Planting Roses (Bare Root or Semi Bare Root)
Sunday, January 2nd, 2011
Planting roses correctly in a proper location is the most important success factor. Before you plant your roses, let’s review proper placement.
Roses should receive a minimum of 6 hours of strong sunlight. The more the better. They benefit from good air circulation and should not be planted too near to large plants that will compete for food and water. Do not plant roses where the drainage is poor. When spacing roses, follow this guide for zone 6. Plant Hybrid Teas and Grandifloras 30-36″ apart, Floribundas 24-30″ apart, Shrub roses 4-8′ apart and Climbers on fences 10-18′ apart. Plant climbers and pillar roses right up against their supports. In general, for full coverage, climbing roses are planted on every other fence post. In the south, roses should be planted farther apart; and in the north, somewhat closer planting is recommended.
Upon receiving your roses, open the cartons to check their condition. If the plants are dry, spray with water or soak the plants. If you are not ready to plant your roses, keep them in the cartons in a cool (35-40 degrees F.) area. Check daily to make sure the roots and canes do not dry out; usually a light spray every 2-3 days is sufficient. Keep the plastic securely wrapped around the roses.
One day before planting your roses, bring them into room temperature. It is particularly beneficial to unpack them and place the roots in a pail of lukewarm water into which you have added SeaMate at the rate of 1 tablespoon to a gallon of water.
Planting Roses
While preparing the soil, keep the unplanted roses in a shady place and take care that the roots do not dry out. Prepare the planting hole by removing the soil to a depth of 12-18″. Make the hole wide enough so the roots will have enough room for natural root spread, plus 2 inches on all sides. The soil you have removed should be mixed thoroughly with organic material. It can be peat moss, compost, well-rotted manure or leaf mold. Leafgro, Chesapeake Blue or Chesapeake Green all work especially well. This should be added at the rate of one part organic material to two parts soil.
Trim any roots or stems that are broken. Then build a mound of soil in the hole so the roots are supported at a 45-degree angle. Spread the roots over the mound. The mound should be high enough so the bud union is 1″ below ground level. In areas where the minimum temperature is warmer than 10 degrees F., plant the bud union at or 1″ above ground level. (The bud union is the knob where all the canes come together to join the central trunk). Only budded roses have bud unions. “Own root” roses, usually hardy shrub roses, are always planted with the place where the canes branch out from the trunk an inch or two below the soil surface.
Fill the hole 2/3 full with the enriched soil mixture and tramp to remove any air pockets. Water thoroughly with liquid SeaMate solution prepared at the rate of 1 tablespoon of SeaMate to a gallon of water. Fill hole with solution and let it soak into soil. After solution has soaked in, fill the hole with the soil mixture to ground level, firm the soil and water again. Mound the remaining soil mixture (and additional soil, if necessary) over the rose, covering all canes to within 2-3″ of the top. Finally, make a water-holding ring of soil, about 24 inches across, around the rose. Slowly water the soil mound. Keep the mound moist at all times. This soil mound will keep canes plump and moist while new feeder roots and sprouts are forming. Carefully remove the soil mound after the sprouts have been formed. Within a week, they will turn their normal deep green color. Try to protect these sprouts from sudden late frost. (If the young sprouts should be injured, the rose will sprout again in a few weeks).
Newly planted roses should be fertilized monthly, but very lightly. Too little is better than too much. Until the leaves are full-size, use 100% natural organic fertilizer such as fish emulsion, SeaMate or Plant-Tone. Never fertilize roses in autumn.
Newly planted roses that are reluctant to leaf out can be encouraged if the procedure below is followed: Lay a piece of cotton cloth over the rose canes with one end of the cloth in a bucket of water which sits next to the rose. An old T-shirt, a piece of bed sheet (double thickness) or burlap will work fine. The cloth should not touch the ground all the way around the rose: a small air space is needed for ventilation. The bucket should be kept full at all times. The purpose of this procedure is to make a greenhouse (steam chamber) effect: this will keep the canes from drying out before the roots begin to grow. A similar process commonly referred to as “sweating” is often used in nurseries. Once very small leaves appear on the rose canes, the cloth and the soil mound can be removed, preferably in the evening before a cloudy day.
