ive been offered 25 roses that range in age from 20 to 30 year old. Is there a trick in transplating them. pls

Answer 1

Water them thoroughly a few days ahead of removal. Bring burlaps or other small garden tarps, and keep as much soil as you or you and one other can lift around the roots. Wrap in burlap after removal from home. Water the new holes ahead of planting, and the backfill. Keep the root at the same grade as before. Only remove as many as you can replant in one day. Do it. Keep them well watered. Protect from heat and wind while out of the ground.

Answer 2

If there is any way you can wait until winter then you will have a greater chance of not losing any of the roses, however, I'm assuming you have to move them now and that you cannot wait until winter. Winter time or anytime between the first and last freeze is the best time to move a rose because they are dormant and suffer little to no shock. These roses are very mature and will be difficult to get out of the ground without breaking roots, however, that does not mean that all is lost because roses are tougher than people give them credit.
You will need something to move them in and the cheapest solution for that as well as the easiest is Burlap fabric which you can find at any fabric store. Just try your best to move as much of the soil with the roots as you can to help diminish the shock of being moved during growing season. Bundle the root ball and soil with the burlap and tie it snuggly. Here are detailed instructions for transplanting roses. This is exactly how I move my roses when I have too and I've never lost one. Another thing, make sure you water the roses prior to moving them. You want the soil moist, but not soggy that way the soil will stay around the roots better. You can also water them through the burlap to keep them moist.

Transplanting a rose
1) wait until evening when temps are cooler.
2) cut the rose back to about 2 or 3 feet.
3) prepare the new home by digging a hold 2ftx2ft and water the hole. Fill the hole with water and let it drain at least twice.
4) save the top 2/3 of soil that you just dug up and set aside. Discard the bottom 1/3.
5) amend the soil you saved with peat, bone meal, and garden compost.
6) in the bottom of the hold add a layer of manure 2-3 inches thick and then layers some of the amended soil on top of the manure. Do NOT set the roots directly on the manure.
7) use a shovel to cut around the rose bush about 18inches from the trunk all the way around.
8) Moving aroun the rose bush again, reinsert the shovel and pull down on the handle. Doing this all the way around will loosen the soil and begin to separate any long roots. Keep doing this until the rose can be easily removed (Don't worry too much if you break a root because roses are tougher than they look)
9) Remove the rose. At this point it is best to keep as much of the origional soil around the roots as possible since it is summer. If you move it in the fall you can shake the soil away and trim any damaged or dying roots.
10) set rose in hole making sure the soil on the root ball is a little above the level of the new hole. You want the rose to be on a small mound.
11) fill in the hole half way with the ammended soil and water. Once the water has run through then finish filling in the hole with the soil and water throughly.

Now that you have transplanted your rose then make sure you give it water everyday for the next 2 weeks. Be sure you water it at the base and early in the morning because roses don't like to get wet. After the two weeks then you can cut back the watering to once a week.

Good Luck

Answer 3

Make sure that you get the entire tap root and try to get most of the feeler roots when they get dug out. Keep them moist, but not too wet and about an hour before replanting place them into a bucket (or other container that is big enough) with a very diluted rose fertilizer in water. When you plant them, add the water that was in that container to the hole before filling in with dirt. When you fill it in with dirt, create a tiny mound about an inch above the base of the rose with the dirt, sloping out to the edge of the hole. This will allow for settling of the dirt. They will probably look a bit harsh for about a week or two after re-planting. For at least the first month make sure that they get fertilized about every two weeks and watered really well when the soil around them gets dried out. Hope that this helps, I have transplanted roses in the past (none that were the age that you are saying), and mine all have turned out really well.