|
|
-
-
|
Starting renovations on house in Jan. There are 5 huge KO roses planted by house that will have to be moved. These are around 5 years old and have never been pruned! How small can we cut them down to in order to move? Hubs wants to just dig up and I am trying to reach a compromise. THanks!
|
REPLY
|
|
If they are the THORNY single-red/pink-knock-out, then prune them 1' x 1'. One person got stabbed badly while moving a Knock-out and came down with rose-thorn-infection (went to the doc). I killed 5 of my single-petal Knock-outs for their sharp thorns. But the double-bloom pink Knock-outs have much less thorns & more compact and don't need to be pruned drastically. I moved Knock-outs before (without pruning), and they always lose ALL THEIR LEAVES after moving, thus best to prune short for safety, plus that helps to pump out new leaves.
|
REPLY
|
Reply
#2 of 6 posted
22 AUG 17 by
jjohnson
|
Thanks that helps. I wanted to prune down but didn't want to kill. When can I safely do this? We will be relocating them to a new home in the yard.
|
REPLY
|
|
I moved at least a dozen roses in my life. Some tips: 1) best time is right before winter, second best is when done with blooming, and before rainy & cool weather.
2) Water it well the day before, but NOT right before moving (too messy & too wet)
3) Soil prep the new holes in advance: make soil fluffy with at least 2 cups of gypsum (calcium sulfate) if your soil is hard & heavy. But if your soil is soft & acidic then use 1 cup lime. Calcium is vital to grow new roots & new branches & new leaves. Also put 2 cups of Espoma Tone (Tomato Tone, Plant Tone, or Rose Tone) and mix well in the new soil. Put in few gallons of potting soil for moisture-retention. Water the new holes IN ADVANCE, to let soil sink down, before planting the bushes. Plant the bushes 2 inches higher, since the soil will sink even lower later.
4) Use garbage lid (face up) to move roses
5) Dig a circle around the root-ball (as wide as the outmost branches)
6) Pry the rootball up with a long shovel, KEEP THE ROOTBALL INTACT
7) The worst thing you can do is to dunk the rootball in a bucket of water, that will destroy the tiny roots. Roses will drop all leaves when moved, unless it's a tiny own-root.
8) Leave the rootball in the garbage lid, and push the lid to the new location, leave in shade & sprinkle some water if you can't plant right away. It takes at least 1 month for leaves to sprout, but sooner if your soil is fluffy & loamy, rather than rock-hard clay like mine which destroys roots when dug up.
|
REPLY
|
|
Jjohnson - I believe you are living in a sub-tropical climate. My thoughts are: In your coolest month when the roses are not actively growing, prune the bushes fairly hard. Dig them up. Knock off most soil and plunge into a bucket of water to stop the roots drying at all. You might need to prune the roots to fit them into a temporary pot. Use fresh soil, but no fertiliser at this stage. Just treat them as if they were a bare-rooted rose received in the mail. Plant in the permanent position as soon as you can.
|
REPLY
|
|
"...make soil fluffy with at least 2 cups of gypsum (calcium sulfate) if your soil is hard & heavy."
Just be aware that gypsum is only a good clay breaker if the soil is sodic. It won't have any beneficial effect in non-sodic clay. For example, the clay soil in my area is not sodic, so gypsum is useless around here.
http://www.soilduck.com/2010/09/soil-myths-3-clay-breaker-is-not-always.html
|
REPLY
|
|
