i recently purchased a Golden Age rose bush and transplanted it into a large teracotta pot and I noticed that it has started to look limp until the sun goes down then it seems to perk up. Is this shock? What can I do and how long does it last?
If the rose you bought was well established as a container plant, and you have not disrupted the root ball, the plant should usually not skip a bit. However, if the rose was only recently potted up from bareroot plants in the nursery you bought it from, then the root system won't have established itself enough to sustain the needs of the new shoots that may have sprouted. If the plant is wilting badly during the day, reduce the foliage by pruning back the canes. If the plant is only wilting mildly and perks up completely in the cool of the night, then, keep it well consistently watered. Morning would be a good time to do this. If the plant is otherwise healthy, it should recover in one to two weeks.
It shows wilting while in the sun then it will purk up once it gets cooler out. When I transplanted it there wasn't a root ball just feeder roots that weren't that long. How do I know whether or not it is getting enough water without over doing it?
Move it into the shade until it stabilizes. It shouldn't be too long until it has grown new roots, stops wilting and can be put in its intended sunny location. Do not cut the top back!
Ron, I just got into Roses a few years ago. I planted a red rose( not sure what variety) and it is huge now with beautiful large red blooms every year, so I decided that this year I would start planting them all over my yard ( I love them) I don't do so well with the mini’s so I don't put them outside( they seem to do better inside )I noticed that you told someone else not to cut the top back & I was wondering if that applied only for roses in shock . Can you tell me more? Maryanne
Top pruning at planting time is not helpful with trees and shrubs in general. It appears your rose is wilting because it has already had the roots cut back, right? Cutting the canes back won't help with this--it needs to grow new roots. Root growth is supported by the top. The growth of new roots on bareroot stock planted in spring is very closely tied to the growth of new shoots on the top.
It is true that top root growth is supported by top foliage, but there is a balance between how much top foliage and how much root development. Bareroot roses are just that - bare roots. Until these develop a good system of feeder roots, it cannot support much top growth. In fact, top growth under this situation will develop at the expense of nutrient reserves in the canes. When planting bareroot roses, the ideal situation is for the root system to develop a little in advance of increasing foliage. When planting bareroot roses, especially hybrid teas, I routinely reduce the canes to the best three, and down to a 3-5 bud length. Unlike other trees and shrubs, roses tolerate hard pruning well. Even if the rose you have is an established rose, a good prune won't harm the rose.
Your rose is just not used to so much sun yet, so grow it in light shade for 10 days, then another 5 in the sun except for maybe 4 hrs at midday. It should be ok after that.
Also be sure it's getting plenty of water because a terra cotta pot will dry it out quickly (compared to what it might have been in previously).
Yes: nutrients in stems support root growth. This is how the plant is organized, this process not at the 'expense' of the canes. Cutting the canes back harder just reduces the plant's ability to recover. Shoot and root growth initiation of bareroot plants very closely synchronised. Same watering as the rest of the time, you have to learn how to judge what amount is keeping a plant moist but not wet.
I briefly looked into the geographic location of this rose to learn of the average highs and lows there. I would recommend contacting one of the consulting rosarians in your region, which is the South-Central District. The consulting rosarian program is part of the ARS and is specifically for educating people about the care of roses, so you may contact a consulting rosarian whenever you have a question. One may find links to local societies (who have their own consulting rosarians), consulting rosarians by region and topic (there is someone in TX listed under container rose growing), and articles on various topics (including soils) at http://www.ars.org/About_ARS/about_the_ars.htm. The first year I grew roses, I kept them in peat pots in someone else's garden in Marysville, WA, where they received sun from at least 12:00 pm on, as well as sun reflected off the pavement. At one point I arrived to find John F. Kennedy (a white HT) really drooping. I knew several consulting rosarians in the immediate Puget Sound area, but I called one who was geographically closest to Marysville. She explained that the peat pots dry out quickly and that the roses need more water. I soaked the peat pot in a large bucket, and the bush recovered, but I believe that I had to prune the cane tips due to dessication. I have since used plastic pots and watered more frequently. Water and soil that drains well are two essential requirements for roses. I know rosarians who give their roses a daily deep watering here in the more mild Seattle region. You are worried about overwatering, but that would be difficult to do if you have paid attention to proper soil. Since Golden Age is a hybrid tea and it is late winter, it should be pruned to canes with apple green wood; lower for larger flowers, higher (12" - 18") for more blooms. I don't see why issues with transplanting would change that. (People actually buy roses in boxes all of the time. They actually come with rather poor root systems, so rosarians don't recommend purchasing them.) It is interesting that if it truly had transplant shock and was a rose that typically wouldn't be pruned, e.g. a species rose, or a modern rose in the middle of summer, that it would actually assist in recovery to leave its canes alone. Several of us have actually moved roses in the middle of summer out of necessity, but we wouldn't recommend it otherwise. Deep deep watering prior to the move is part of the regimen. In your climate, I believe that you are going to be advised to use wood or plastic or both if the rose cannot be planted in the ground. Also realize that the yellows are the most tender of the roses, so keep that in mind for winter protection later this year. At www.helpmefind.com/roses, I read that Golden Age is phototropic, turning to snow white when fully open in the sun. They describe the bush as quite lovely with different shades of yellow and white on the bush at once. Perhaps it would be fun to grow Gold Medal as well, which would give you a bush with pinkish orange yellow to medium yellow blooms on the bush at once.
