Protocol for Rose Plants

If your soil does not drain well, put about six inches of sand on top and add about three inches of well aged compost on top of that and mix it all into the soil with a tiller or spade it in by hand if you are feeling energetic.

Applying BioVam to new plants: After the ground is prepared as above, dig the hole for your rose plant leaving a mound in the middle that your plant will sit on. Wash the soil off the roots of the plant when it comes from the nursery so as to remove any superphosphate fertilizers that may have been added by the nursery. Sprinkle 1.5 teaspoons (or more) of BioVam onto the wet roots of your Rose plant. Do that over the planting hole so that the BioVam that doesn’t cling to the roots will fall into the planting hole. Place the rose plant roots on top of the BioVam and put in a couple inches of soil. Put ¼ cup of Biosol Mix fertilizer around the plant and mix with the soil. Add a couple more inches of soil. Put in another ¼ cup of Biosol Mix fertilizer around the plant and mix with the soil. Fill the hole with the remaining soil. Put 1 cup of Biosol Mix fertilizer around the plant to about one foot from the stem and mix with the soil. Sprinkle one tablespoon of Planters II Trace Mineral Fertilizer around the rose plant. This is just a supply of mineral nutrients. Mix with the soil so it is covered.  Brew up a batch of Natures Own Growing System Microbe Tea and spray the rose plant weekly with freshly made tea with Yucca Extract added to the tea.

Plants already in the ground: Evaluate how well your soil meets the above conditions. If the soil is laden with clay or does not drain well, mix in perlite and compost around your plants the best you can to give the roots more room to grow into such soils.

Applying BioVam to existing plants: Use a ½ inch probe to poke four holes into the root zone of your plant. You can go about 3-4" out from the plant and angle the probe towards the plant. A long screwdriver will work well for this purpose. You will want to go down into the ground about 6 to 8 inches. Push it into the ground make sure you can feel it go into the root zone of the plant. Wiggle it around to enlarge the hole a bit. Put four such holes evenly around your plant. Put ½ teaspoon of BioVam into each hole and cover the hole with soil. Mix into the soil 1 cup of Biosol Mix 7-2-3 Fertilizer around each plant out to about one foot from the stem of the plant.  Sprinkle one tablespoon of Planters II Trace Mineral Fertilizer around the rose plant. This is just a supply of mineral nutrients. Mix with the soil so it is covered.  Brew up a batch of Natures Own Growing System Microbe Tea and spray the rose plant weekly with freshly made tea with Yucca Extract added to the tea. 

Maintenance efforts each Spring:

Fertilizations: Sprinkle 1 cup of Biosol Mix 7-2-3 fertilizer per Rose on the ground from the main stem to one foot out from the stem. Do not disturb the soil. The Mycorrhiza and feeder roots are right at the surface. If you are using a mulch, move the mulch back and sprinkle down the fertilizer without disturbing the soil, then put the mulch back in place. A tablespoon sprinkling of rock dust (Planters II or gypsum) each year should be adequate to supply mineral nutrients for each plant. It’s okay to re-apply BioVam into the roots of your already treated plants each year. Single treatments work, but we feel reapplication helps boost the health of Rose plants. We suggest annual application until you see no further improvements.  We recommend you brew Natures Own Growing System Microbe Tea, add Yucca Extract to the tea, and spray your plants weekly to encourage maximum plant performance.

Top Mulch: You may want to consider adding a mulch of ground up leaves, grass clippings from a BioVam treated lawn, and saw dust or shredded bark and peat moss as a top dressing around your plants. This is "worm food". The root system of your plants will enlarge as time goes by and earthworms will tend to move into the area if they already have not done so. They will eat the mulch and the worm castings are an excellent source of nitrogen fertilizer for your plants.

In general, you will find the soils around plants treated with BioVam will remain loose and well aerated from the earthworms that move in and from the Mycorrhiza fungi that grows out into the soil from the roots of your plants. The root system of the plant will grow larger and the plant will become much healthier. It is this increase in health that we are striving for with your plants and that is the primary reason why your plants will resist diseases and why your plants will not be bothered by insects. When the plant’s health is extremely good, fungi can’t get through the outer layers of healthy tissue and get a foot hold. This is the reason why we have noticed that powdery mildew and Black Spot doesn’t seem to spread around roses treated with BioVam.

Avoid the use of green animal manure. The quick release nitrogen from green manure is not good for soil microbes. Use only well aged composted animal manure.  Well composted manure should not smell like manure.

Certain fungicides, fumigants, and systemic substances can kill Mycorrhiza fungi. See our precautions below for more details. When the Mycorrhiza fungi die, it doesn’t mean your plant will die, but the fungi are a primary source of nutrients coming into your plants and you may find your plants struggling to survive if they no longer have the Mycorrhiza fungi in their root systems.

Mycorrhiza cannot survive levels of steam pasteurization and fumigation which are normally required to eliminate common soil pathogens.

Certain fungicides can also inhibit inoculation including: Arasan, Benomyl, Botran, Mylone, and Thiabendazole.

Other fungicides, in selected studies, have shown little or no effect on infection and development of endomycorrza. These include: Ethoprop, Funsophothian, Ethazole, Captan, Maneb, Ridomil, Aliette, Pyroxzyclor, and Thiophanate. Some fungicides such as Ethazole (Terrazole and Truban), when applied at low rates (10-40 ppm) and at 30 to 60 days after inoculation can stimulate Mycorrhizal infection.

If you have a concern about the effect of any product upon Mycorrhiza fungi, please contact us. We will provide you with the information you will need.

The Rose root systems grow deeper and farther out into the soil with the Mycorrhiza. Clay soils can be changed so they drain well and retain moisture.

The health of the Rose plant is raised significantly and the plant can naturally resist insects and the intrusion of fungal diseases. Many customers do not have to spray for insects or use fungicides on their Rose plants treated with BioVam and Biosol Mix.

More chlorophyll is present in the leaves and stems of BioVam plants and they can be planted in areas with little to no direct sun light. We recommend that you test this at your own location before planting lots of Rose plants where they receive little to no sun light.

Cuttings taken from BioVam treated Roses retain much more water and take a long time to wilt and dry out.

Roses treated with BioVam and Biosol Mix have a much higher level of health and they typically will produce consecutive blooms through the growing season. The hardiness of these plants enables them to resist environmental extremes of temperatures, soil salinity, wrong pH, and drought.

As you use our products, you will notice many other benefits not mentioned above.