Hi gang -

In late May / early June I went hog wild on some clearance sales and
bought way too many roses. Most of them were bare root outcasts that
assorted vendors could no longer sell at retail simply because it was
far too late and far too hot. Others were in 3 and 5 gallon pots.

I'm in a hot climate - zone 7b, with highs above 80 from April to mid
October, so early June is not a good time for bare roots or for
transplanting - hence the bargains.

The potted ones stayed in their pots and were placed in a good sunny
spot at the side of the house. I went ahead and planted half of the
bare root roses after soaking them for two days. The rest I left
soaking in two plastic storage bins.

The ones in the pots did fairly well. Louise Odier and Kent required
no care whatsoever and thrived. Larry Daniels struggled but is still
alive (my fault - I didn't realize he's a shade lover, and I left him
roasting in full sun all summer long). The Squire died. The others
are miscellaneous hybrid teas - they didn't do well, but most of them
lived.

The bare roots that I planted did as you would expect from bare roots
planted in 90-95 degree weather. Only Black Baccara, Falstaff, and
Pat Austin survived at all (these were planted in partial shade) and
none of them grew an inch. The rest were pretty much all dead within
a month.

The real surprise was the batch that I left soaking. Many of them
thrived, even blooming in the water. Unfortunately one of the bins
dried up while I was away on an extended work trip in late August, and
I lost everything in it.

The other bin had Magic Carousel, Redoute, The Dark Lady, two
Intrigue, an Oklahoma and a Blanc Double de Coubert. The Dark Lady
didn't live, and the B.D.d.C. struggled, but the others made it just
fine until fall planting season began in October. Most of them went
into soil then, but the Redoute finally went into the ground
yesterday.

It was soaking for about six months with no added nutrients - and it
still bloomed and formed nice hips in its water bath.

Lesson learned - bare roots really can soak indefinitely, and are much
happier left swimming when the weather is ridiculously hot.

On Sat, 22 Nov 2003 05:14:10 -0500, torgo
wrote:

The other bin had Magic Carousel, Redoute, The Dark Lady, two
Intrigue, an Oklahoma and a Blanc Double de Coubert. The Dark Lady
didn't live, and the B.D.d.C. struggled, but the others made it just
fine until fall planting season began in October. Most of them went
into soil then, but the Redoute finally went into the ground
yesterday.

It was soaking for about six months with no added nutrients - and it
still bloomed and formed nice hips in its water bath.

Lesson learned - bare roots really can soak indefinitely, and are much
happier left swimming when the weather is ridiculously hot.

This is really interesting info. Thanks!

Here's a question though. When you root cuttings for tropical plants
in plain water, it's recommended that once the roots get established
they should be moved to soil as soon as possible because the roots
become accustomed to getting oxygen from water and if youl eave them
in water too long, they suffer a bad shock upon being planted in soil
and usually die. So I would be interested in you following up in the
coming months.

Perhaps this is just a wives tale but I seem to remember reading it in
years past. Something about the adaptability of roots in water that
isn't easily reversed. Anyone else hear this? And perhpas it doesn't
apply to plants like roses.

I would assume that if there was a problem with the ones planted back
in October, you would have already seen them, but I'd still like for
you to follow up, if you could.