For commercial rose growing, selection of land is an important task. The site for cultivation of roses may be such that rain water from nearby areas should not come and stagnate the rose beds. The land which is used for paddy cultivation is generally not suitable for roses. A site which has soft muram below 45 to 60 cm layer of soil is ideal. The level of nutrients in the soil is very important. Rose beds are seldom deeply cultivated once they are established, unless new space is prepared for replacement.
A way to improve aeration in heavy soils is to incorporate organic matter into the soil when preparing the beds. The organic matter also improves the physical condition of the clayey soils. Organic matter promotes the aggregation of soil particles and increases the water holding capacity. Also in sandy soils, organic matter improves the water holding capacity as well as the nutrient holding capacity.
The initial preparation of rose beds should preferably be done during summer season, so as to expose the soil in sun and air for a longer time, and during monsoon it settle down before planting. Soil should be well pulverised; stones, brick pieces, gravel and other foreign material removed. All weeds and grasses should be removed by deep digging.
The soil depth is to be increased and alkalinity should be counteracted before roses are planted. The best method of increasing soil depth is to green manure the ground. About ten days before planting super phosphate should be added, and the soil should be manured with FYM or compost at the rate of 50 tones per hectare, and beds should be irrigated thoroughly.
Pots of 60 cm depth and diameter are to be dug for planting rose plants, and these pits, are filled with equal parts of rotten cow dung manure. If the land is clayey, in the bottom of each pit 2.5cm layer of sand may be added and the pits are filled with 40% soil, 10% sand and 50% cow dung manure. The top soil contains the most nutrients in top 20 to 30cm of soil. In the process of digging, the topsoil should be kept separately and the sub soil is prepared or dug.
To aerate the topsoil and open up the sub soil double digging method is also followed in roses. Sometimes the beds are dug by trenching method for proper digging. While describing the double digging method a rose gardener enumerated that first a trench of 45 cm wide and 30 cm deep is dug at one end of the bed. The top 30 cm soil is transported to the other end of the bed. Then the subsoil is dug at le,ast to the depth of 15cm or preferably 30cm.
After this digging is over, the next 45 cm wide trench is dug and the top 30 cm soil from this trench goes to the top of the first trench. The digging proceeds like this and in the last trench top portion is filled with the topsoil of the first trench. In this process of digging roots and suckers of weeds as well as stones are to be removed. Very great care should be used with weed-killing sprays and expert advice should be sought, they are highly selective, needing special sprays for different weeds.
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1. Growing roses requires good soil preparation
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