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September 19th, 2022 
Awake Goy 
A gardener this week phoned me asking about roses and what should he be doing this time of the year?
He suggested that I should write an article about roses so here is a copy of a past article I wrote over 5 years ago and revised now:
There is something special about roses that gardeners like.
It could be the shape and form of the flowers; it maybe the exotic perfumes some varieties have; or it could be something in our genes, because roses must be the oldest cultivated ornamental plant in the history of the world.
In Nature things such as leaf diseases (black spot, rust etc) and insect pest attacks on plants is part of life but when it comes to the rose enthusiast these natural occurrences are like the end of the world.
Woe betide a blemish to the foliage or an aphid feeding on the newly forming flower buds in spring.
It is war and every chemical of mass destruction will be mixed and used to control and eradicate.
The goal is the perfect bloom (with a tear drop of dew on a petal) framed by perfect foliage of a dark rich green. Picture perfect and hopefully with a divine scent to boot.
For those that show their roses at their annual local rose show or in the national rose shows the perfect specimen is the ultimate challenge.
I remember in days gone by when chemicals; that have since been banned because of the damage they did to the environment and to our health, such as Shield for Roses.
These would be used religiously by gardeners on their beloved roses biweekly.
Alternating with Super Shield and applications of Rose Fertiliser and Nitrophoska Blue.
If the rose sprays did not do what was expected there were other lethal chemicals to use, Captan, Bravo, Orthene, Target and Maldison. (All banned now as far as I am aware)
To say that the health of the roses was compromised would be an understatement and every season instead of the perfect rose the plants would be a very sore sight.
Years ago I recognised the problem that the chemicals were doing to the soil life and the immune systems of the roses and wrote articles on the matter.
I remember a Garden Centre owner in the Taranaki region telling me how she read my articles on roses and followed the advise. Within a couple of seasons she had turned the sickly roses in her home garden into lovely roses.
The local rose society members visited the gardens and were amazed at how healthy her roses were and wanted to know what chemicals she was using to have them looking so great.
Her reply was no chemicals which the members had problems believing because they had been indoctrinated into Shield, Nitrophoska etc as the ultimate tools of rose perfection.
The products made the companies that sold them a lot of money but did nothing for the health of the roses or the health of the users.
Here is a little logic I remember as a boy visiting my uncles farm in Taranaki where my auntie had a few rose bushes between a paddock and the gravel driveway.
Besides the dust on the plants in a dry summer and the occasional cow or possum nibbling the foliage they were very healthy.
They had some horse or cow manure thrown at them from time to time and cut back in the winter along with a bit of a tidy up.
Another aspect was that being in the country the plants were not suffering from chemicals in the water such as Chlorine. Just rain water from the sky or the tank.
I remember another rose enthusiast who also told me that his parents were great collectors of roses and had over the years several hundred specimens on their farm property which he was also involved in their care.
He told me how over the years of growing up how wonderful and healthy the plants had been.
As ‘new’ things were introduced to assist with the rose care, the health of the roses deteriorated so more stronger chemicals were used to no avail.
His parents passed and it was then his sole responsibility to care for the sick inheritance.
No matter what he used, how much he sprayed the roses only got worse and one winter after another poor health season he was seriously considering plowing all the roses into the ground as they were hopelessly sick and some had already died.
He told me he read an article I wrote about rose health and a program to follow and decided to give it a go for one last attempt.
What happened was that season there was a marked improvement in the roses, not up to their former glory but certainly heading in the right direction.
Then in the following season most of the roses turned to their full health state and a phone call to thank me was made. He said that my advise was the best gift to his deceased parents ever.
It is just common sense really, work with Nature not against it.
Chemicals are designed to kill and control; they can kill both the good as well as the bad plus adverse side effects as we commonly see with our own human pharmaceutical concoctions.
Chlorine in water is bad news for soil life so if you have this poison in your tap water then see about removing it with a 10 micron carbon bonded housing and filter. Email me for more info if interested.
Next stick to natural things to feed your roses (and other plants) this includes all animal manures including sheep manure pellets, blood & bone, compost that is not made from green waste.
(I know people that have lost their roses to compost containing herbicides from green waste)
The compost is used to cover over the blood & bone etc.
For extra minerals use Wallys Unlocking your Soil twice a year and Ocean Solids once a year.
Apply a little Fruit and Flower Power once a month during flowering season.
Spray your roses 2 weekly with Magic Botanical Liquid (MBL) This will do more for your roses health than anything that I know of.
Once a month spray them with Perkfection starting in Spring when there is a good show of leaves. Perkfection can be added to every second spray of MBL.
Any sign of aphids spray just before sunset with Wallys Super Pyrethrum, it is a quick knock down control.
During season any sign of leaf diseases spray with potassium permanganate at a quarter teaspoon per litre of water.
Here is something that you may find interesting; a Peer reviewed study about climate change that was released recently
It confirms my thoughts that adverse weather events have been happening every since weather was recorded.
The difference is the Media coverage now compared to say 50 years ago when you only found out about floods and droughts in the news paper.
Pushing the Fear Button for control and to make us poor.
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New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. Part II of the Act covers a broad range of Civil and Political Rights. As part of the right to life and the security of the person, the Act guarantees everyone:
1The right not to be deprived of life except in accordance with fundamental justice (Section 8)
2The right not to be subjected to torture or to cruel, degrading, or disproportionately severe treatment or punishment (Section 9)
3The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without consent (Section 10)
4The right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment (Section 11)
Furthermore, the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees everyone: Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
This includes the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and belief,
INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO ADOPT AND HOLD OPINIONS WITHOUT INTERFERENCE (Section 1)
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