I'm sure it can be done, if you're really careful about watering enough to keep the rose that sitting atop all that planting mix happy, yet not so much that the unoccupied bottom half of the mix is soggy.

As for me, I could never water the exact amount in such a situation, so I've had much better luck gradually planting up to larger containers in steps. I only transplant to a larger container when the roots have occupied the existing space in its current container.

Best of luck in what you decide,
Randy

I can give you my experience. I bought 12 rose bands last March. I just planted them. I did have a problem with the ones I put in larger pots. Exactly as Randy said, we had lots of rain this spring and the soil in the larger pots became soggy and I'm not sure a few of the bands are going to make it. They looked ok up until the late frost and then all that rain. Sigh. Oh well, I can always get more.

If you are going to plant them next year, just keep them in 1 gallon pots. They really don't get any bigger in larger pots in one year.

If you use a VERY fast draining potting mix (go to GW Container forum and search for "Al's mix") you would be OK but it would be better to pot up gradually.

You have to water almost daily with Al's mix because it drains so quickly. And you also have to keep a pretty strict fertilizing schedule for the same reason. Commercial mixes (the kind you buy bagged at the store) retain too much water to do what you propose.

I just finished potting up about 10 OGR's from 1 gal to the next largest. And having seen their root structure, very fine webbing, I think you could damage them when moving from too large a container because they would be spread out rather being in confined mass.

Just my opinion :-)

Denise

I know I'm in the minority in my approach, but I've found that in my warm, fast-draining soil 90% of my bands (except for my noisettes which did not take off for quite some time) have done very well by being planted directly into the ground. Yours are already in 1-gallon containers, which is even better, and if it were me I would plant them in the ground, assuming you don't have the intention of keeping them in pots permanently. However, as stated, many people would disagree with this approach. I suppose as an experiment you could plant one in the ground and pot up the others to larger-size pots and observe the difference, if any. My approach is based on innate laziness and as it works quite well I haven't been encouraged to change my ways.

Ingrid

And just to round out the perfect circle, I plant into very large containers all the time because we have no summer rain and large pots hold water and keep roots cool better in high summer heat.

I find the best success by stepping my bands to 1gal, to 5gal, and then the 20" containers. I have taken 1gal directly into 20" containers though but I wick the pots.
I learned from visiting the container forum that wicking the pots keeps the soggy areas in the pot from happening. I wick all my pots and it does work.

Liz

Hi, Alyce,
Didn't we meet in Lakeland?
I'd suggest you go with advice from the folks whose growing conditions are closest to yours. Hot being the first operative word. Followed by predictable rainfall to help with watering.
I would guess that most of the roses you have can handle warm roots, so long as there is moisture.
Ann

Thanks for all the advice. I permanently use large planters or really large pots as it is the only way I can control the soil mix and water. We are tropical zone 11 and are in the middle of a drought. My largest rose Tamora is in a 30 x 30
square fiberglass pot and doing well after five years in the pot. Our soil base is volcanic and very rocky only maybe 18 inches of base. I am attempting to cover a large 50 foot boulder wall with lattice and planter base which will house
twelve Ms. Sam McGredy's. I am pretending I have a Charleston garden in the front of my Caribbean home.........
AJ

AJ, last November I put bands directly into really big pots that I plan to leave there. (Didn't know I wasn't supposed to.) I bought bulk potting mix that contains a lot of small pine wood chips. Truthfully, it doesn't look like there's much soil in it at all. She said she sells it to nursery people. I water mostly everyday especially now that it's gotten pretty warm. They have done great with no problems. I hope they don't dry out too badly in the summer. I need to put a drip watering system on them, but I have proscrastinated.

Here is Cornelia who I just recently wrapped around some bamboo stakes. She has done wonderfully, throwing half a dozen 5' canes but no flowers yet. Don't know if that's typical for her.
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The two others are Fellemberg and Aloha.
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I decided to plant in permanent pots after several members said it worked for them and not just with smaller roses.
I do think it must be the potting mix that's the most important thing, but I'm really dumb about applying what I've read on the soil & container forums. I lost several potted-up roses last year after trying to do "what the experts said." It's just fortunate I found this supplier. Her mix works well.

Sherry

Liz, what did you use for wicking material? Thanks

Hi, I'm in socal, and what I do for the smallish roses I have in large containers (didn't know they were too large until after I potted them) is water them thoroughtly close to the roots but not soak all the soil in the rest of the pot. Seems to be working, as all of my roses have new growth. Also, it's not hot enough yet to water every day, but I am planning not to, both to get them used to more natural conditions and also to avoid rot. I'm interested in wicking if it comes to that, but I've seen many roses do fine with minimal care so whatever you choose to do should be fine.