Fertilizer, what is best, when I planted them I used Seasol and have since used Nitrosol, which I use on the ferns and other potted plants. Is it best to use liquid or pellets ?

Marion, who has a couple of buds on the Peace and Bonica is about to bloom again, great.

The best pot fertilisers are Osmocote for roses (or Osmocote Plus, which is nearly the same), combined with liquid feeds of a soluble fertiliser or root stimulant like Seasol.

Marion.
I

Pete

Terra firma alledge their product contains beneficial
microbes.
It has been found that the effect of beneficial microbes in fresh composted potting mixes have a preventative effect against root rotting pathogens greater than that of the best preventative fungicides available.The populations of these critters in composted mixes reduce with time however, so re-introducing them in some way may benefit.
Ashmeri,the way you are growing your roses is an artform in itself.As you are growing your roses in a non-soil medium you have actually begun a hydroponic rose garden.For best results you will have to ignore soil grown methods and start thinking like a hydroponicist.
As Daniel has pointed out already, products such as terra firma will muck up your potting mixes.
Organic fertilisers generally always supply all of their nitrogen component as ammonium form. In the longer term this is disasterous.Roses like most plants require only ten or twenty percent of their nitrogen requirements to be made up of ammonium with the rest being supplied as nitrate.
Ammonium form nitrogen unlike the nitrate form is taken up very rapidly by plant roots.This is why some fertilisers are named according to the type of growth they promote eg supergreen,miracle grow and I'm sure we've all heard of others.The problem here is that you can't use this type of high ammonium fert. for too long without utterly ruining the health of your plants.High ammonium causes the development of weak, stretched growth with less resistance to disease and water stress etc , not to mention less and smaller blooms with poorer colour.
Assuming you dont wish to set up a system which delivers a balanced hydroponic nutrient to your pots each day you would be best advised to use a product such as osmocote.This fert. has an ammonium:nitrate ratio of about 50:50 which is about as good as you can find in any prilled fertiliser product for potted plants.To tip the balance in favour of nitrate you could then liquid fertilise with a soluble fertiliser such as calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate in equal amounts once every 3 or 4 weeks (ie.5grams of each in a ten litre water can).This may sound difficult to obtain but believe me this stuff is easy to find (ie produce stores,farm supplies).
There is more you can do in the long term such as using dolomite in the pots each year. This will lift the ph slightly back to an optimal level and add extra calcium and magnesium.And you could experiment with microbial and or growth stimulant products which sound very interesting indeed.
If your going to stick with pots for the longer term you have to be careful what you apply.Nurseries can pot up roses,apply almost any slow release fertiliser they wish, push out one or two flushes of growth and then sell them but this is not a long term strategy.
I hope you keep your roses in pots,or at least some of them.We like to grow them both ways and their is a lot to learn in both areas.You will not be accepting second best by growing in pots.I have seen (not at my place unfortunately) rows of miniature roses in pots ( only oldies such as Rise and Shine etc) standing six or seven feet high and with dozens of flowers ready to be cut off each bush, every morning.
Best of luck
Thrip

So keep a look out around your way. Cheers...MM.

I bought 2 x 35kilo bags for $19.00 each in Capalaba. With all my roses and garden beds I only used 3/4 of one bag. It goes a long way.

Can't wait to see if I get the results many of you others have.

Cheers,

Brissy

Second tip; why only partly fill pots? You have enslaved them to a life of a smaller amount of soil width, there is always settling and no, they don't need a deep recess "for water". Mine are always planted level with the pot rim.

ANY water running from the bottom of pots or hanging baskets has a similar effect to rinsing dirt from washing.