Emil wrote:

I noticed today on my "Tigress" bare root, some black spots.

The 2 branches with the black spots have no growth happening. But on the
other branches without black spots, you can see the rose growing. Should
I be worried?

Here are some pics of the black areas:

http://dodgetrucks.org/cgi-bin/index.pl?photo=4682

Hi, Emil. Two points.

First, you need to do one thing that is very important ASAP: you need
to pile damp compost or sawdust or a soil mixture around your canes so
that only 2 inches are sticking out. The objective is to retain
moisture around the canes until the roots reestablish to provide
nutrients to the rose. Until that happens, the canes are subject to
dessication that can kill the rose. If the canes are in an awkward
location, you can make a collar out of cardboard or hardware cloth or
chicken wire to retain the compost. Keep the compost damp by daily
watering, but don't drown the rose. When you see new growth about an
inch or so in length, gradually, over the course of a few days, hose
off the compost, slowly exposing the canes. It can take up to 3 weeks
for new growth to occur.

Second, bareroot roses are processed mechanically, so the canes are
shortened to a standard length using saws, regardless of where the bud
eyes are located. As a result, your rose can may die back to the next
lowest bud eye. Some people trim their bareroots to a bud eye.

--
-=-
Cass
Zone 9 San Francisco Bay Area
http://home.attbi.com/~cassbernstein/index.html