At the Parks Dept. nursery where I worked for some time, we produced a vast number of roses every year for the London parks, and it was one of the reasons for some disparaging regard among the gardeners there of the standard of gardening 'outside in the parks' compared with the standards set in the nursery that there was always complaint about mildew, whereas it was seldom if ever seen on the roses before they left the nursery.
It was simply put down to 'rotten looking after as soon as they leave here'. Years after, when I had learned a great deal more than I knew then, I realized that there was most likely another explanation.
Our hardwood propagator - a brilliant plantsman - was a fanatical believer in and user of a by-product of the fishing industry, available at that time, called 'Eclipse Fish Manure' - I later used it myself when it became my privilege and responsibility to decide what fertilizers and manures would be used, and I can only say that I never used anything better.
However, the fishing industry changed, the fish content of the manure had to be modified, government decrees concerning the proportion of ingredients affected what could be called 'fish manure' and what had to leave out the word 'fish', so that nowadays the product has to be given a different name.
In my opinion it is still the best manure, and although the organic base has changed from fish, it still has a very strong smell! I don't object to it, it is certainly no worse than pig and some other manures, and the smell very soon goes when it reaches the soil, but some people don't like it including, unfortunately, those misguided shopkeepers who think it will drive customers away! It is therefore not easy to find a retailer.
They are mixtures of various straight chemicals, make no contribution whatever to the organic content of the soil and, indeed, it can be very well argued that their prolonged use has a deleterious effect upon soil structure, and therefore, far from being of benefit to the roses, actually do more harm than good in the long term.
It was simply put down to 'rotten looking after as soon as they leave here'. Years after, when I had learned a great deal more than I knew then, I realized that there was most likely another explanation.
Our hardwood propagator - a brilliant plantsman - was a fanatical believer in and user of a by-product of the fishing industry, available at that time, called 'Eclipse Fish Manure' - I later used it myself when it became my privilege and responsibility to decide what fertilizers and manures would be used, and I can only say that I never used anything better.
However, the fishing industry changed, the fish content of the manure had to be modified, government decrees concerning the proportion of ingredients affected what could be called 'fish manure' and what had to leave out the word 'fish', so that nowadays the product has to be given a different name.
In my opinion it is still the best manure, and although the organic base has changed from fish, it still has a very strong smell! I don't object to it, it is certainly no worse than pig and some other manures, and the smell very soon goes when it reaches the soil, but some people don't like it including, unfortunately, those misguided shopkeepers who think it will drive customers away! It is therefore not easy to find a retailer.
They are mixtures of various straight chemicals, make no contribution whatever to the organic content of the soil and, indeed, it can be very well argued that their prolonged use has a deleterious effect upon soil structure, and therefore, far from being of benefit to the roses, actually do more harm than good in the long term.
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Prevention is always better than cure, and there is a range
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