{"id":2,"date":"2015-06-07T09:38:53","date_gmt":"2015-06-07T09:38:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.superlawnstuff.com\/?page_id=2"},"modified":"2016-02-12T16:31:16","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T16:31:16","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/?page_id=2","title":{"rendered":"Rose Garden Research Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
Hybrid Tea Rose
\nTropicana<\/strong><\/th>\n		Hybrid Tea Rose
\nElina<\/strong><\/th>\n		Hybrid Tea Rose
\nGranada<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
\"Rose-Tropicana-Hyb-TeaLR\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"Rose-Elina-Hyb-TeaLR\"<\/td>\n\"Rose-Granada-Hyb-TeaLR\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AARS Winner 1960<\/td>\nIntroduced 1975<\/td>\nAARS Winner 1963<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Exhibit A<\/a> | Exhibit B<\/a> | Exhibit C<\/a> |
\nExhibit D: page 1<\/a> page 2<\/a> | Exhibit E<\/a> | Exhibit F<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

TESTING REPORT<\/h3>\n

Over the years prior to this time there were issues in the garden related to clay, water filtration and absorption, chemical use, and use of commercial fertilizer. Additionally in years with extreme temperatures the roses would suffer and did not always survive.<\/p>\n

In an effort to increase pore space in the soil to allow for the movement of water, nutrients, bacterial and fungal support, and allow for better root growth, I decided to take on the Earth Right product line with the support of the company. It was experimental as the company had success for over 20 years in town with residential landscape beds, but this was the first time using the product line in a public park with over 3000 roses.<\/p>\n

This report is the initial phase of an effort to return the park to sustainable practices. Our overall objective over time is to reduce chemicals for safety, cost savings and so that we will be a responsible environmental citizen. This report is a Phase I report in a series, which will follow our testing on many sustainable fronts. <\/p>\n

OBJECTIVES IN GARDEN MAINTENANCE<\/h3>\n

Objectives included:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Increased pore space<\/li>\n
  2. Better water and nutrient absorption<\/li>\n
  3. Better drainage<\/li>\n
  4. Less NPK usage<\/li>\n
  5. More natural nutrient usage<\/li>\n
  6. Decrease use of chemicals due to health of roses to save money and time<\/li>\n
  7. Ease of application<\/li>\n
  8. Respect for the environment and water table<\/li>\n
  9. Colonization of bacterial and fungal systems to support health and root systems<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    THE PRODUCTS<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n
    Earth Right Super Stuff\u00ae<\/strong><\/th>\nThe Mushroom Stuff\u00ae<\/strong><\/th>\nSure Bloom\u00ae<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
    \"Earth<\/a><\/td>\n\"The<\/a><\/td>\n\"Sure<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    Attached is an exhibit (Exhibit A) that lists the ingredients of the products we have been using since the renovation in 2009. Those products are: Earth Right Super Stuff\u00ae \u2013 an enhanced soil conditioner; The Mushroom Stuff\u00ae \u2013 a root enhancer and a fertilizer with no NPK for gentle transplant support; Sure Bloom\u00ae Natural \u2013 a combination of fish emulsion, alfalfa juice and seaweed for gentle fertilization; and Sure Bloom\u00ae 6-7-6 \u2013 a fertilizer with low NPK to replace high NPK fertilizers. Many gardeners and Charlie Anctil have used these products over the last 15 \u2013 20 years successfully. Charlie has more than 150 roses in his beds and has been a Rosarian since 1959. He has judged shows in five states so I totally trust in his judgment and felt good going ahead with these more natural products for the garden.<\/p>\n

    THE ROSE GARDEN<\/h3>\n

    Exhibit B is a plan of the garden as it stands today, after the renovation. Exhibit C is a map of the garden before the renovation. As you can see from these maps, we dug out and added drainage to 16 beds in the center of the garden. The North bed, the West bed, the roses on the outer ring, and the east entrance were not moved. We had wanted to replace the roses at the East entrance because they had poor growth every year and had weak canes. They were susceptible to pest infestation and disease from being so weak. The company convinced me to use the East Entrance beds as an experiment so I did not replace those roses. New pathways were installed to mimic pathways in the 30’s.<\/p>\n

    GARDEN RENOVATION 2009<\/h3>\n

    The central section of the garden was dug up and the turf, the shrubs and the roses were all affected. When we looked at the soil structure 4 feet down as the drainage was being installed we realized that most of the structure was extremely poor. It was either clay or gumbo at deep levels. Exhibit D from Turf Diagnostics describes soil conditions near the surface, in the top 12 \u2013 18\u2033. Of course, I realized that soil conditions at deeper levels affected water percolation throughout the garden. Knowing the dilemma I worked with the principals of Earth Right to come up with a plan to treat the garden beds over a five year period to rectify the situation as much as possible. We are now four years into the program and my notes and observations are in this report.<\/p>\n

    THE REPORT<\/span><\/h3>\n

    The renovation process was stressful to me and the employees. Compaction was my biggest concern due to the heavy equipment and the condition of the underlying soil. Due to the structure of the decision making for the renovation, I was not in control of the plan for renovating the soil. The decision makers concluded that adding sand to all of the beds , as suggested by the ARS and our landscapers, was in our best interest and that adding organic matter was not as important. I believe that organic matter containing beneficial microbes is crucial to plant and soil health. Sand is used in concrete and when mixed with clay it will perform for a time. But over time, the fines compact and we get a brick like clay structure.<\/p>\n

