Thank you Cass for the information. I've never planted bare root roses
before so this is all new to me. I maybe a
lot of things but I'm not a quiter and I won't let my roses quit either.
Next time ( and there will be one) I'll remember to
remove the mounding alittle at a time.

"Cass" wrote in message
...
Rick wrote:

This year I bought 6 bareroot roses from Edmunds. I followed the
planting instructions to the letter for 3 of them. On 2 I did the
same except for mounding around the canes and on one, left it a
bucket of water for a week then just planted it. Of the three that
got the mounding around the canes I waited until I saw 2-4 new growth
popping out before removing the mound. There was alot of new growth
under the mound, blanched from no sun. The growth outside of the
mound is doing wonderfully but the growth under the mound has just
died off and no new growth can be seen from those canes. Why would
this happen? The 2 roses that never got the mounding have alot of
new growth and are very healthy. The one that got left in the bucket
of water for a week is doing just fine also. Maybe mounding here in
So. CA just doesn't need to be done, I have no idea. Can anyone
explain to me why the mounding roses new growth has died off and is
there anyway to get them jump started again to get new growth?

Conventional wisdom is that you remove the compost that you mounded
gradually once you see 2 inches of growth at the tips of the exposed
canes. Then you don't remove the mounded compost all at once: you wash
off an inch or so each day for several days. Some of the
chlorophyl-deprived growth will die, but a lot of it will turn green
and continue growing.

Mounding is really important, so don't feel bad if that new growth
looks lousy. Maybe you got lucky with the roses you didn't mound, but
mounding is insurance in those years that the March winds blow from the
day you plant your new bareroot and continues for 3 weeks.

I suggest you resist the temptation to try to force growth with
fertilizer. Your bareroot has enough stored sugars to put out several
inches of new growth. Once you get a sense that it is growing
*actively* (and all I can say is you'll know it when you see it), then
you can apply a half-dilution application of fish emulsion or another
mild, not heavy-nitrogen fertilizer.

Maybe you had too many canes to begin with. Bareroots come with
instructions to cut back to a bud and some even suggest that you
reduce the number of canes. But maybe you got a dud. That does happen.
Keep watering regulary and if you need to, contact Edmunds for a
replacement.

Good luck. If you have 3 or 4 good canes, you don't really need to
worry if one or two don't leaf out.