Roseburg, Oregon is the home of my grandfather's
two roses. His old property will sell soon and I want to
transplant them 2 hours drive north to Jefferson Oregon,
zone 6.

Obviously speed is the answer, get them back in
the ground, and I'll have the holes prepared,
but this is obviously not the preferred
time of year to do this move, but I have no choice..
do it now or loose them forever. I'm new to roses
and would appreciate guidance on exactly how
to go about this transplant so as to (almost)
guaranty success since they have sentimental
value.

These monsters, which I do not have identified,
are at least 40 years old with large root mass
I'm sure and thick stocks by now, haven't been
pruned in ages, overgrown etc.

Any suggestions are appreciated on proper transport
packaging to prevent shock, and even some kind words
of wisdom on the fertilizers/prep I should do to
prevent shock when replanting at this time of year.
What if there is root rot, how should I handle that
at this time of year? Rinse the roots and cut the old stuff out? Don't
rinse the roots? I don't know what's wise.

The transport can be in my air
conditioned SUV, or if you think it
would be better for some reason I can throw them on a small trailer
wrapped up in tarps (to prevent wind damage
and sun damage), again I dont know what would
be best for the plants so please advise.

Thanks!
-Brendan
Jefferson Oregon

Hello Brendan,

Yes, this is indeed the least of all favorable times to move
roses even here in Oregon. But you can do well by them
if you follow some simple rules.

If you can do this the day before moving the roses make sure
they are well watered. Regardless of the size of the rose bush
and of the roots, you will have to cut the canes down by about
2/3s of the present size, providing you can dig as much root
as that from the ground. In other words, your canes should
be proportionately in length to the width of the root system.

They are two ways of transporting roses: one is the French
method used to keep bareroots from drying out, and it is
called pralinage. I have used this method for over 30 years
and it works wonderfully well for me. What you need is
soil, steer manure and water to mix together a slurry, thick
enough to coat the roots of the rose.( Use the soil from your
home to make the slurry, the same soil the rose is going to
grow from now on, not the one where they are now).
You need to mix equal parts of garden soil (preferably clay
which we have abundance of in Oregon) and manure and
add as I said just enough water to make a thick, but
pourable slurry. For a couple of roses that size your best
bet is to mix it in a plastic garbage can or some such where
you can dip the roots into the slurry.

The first thing you have to do is to take all the leaves off
the rose; this is important in order not to stress the bush
anymore than necessary. Then prune the rose to remove
all dead or dried canes, or anything that may appear to
have either brown or black stems. Take all the foliage off.
Make sure that if your rootball is for instance 36 inch,
the length of your canes do not exceed lets say, 24 inch.
What you may lose in bloom this year if they bloom on old
wood you will regain in good health and restoration to the
plant.

Next dig the rose out, and try to get as much of the root
ball as possible. Since the soil in your grandfather's home
may be different than that in your own and the pH may vary,
the next thing you want to do is to wash the roots of most
of the soil. When most of the soil is off, put the rose into the
pralinage, until the entire root is well covered. Let them soak
for about 1 hour or more. Then set the plant on some newspapers
and let it dry. Yes, let it dry. (You can do this in the morning
early and then go off until after lunch, that is what we do)

What the pralinage does is to keep the roots from
dehydrating at the same time that it will make the perfect foil
for the new soil. It is guaranteed that there are not going to
be air pockets or anything else that will impede your roses
from growing happily in their new home. By using this
system you can avoid the weight of wet soil which would
make it very cumbersome and nearly always a problem when
trying to move big roses to adapt to their new grounds.

Once planted in your home, the pralinage will make a perfect
"bond" with the surrounding soil in the new hole and the manure
in the pralinage will be a nutritious "nursery" for the new root hairs
that will grow over this summer after you transplant that rose.

Or you can use the ball and burlap method. You will need to
lay down a big piece of burlap to protect the roots after digging
the rose out. This is a job for at least two people, as you will
have to dig all around the root ball and then undercut it. One
of you will have to raise the root ball and the other will have
to place the wet burlap under the root ball in order to wrap
it entirely with it. Have some heavy twine to tie it with and make
sure that the burlap is wet. Whichever method you decide to use,
you must prune and defoliate the plant before moving it this
time of the year, as although it is not yet summer we are having
warmer and warmer days by now.

