My Hybrid Tea Roses Aren’t Growing, Even With Fertilizer!

Tom in Massillon says, ‘good morning. I’m having trouble with my hybrid tea roses aren’t doing well this year. Last year, the plants got real big and I got very few blooms. This year, the plants aren’t growing at all, I just have, they’re real small, I even got a new one and it has some shoots on, but they’re not growing. And it’s like the soil is suddenly depleted or something. And the one did bloom, but it had real small blooms, not like it usually does. So I’ve used triple super phosphate and the all-purpose fertilizer on this spring and Jack’s Bloom Booster, and they’re still not doing anything. They’re not yellowing, but they’re not growing. They’re all in afternoon sun.’

My guess would be something going on in the soil. A lot of times when you’re not seeing a lot of growth and things like that, especially after a few years, the soil’s usually compacted or needs amending.

Roses also like it really hot, and we have not had that yet. So as summer goes on, you’ve got the ingredients that you’ve put down in the soil. Keep doing the Jack’s Blossom Booster, that’s a liquid, a powder you mix to a liquid. That is supposed to be done every seven days.

Now we’ve had a decent amount of rain here again, but we went 10 days with no good rain there. So if we do dry back out again, that’s something you can do weekly that will help encourage it to set blooms. Some fertilizers make plants grow. That one’s designed to cause it to set blooms. The all-season fertilizer that you put down is going to cover your nitrogen.

I was going to say, a lot of times newer ones too, they’re kind of establishing a little bit. So you’re going to see more leaf and root growth, more so than blooms, because blooms are going to be the last thing to come on. So they’re kind of needing to establish themselves and get used to where they’re at, and then they’re pushing leaves and then they push bloom.

But keep doing what you’re doing. As the environment warms up, you’re going to have a great rose here. Keep an eye also, watch, make sure there’s no insects or fungus or anything like that on the plant. But you’re on the right track. Looks like we just need Mother Nature to finish warming up here.

We had one of the coldest, rainiest Mays I can ever remember. I mean, we really have not, other than a couple of days there, we really have not had a lot of heat yet. And vegetables especially are going to be in the same boat. Your peppers, your tomatoes, they love that heat. And we just have not had that yet. But don’t get me wrong, the plant’s still growing, but it’s spending a lot more of its time rooting than it is growing on the top.

Sometimes the older varieties of tea roses can be a little finicky, obviously putting phosphorus and feeding them, because they are heavy feeders. But tea roses are tricky. You’re on the right track there, Tom.

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