfalfa meal NPK 2-1-2. I planted 20 tomato plants this year, first year ever with grass clippings mixed in with soil. I'm very impressed: thicker stems, no wilting in hot sun (best ever in 2 decades of tomato crop).
But there's one plant that got pine-bark & sand in the planting hole, and it's wilting with tiny leaves .... too dry & low-nitrogen. University of CT documented the release of nitrogen of grass clipping is WITHIN A MONTH, so alfalfa is best as FRESH on top, rather that composted (nitrogen leaches out completely after 1 month).
The tomatoes with 1/2 fresh grass clippings mixed with 1/2 clay have the thickest stem & most fruits. That far surpass the year which I used 40 lbs. bag of alfalfa meal for my tomato (too many leaves & weak stems). However, I tested mixing fresh grass-clippings with bagged sand .. that didn't work for roses, thanks to the quick lime (pH 9) in the bagged sand, and perhaps roses can't handle the acidity of fresh grass-clippings like tomatoes. So I'll wait until 1 month for the grass-clippings to decompose, before planting my roses. Will let you know later.
Last year I TOPPED my 16 own-root roses (in pots) with alfalfa pellets .. that worked well. But this year I MIXED alfalfa pellets INTO potting soil for my 7 own-root roses received mid-May .. I did that 2 weeks before planting rose into the pots. THAT DIDN'T WORK WHATSOVER, The acidity of decayed organics stunt roots and leaves turned pale due to lack of oxygen. Alfalfa meal is quite dense & wet & sticky, so roots can't breathe. Organics is best on top, except for dry grass-clippings which worked great mix-into clay for tomatoes, but I'll wait 1 more month before planting roses into the ground with clay mixed with grass-clippings.
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Excellent info, thank you so much!
I wish that they would list on the the bags of sand whether or not they have lime. I've had drastically different results with bagged sand after assuming that they were all the same-big mistake!
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They also put nasty chemical quick lime in bagged-cow-manure to deodorize & kill weeds & but never list the ingredients !! William Morris, Darcy Bussell, and St. Cecilia all died thanks to bagged sand (with quick lime) mixed with my native clay, plus 5 other roses grafted-on-Dr.Huey. I spent 2 hours scraping off cow-manure since that stunt my tomatoes & and my roses turned pale with that chemical-quick-lime (pH over 9). Grass-clippings worked wonders to fluff-up compact clay, same with alfalfa-hay. I did mix alfalfa-hay (large strands) into clay one-month before planting, and Tchaikovsky broke out in 10 buds as 1st-year-own-root. LARGE chunky organics help to aerate clay for best root-growth. Alfalfa hay in planting hole works better than alfalfa meal since alfalfa-hay is less acidic & slower to decay.
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The bloom size is listed as 3.25". The blooms on my plant are at least 5", maybe 6". Does anyone have small blooms on this plant?
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You're right Diane. The blossoms are just as you suggest.
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Thanks Dianne and Robert. We've increased the bloom size to 5".
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Thanks, Patricia. I am certain that is a representative bloom.
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My new own-root plant is healthy, and its first bloom is not only gorgeous, but is one of the most fragrant in my garden (second only to Sutter's Gold, perhaps). Love it so far!
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Very helpful, thank you !
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The bud doesn't open in cool Fall weather and I wish it bloomed more in even warm weather.
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