Sounds like not enough or too much water to me. What did you fertilize with?

I would check the soil for dryness and see if anything has damaged the roots.

Could be over-fertilizing. You may save them yet, depending on how far gone. Scoop off any remaining fertilizer on the surface. Water water water. Do as much water as you can without drowning the rose. If it's in a pot, submerge the pot and discard the water after about 5 minutes. You need to leach the fertilizer out of the soil. Also spray the canes and remaining leaves with water.

If just the leaves are frazzled, after you've leached the soil for about week, leave the plant alone to recover. Do NOT prune it. It's possible all you did was damage the leaves. It's best to let the plant determine how much of it you killed.

I planted about 20 new roses this year. Some cheapies and some expensive J&P ones. Most are doing great but two of my cheapies have the burnt curling up leaves. I didn't really fertilize them though. When I planted them I did add some SulPoMag and Potash to the planting hole. Also a bit of alfalfa but that's all. Could that still be overfertilizing? Just want to save these 2 before they die, they are looking pretty sad right now.

thanks!

Go back and read Berndoodle's advice.
Then read it again. Then read it again.

Learn to resist the urge to put fertilizer on newly-planted roses.
You do not want them to push topgrowth until they have lots of good feeder roots to support them.
Keep them well-hydrated, particularly when Santa Ana winds blow, and forget fertilizers.

Jeri

gbebeh, it's true that you didn't add much nitrogen fertilizer, which is the usual source of fertilizer burn, but you did fertilize with potassium and magnesium salts and these can cause salt burn, especially when added in excess and placed next to the roots of newly-planted roses. I second Berndoodle and Jeri's advice.

was the alfalfa too much?

Dick Streeper recommended 1 cup of phospate & potash in the planting hole which is what I did. Or was that too much for the bare roots to handle.

thanks for the help!

gbebeh, Dick Streeper's advice is to place a cup of superphosphate and half a cup of potassium sulfate at the bottom of the planting hole. The superphosphate part is fairly common advice (I wouldn't give this advice but that doesn't mean anything). Superphosphate has a low salt index and it actually isn't mixed into the soil that's in contact with the roots; rather, it's placed below the roots with the idea that eventually, as the rose sends out new roots, it will encounter a supply of phosphorous. In your first posting, you mentioned adding sulpomag and potash (which is one term for potassium sulfate). Neither of these supplies phosphorous, both have a fairly high salt index, and a cup and a half of the two would be way, way too much, especially if mixed into the soil surrounding the roots.

at the nursery I bought superphospate & sulpomag and placed about 1/2 - 1 cup each in the planting hole with the plant. I guess I put it much too close! I was trying to be extra diligent! Oh well.

I just plucked off the dead crumpled shoots. I'll keep watering and hope they pull through. Luckily they were both cheap (under $5) so at least it won't be a big loss.

thanks for all the help! I've been growing roses for years but this is the first year I'm really trying to understand what I'm doing!

People are supposed to get their vitamins from their food; plants get theirs from the soil. Neither should depend on supplements. A plant should be able to live under local conditions. Fortunately, roses have lived all over the world all by themselves without soil ammendments, fertilzers, bone meal, phosphates, etc. Their mid-range Ph tells you they are more generalized than specialized. They won't survive in all environments, but in most, and some classes do better or worse here or there (see the discussion on killing Bourbons in Maryland in the Antique Roses forum). You should never add supplements until you have had your soil analized. 'Kill' is the important part of 'overkill.' If you have had your soil analized or the plant is showing specific symptoms of a nutrient failure, supplement that one thing. If the plant has been under stress or neglect, supplements are the equivalent of taking vitamins when you're ill. I Super-Thrive new plants and transplants and give them a good starter soil and I dig in an all-purpose organic fertilzer twice a year--plant feast days (feasting is an important part of balancing a diet; nature provides 'feasts' which we generally do not allow in our gardens). Otherwise, if a plant can't live off the local mother earth, s/he needs a new home.

And, gbebeh --
One thing to remember -- in Southern California, your best window for planting is between the tail end of November
(say, Thanksgiving) and the end of January.
Early Feb. is stretching it.
I have planted bare roots in March, but I don't recommend it.
And this year, we've had more than the average amount of Dry East Winds.
All these things are to the detriment of bare roots, which should be sitting quietly in cool damp air,
building roots, and not growing leaves and canes.
So -- Plant early, protect from dry wind. Don't fertilize. Pray for Rain.

Jeri