Did I kill my roses by transplanting them?

[desi0619]

When my husband and I bought our house it "came with" several gorgeous rose bushes. We have been in the process of moving them to the front of the house where they can be better seen and landscaping around them, however now the roses we have moved aren't blooming, while the ones we left are beautiful! I hope I didn't ruin them by moving them but I'm new to this and now I feel so bad because they were so pretty. Any ideas or are they hopeless? The photos are the difference in the bush I moved and the one I didn't.

 

[Chuck]

If I were to guess I would say you didn't do them any favors Those are fair sized bushes and they should be transplanted in the winter when they are dormant. With a bush that size it will be difficut to dig up a large enough root ball. Having said that go to your local nursury and get a little bottle of Super Thrive and follow the directions

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

Cut back the rose bushes fairly aggressively. Leave only a few stalks and only a few leaves. When you transplanted them you probably reduced the roots available to the plant and it will have a difficult time keeping itself wet without those roots. By cutting them back, you will reduce the need for water and give the plant some time to reestablish a root system. Make sure the soil is kept damp (not soaked) and be patient. You shouldn't expect flowers shortly after replanting as they consume a lot of resources the plant needs to survive.

 

[gata montes]

Don't give up yet desi0619 there is hope for your roses

Roses are much tougher than many people think and because of that often survive the hardest of treatments and although the best time to move roses is late winter or early spring just as they are coming out of dormancy - they can in fact survive being moved at any time.

As its normal when moving a rose bush to cut the growth down by at least half but preferably more - as yours still have far more growth than the plants can presently cope with - it would be best to consider doing this as soon as possible - by first cutting out all the weak or dead stems and then main one - so that it is only about 30 cms above ground - after which all you will need to do is keep the soil moist until you see new growth - which is when it will be time to start giving them some feed.

Although many people would be tempted to use fertilizer at the time of transplanting or just after - thinking that it would be helping the plant - it is very important not to - as it is best to wait until there is new growth before fertilizing - as otherwise you will land up with a disease prone rose and a weak root system that produces lots of spindly top growth.

 

[headfullofbees]

What was in the new spot BEFORE you moved the roses?

 

[desi0619]

If I were to guess I would say you didn't do them any favors Those are fair sized bushes and they should be transplanted in the winter when they are dormant. With a bush that size it will be difficut to dig up a large enough root ball. Having said that go to your local nursury and get a little bottle of Super Thrive and follow the directions

Thank you so much for the advice! There's a family run nursery a couple miles from me, and I'm planning on stopping in this week to pick some up! Hopefully it'll help fix my silly mistake!

 

[desi0619]

What was in the new spot BEFORE you moved the roses?

The spot was empty from what I could tell, she did have ground covering down and a sort of "rock art" display with some bird feeders. I relocated that to the side of the house because the pesky little things were pooing all over the porch!

 

[desi0619]

My husband and I trimmed them back today; thanks for all the great tips!!

 

[headfullofbees]

The spot was empty from what I could tell, she did have ground covering down and a sort of "rock art" display with some bird feeders. I relocated that to the side of the house because the pesky little things were pooing all over the porch!

That's good news; unlikely ro be replant disease.

 

[gata montes]

Thank you so much for the advice! There's a family run nursery a couple miles from me, and I'm planning on stopping in this week to pick some up! Hopefully it'll help fix my silly mistake!

As I've already mentioned in my previous post - if you are wanting your rose bushes to recover and become ones that have a strong healthy root system and flower abundantly - then it is best NOT to use any form of fertilizer at this point in time and that includes ones like Super Thrive.

Which as I'm sure that I've already explained - using fertilizer at this point is not a good idea - as your roses are more likely to recover quicker and better - if you do nothing more than cut them back and keep them moist - until you see signs of new growth

 

[Chuck]

As I've already mentioned in my previous post - if you are wanting your rose bushes to recover and become ones that have a strong healthy root system and flower abundantly - then it is best NOT to use any form of fertilizer at this point in time and that includes ones like Super Thrive.

Which as I'm sure that I've already explained - using fertilizer at this point is not a good idea - as your roses are more likely to recover quicker and better - if you do nothing more than cut them back and keep them moist - until you see signs of new growth

Gata Montes is correct. Use SuperThrive only as a last resort when everthing else has failed

 

[RoseScience]

If your roses are grafted onto another rose, you cut back to the root stock. You have a lot of foliage but they only bloom once a year.
Spade them out unless your roses ARE root stock to begin with.
English roses are sublime.

Note: The Rose Science rule, in our sub tropical climate is: "It must bloom repeatedly to live." I replace with proper, new roses in our two week spring. The Mutabilis rose and others bloom in Houston from late February to October. We do not have winter in Houston, Texas