If you decide to use the ball and burlap method, make sure
to provide the roses with some manure as well in the new
hole, and try not to feed them immediately. I know that we
all fret over transplanted roses, but they are resistant if we
learn to understand their ways. They need to be fed indeed,
but not right away and not a full strength fertilizer of any kind.

The simplest way to get them to grow at their own pace is to
use a very diluted form of Fish fertilizer for instance in warm
water, and feed them this once a month until you see new
growth, which should happen relatively soon given the season.
After that any good fertilizer will do. But to try to feed them
too much too soon is the best way to kill them, with kindness
but to kill them nonetheless.

I have gone on and on because I know how difficult it is to
make the decision to move roses that size. Just remember the
elementals: take off all the foliage, cut the canes to about 2/3
the size of the root's diameter and if using the pralinage just
wrap the roses in newspapers and don't worry about the two
hour trip. We just got an order from Pickering in Ontario Canada
of 6 roses, they broke dormancy in transit ( one full week )
and as soon as they got home, dried as prunes, we soaked them
in a big bucket of water with some Superthrive and they are
already greening. They arrived Wednesday and today is Sunday.

Good luck, I am sure your roses will thrive for you, a rescued rose
is an even more lovely rose than those we can buy. And don't
think for a moment that the rose doesn't know it ;)

Allegra
in Portland Oregon


"Brendan OMara" wrote in message
om...
Roseburg, Oregon is the home of my grandfather's
two roses. His old property will sell soon and I want to
transplant them 2 hours drive north to Jefferson Oregon,
zone 6.

Obviously speed is the answer, get them back in
the ground, and I'll have the holes prepared,
but this is obviously not the preferred
time of year to do this move, but I have no choice..
do it now or loose them forever. I'm new to roses
and would appreciate guidance on exactly how
to go about this transplant so as to (almost)
guaranty success since they have sentimental
value.

These monsters, which I do not have identified,
are at least 40 years old with large root mass
I'm sure and thick stocks by now, haven't been
pruned in ages, overgrown etc.

Any suggestions are appreciated on proper transport
packaging to prevent shock, and even some kind words
of wisdom on the fertilizers/prep I should do to
prevent shock when replanting at this time of year.
What if there is root rot, how should I handle that
at this time of year? Rinse the roots and cut the old stuff out? Don't
rinse the roots? I don't know what's wise.

The transport can be in my air
conditioned SUV, or if you think it
would be better for some reason I can throw them on a small trailer
wrapped up in tarps (to prevent wind damage
and sun damage), again I dont know what would
be best for the plants so please advise.

Thanks!
-Brendan
Jefferson Oregon

Brendan,
Listen to Allegra, I feel confident her suggestions give the roses their best
chance of survival..
But there is one other thing I would do: Take cuttings. There's lots of advice
on getting cuttings to root on the internet and it seems each person has
his/her own personal favorite. In addition to using which ever method your
prefer, I would also give some of the cuttings to someone else for rooting.
With roses this precious to you, you want to do everything possible to ensure
their presence in your garden.
Julie

In article ,
says...
Roseburg, Oregon is the home of my grandfather's
two roses. His old property will sell soon and I want to
transplant them 2 hours drive north to Jefferson Oregon,
zone 6.

These monsters, which I do not have identified,
are at least 40 years old with large root mass
I'm sure and thick stocks by now, haven't been
pruned in ages, overgrown etc.

When I wanted to move my great grandmother's rosebush, I considered using
the family company's backhoe. If these roses are as huge as that one
http://www.geocities.yahoo.com/huski...simmortal.html - the
bush is at least 10 feet tall and more than that wide) could you rent a
front end loader or backhoe to try and retain as much root system as you
can? The roses might have to be transported in the back of a pickup
truck, that way.

However you decide to move them, I would be tempted to take a digging
from each of the plants (assuming they are own-root) to have a backup
shoot just in case.

CJ