    So after the renovation, I had beds containing more sand than I wanted and not enough organic matter. We used the Earth Right products to try to overcome this liability. Of course, I was a little nervous because I had to plant over 2000 hybrid teas, grandiflora and shrub roses and have them root and bloom and be healthy. Naturally my concern was for leafing out, strong canes and good development. I also thought that flooding in the beds during rainy season could sabotage my efforts to maintain the new plants.<\/p>\n

    In fact, that year we did lose a few roses due to standing water where there had been sand added to the beds. The sand was added to the areas that were holding water, against my better judgment and that is in fact where we wound up having problems the first year (2009). We applied Earth Right Super Stuff but we needed multiple applications to overcome renovation specs. After the first year, this was not really an issue. The product had done what it said it would do, our soil was more open, I had better soil tilth, percolation, and the microbes in the product were helpful in reducing nutrient application rates. By 2010 most of the areas holding water due to the added sand were corrected and by 2011 they all were corrected.<\/p>\n

    By planting the new roses with The Mushroom Stuff we got excellent and quick root growth in terms of size of the roots and because Earth Right Super Stuff opened soil at deeper levels the roots could grow down and out. I have pulled some of these roses over the last four years to move them or replace them with new varieties. I have always moved roses in beds and there are always regular replacements. The roses that we have moved or replaced since implementing our current program have bigger roots and longer roots that pulled from deeper depths and larger canes than roses we moved prior to the renovation which were treated with commercial NPK and no mycelium, microbes or conditioner.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Exhibit A<\/a> | Exhibit B<\/a> | Exhibit C<\/a> |
    \nExhibit D:     page 1<\/a> page 2<\/a> | Exhibit E<\/a> | Exhibit F<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

    Exhibit E contains examples of the chemical sprays used prior to the renovation and applications after the renovations. It is clearly shown that:<\/h3>\n
      \n
    1. Less NPK was required<\/li>\n
    2. Less spray for disease was required<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Exhibit F is photographs of roses that were in the ground prior to the renovation and the same varieties taken after the renovations. You can visibly see the difference in cane size, numbers of blooms and overall appearance of plants which reflect their health.<\/p>\n

      Since 2009 we have steadily reduced our dependence on Sure Bloom 6-7-6. The company had said that we would be able to do this and we have. Just switching to the Earth Right program meant considerable reduction in NPK. Now we are using less than we did in 2009. In fact we have reduced our dependence on NPK by half since 2009 and we used 1\/7 the amount of N in 2009 that we did in 2008!<\/p>\n

      The good news is that means less phosphates and nitrogen in the soil\/water with improved results. The bloom count and size are not negatively affected by the reduction in the fertilizer chemicals we need to reduce to be environmentally friendly. So this proves that we can grow spectacular roses for the city using natural ingredients and microbes and protect the environment at the same time. Over the four years we have had a steady program that has increased health annually and reduced dependence on chemicals.<\/p>\n

      The real proof is in Exhibit F, which pictures the East Entrance before the renovation and now. The difference is visually remarkable even to the untrained eye. We saved time and money by not replacing these roses. In fact, these roses were not even treated every time we applied product and they are still spectacular and people remark about them. Bloom size is bigger than we have ever anticipated. The roses are full and healthy.<\/p>\n

      Twenty five years ago I was using a lot more NPK and an insecticide in the formula. I changed this fertilizer as quickly as I could. I did not like dumping pesticides into the soil. I was also spending a lot of man hours applying granular fertilizer to the garden. In the early 90’s I switched to lower NPK numbers in fertilizer and did not include pesticides in the mix. We treated for pests separately as needed.<\/p>\n

      In 2009 we totally changed our program to more natural methods using the Earth Right Products which have been wonderful. I love the liquid application as it can be applied directly to the mulch and watered in to feed the roses; restore the soil profile and microbes; and to increase root and bloom production.<\/p>\n

      I have seen the roses in the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden improve annually in the four years I have been using the Earth Right products.<\/p>\n

      The rose canes on average were a little bit larger then a number 2 pencil before using Earth Right products. Presently the canes are on average about 1 \u2013 2 inches in diameter near the base and not much smaller as you move up the cane.<\/p>\n

      The leaves on the roses are a deeper green and have more leaves for better photosynthesis. Black spot and other diseases still affect our roses but overall the number of diseased leaves has decreased for an overall reduction in black spot.<\/p>\n

      In 2008 a decision was made to reconstruct the Laura Conyers Smith Municipal Rose Garden at Jacob L. Loose Memorial Park. The objective was to return the parks design to its original.<\/p>\n

      \"laura-staff-crop\"<\/a> Judy Penner and staff, November 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hybrid Tea Rose Tropicana Hybrid Tea Rose Elina Hybrid Tea Rose Granada AARS Winner 1960 Introduced 1975 AARS Winner 1963 Exhibit A | Exhibit B | Exhibit C | Exhibit D: page 1 page 2 | Exhibit E | Exhibit F TESTING REPORT Over the years prior to this time there were issues in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":491,"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/superlawnstuff.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}