About roses - I'm going to transplant them cuz they aren't doing well where they are.?

Question

What is the best soil preparation to get to be sure they do well???

Answer 1

The first thing to remember when planning on transplanting a roses is to not worry because roses are tougher than they look. However, If at all possible it would be best to wait until first freeze before you transplant. By then the rose will be dormant and will not suffer shock from being moved. If you have to move it now you can. You will need to give it a little extra TLC though for the first couple of weeks. Here are some instructions on how I transplant roses.

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 18 inches from the trunk all the way around.
8) Moving around 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 2

Dig a hole about twice the size of the root ball you're going to dig up. Check the hole for drainage by filling it about half way with water. It should all drain out in 15 min at most. If not, you want a deeper hole so you can provide more drainage... breaking up the soil deeper down and replacing it with a soil/sand mix that will keep the roots from sitting in water, until you have a hole about twice the size of the root ball.

Take some of the better top soil from the hole. Mix it half and half with compost. Mix in some organic 10-10-10 fertilizer or, if you can find it, something with the last number higher. You want to encourage overall plant health, but not stress the plant when it's being transplanted by asking it to flower, so don't go for a fertilizer with the middle number higher. Make enough of this mix to half fill the hole. Put enough in the hole so the rose will sit at its former level, which should leave the graft point (if there is one) about an inch above the ground. Put the rose in... I try to make it face the same compass direction it's used to. Pour the rest of the mix around, tamping it in firmly. When you're about half full, pour in some water, let it soak in, and then fill the rest of the way. The water settles the dirt around the roots keeping you from having air pockets.