The Unexpected Beverage That Can Help Your Roses Grow And Thrive

There's no doubt that roses are a beautiful addition to the yard and garden. Although they're easier to grow than many people think, they do need a lot of care and attention to grow their best. While many clever tricks can help your rose garden thrive, one of the best options is providing them with the nutrients from alfalfa. Alfalfa is a valuable herb that can help your roses grow beautiful and strong by providing them with nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium. Alfalfa also contains triacontanol, a fatty acid that acts as a growth stimulant. It can work wonders on many plants, including rose bushes. 

Although there are other ways to provide roses with the nutrients in alfalfa, making alfalfa tea is one of the easiest and most effective. While an alfalfa tea beverage meant for human consumption will likely benefit roses, creating a "tea" specifically for roses is ideal. Roses like to have a lot more than just a cup of alfalfa tea at once, so you'll need to give a rose bush a whole gallon for best results. Brewing alfalfa tea helps extract nutrients from the herb. It makes the liquid ideal for adding to roses, regardless of which of the 25 rose varieties are in your garden.

To make alfalfa tea, you'll need to grab a large container, such as a 30-gallon trash can, and fill it up with water. You'll then need to add 10 cups of alfalfa, either as pellets or meal, which is sometimes sold commercially as rabbit food. Set this container in the sun for around three to five days while making sure that you stir it daily. Once your tea is ready to use, you'll need to take one gallon and pour it on each large rose bush in your garden every six weeks. Miniature and mini-flora roses only require half a gallon instead. 

Remember to add some cold water to the tea if it gets too warm in the sun. Avoid pouring hot alfalfa tea on your rose bushes since this could damage them. It's important to note that the concoction is liable to stink, so you won't want to get too close to it when you're not using it. Although roses are considered difficult plants to grow in the garden, this smelly tea is well worth having around and can help you achieve great results. However, due to the smell, remember to keep the alfalfa tea away from any areas that people frequent around your home, such as patio areas.