Royal National Rose Society in England set up a pruning trial where part of the the test subjects got conventional selective pruning ("open up the center") and part were sheared flat across the top, like a hedge (nonselective pruning). The sheared ones bloomed more afterward. Interpretation so far: more cane tissue left with nonselective pruning, so more flowers. Last year when I checked the study was still underway, they hadn't reached their final conclusions. Now it looks like the web site has been made so that most information is available to members only, so I don't know where they are with the study now.
There is no question that less severe pruning is likely to yield more blooms. But at the expense of bloom size. So, it really depends on what you want from your bush. Typically, I don't prune back the floribundas and shrub roses more than a third of their previous season's growth. And using garden shears on a hedge of Bonica's or "landscape" or "ground cover" roses is the fastest way of getting things done for those sorts of roses. But where I want to see good sized flowers, I prune back harder - and that applies to almost all of the hybrid teas. ("Almost" because HT's are now quite a mixed bag. I tend to treat the "Romanticas" as if they are shrubs, for example.) This is particularly true where my intention is to go for exhibition quality blooms. Miniatures get pruned right back to no more than 4-5 buds if they are in containers. In the garden, they get treated like shrubs. Climbers are another matter all together and would be good for another topic.
This Rose does not have enough root development to sustain the emerging top growth which is why it is wilting during daytime sunlight. There is not enough up and then out sap and solute flow in this plant yet. The wilting leaves will not carry out the photochemical functions needed to support root development with the down and then out flow so we have a water movement problem in this plant due to not enough root system. If you want to believe the people that tell you not to prune, cut or pinch back the top that is fine but your Rose will take much longer to recover and while you wait for some balance in this plant, you risk it burning up big time while in any hot sun. We can move the Rose to shade as that lessons the likelihood of leaf loss due to sun scorch but what happens when you move this Rose back out into the sun? What you want is for this Rose to adapt, not force it into shade then later pay the price for doing that. If you have adequate top growth now then pinch back the top about 2-4" right now. Why? You have too much top growth now and the roots what little there are of them as by your own admission (When I transplanted it there wasn't a root ball just feeder roots that weren't that long) are working overtime just to help support the top growth at the expense of root development (can't do both at once yet). Think plant psychology. The top is having trouble staying turgid when in sun. The poor roots want to help out the top and are trying to grow to provide more energy to the top until the roots get a benefit later from adequate top growth that will help sustain them. The top is acting incapable of helping the roots just yet so the roots are working overtime to send solutes up the plant but there is not enough roots yet to adequately perform this task in a manner that can sustain the plant. Both ends are suffering in that the roots cannot initiate new growth while the top is demanding more work from the existing roots. The top is redirecting the solutes from the roots to support the lower portions of the top which is why the uppermost top growth is wilting. Pinch back the areas that are wilting which the top is already sloughing off, which relieves the pressure of the roots to perform beyond their current capability. What you will do is help create a better balance that will yield a more sustained growth later after you've given the roots a better feeling knowing they have less top to work for. Give the roots a break for the short term. Let them have less top to work for and then once the plant has stabilized you will have much better balance in your Rose than you have now. Jim
Looking at the thread below entitled Double Transplant Shock and the information above, together with never having had this come up in discussions here over the past twelve or so years, I still have a difficult time calling this transplant shock. However we have only had highs in the high 40’s and low 50’s, whereas it has been in the 70’s there. Actually, since this rose bush was “recently purchased,†it is time for an exchange or refund, unless you purchased it on clearance for less than $3.00, which I wouldn’t recommend for a hybrid tea, and want to pursue these remedies in the shade. Dig it up, put it in a plastic bag so that they can see the roots, and if they give you any trouble, which they shouldn’t, let us know. If you exchange it for another bush, I would still talk to a local rosarian there first. Here in western Washington we would be looking at hybrid teas just leafing out, rather than bushes, which have put on quite a bit of growth. Roses are usually sold as grade #1, but sometimes as grade #1 ½ which are less vigorous, so look for at least three strong canes with adequate separation opening outwards. Grade #1 ½ should have at least two strong canes, but they are shorter and thinner; their root systems will not be as good, but still adequate to start the season. Anything less is not acceptable. [FONT="]Now that you can take another look at the pot, which should be a minimum of a five-gallon for a hybrid tea, do you have a plastic pot of the approximate same size, which can be placed inside; or are you able to water it twice a day in your climate? The rose can do without food if it must, but it must have water, water, water. Then consider the possibilities for fertilization this year. If you think that this container garden is going to grow, you can invest in some organics to add to the soil, but never add granular fertilizer meant for gardens: it can burn the plant. Otherwise you can water with a water-soluble fertilizer, e.g. NPK of 16-16-16 or 20-20-20, etc., or choose to use one with a lower nitrogen and higher phosphorus content for the first year to promote root growth. [/FONT]
