Rose society to hear about alternatives to chemicals

Abouquet of roses is beyond compare in the floral world. No other flower conjures up romance like the rose -- well, except the occasional orchid.

But the roses on the table and the roses in the garden can be two different stories. Roses are notorious for being high-maintenance beauties, the supermodels of the plant world. It is often said that without the intervention of the gardener, many modern roses would not survive. Because of this, the contents of the rose gardener's tool shed often looks like a Superfund site, with sprays and powders for every insect, disease and fungus imaginable, all to be applied on a rotating weekly basis.

Jim Young does things differently. He is the producer and distributor of Purely Organic fertilizer, and he will be visiting on Tuesday to speak to the Winston-Salem Rose Society about growing roses organically. Young's lecture will be presented as a monthly meeting of the rose society at 7 p.m. in the home and garden building at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds. The lecture is free and open to the public.

A complete fertilizer

Young runs a farm and garden store in South Carolina and has been producing Purely Organic fertilizer for about 15 years. It is a complete fertilizer composed of such elements as cottonseed, alfalfa, blood and steamed bone meals, as well as products from the sea -- kelp and fish meal and Greensand, mineral deposits rich in organic detritus. The fertilizer yields an analysis of 5-5-5 but also supplies a wealth of micro-nutrients necessary for plant growth.

Young grew up on a farm where he saw firsthand the value of organic amendments. He said that his family used organic methods because that is what they had on hand, and they could not afford to use costly chemical fertilizers. He has grown a few roses in his time, and though he developed his product mostly for the rose grower, he is primarily a vegetable grower and uses the formula extensively in his garden.

He uses three cups of the fertilizer per square yard for such quick-maturing vegetable crops as lettuce, summer squash and cucumbers. He applies an additional three cups per square yard for tomatoes, eggplants and peppers after about 60 days have passed from the initial planting. These plants with longer maturation periods require a secondary fertilization.

Organic rose gardening isn't just about fertilizer, and Young will discuss two topics crucial to the rose gardening public -- pest and disease control. Young will introduce gardeners to some alternatives to chemical controls for these problems. One of these is Neem oil, used as both a fungicide and insecticide. It is an extraction from the fruit and seed of the Neem tree, a native of India, and is finding wide application as a biopesticide effective on mealy bugs, aphids and -- significantly for rose growers -- Japanese beetles and the fungal infections blackspot and powdery mildew.

Blackspot is the nemesis of Southern rose growers, over-wintering in old foliage and canes and emerging again once spring's moist warm weather starts. Its name is descriptive. Black spots cover lower leaves first and progress with the season, eventually defoliating the plant if left unchecked.

The Japanese beetle runs a quick second on a Southern rose grower's list of undesirable and inevitable issues. Young will discuss several ways to combat the beetles' annual munch-fest, including the use of diatomaceous earth, a mechanical insecticide whose high-silica content abrades the exoskeletons of insects. It is effective on the grub stage of beetles. Young says that if you are ever digging in the soil and uncover little white grubs curled into a "C," they are probably the larval form of Japanese beetles. Many other beetles, some beneficial, share this life stage, however.

Organic gardening is not only about encountering a problem and using a product to address it, and Young will reiterate one of the tenets of organic gardening: Feed the soil not the plant. "Plants are like people; the better they are cared for, the better their resistance." he said.

To this end, Young will also discuss building healthy soil through composting and preparing raised beds that will provide the good drainage that roses and other plants require. He will also discuss safety as it applies to organic and non-organic practices in the garden.

Young said that we need to change how we think about the garden and its problems. We are used to the quick fix, but rarely do we look at the whole picture and address the issue from the soil up.

■ If you have a gardening question or story idea, write to David Bare in care of Features, Winston-Salem Journal, P.O. Box 3159, Winston-Salem, NC 27101-3159, or send e-mail to his attention to gardening@wsjournal.com.