I had a little luck with the ones that the gohpers attacked (voles), but in the end they died.

Someone with more knowledge will hopefully post, and tell you exactly what to do. You could cut it way back in hopes of making it grow roots, or barely cut it, and hope that it will replace the roots.

My tendency has been to cut it way back, but then whatever energy it has may go in to growing stems and branches, and not roots. If you leave it alone, soak it in water for awhile, and watch it, perhaps it will replace the roots.

A better rosarian than I could probably advise you better, and I do hope that my former caution did not give the indication that there was a TOS problem with you.

Sammy

Don't do any pruning beyond your regular winter pruning, which in your case probably won't be til January or so? Hard to give any advice on timing when you don't specify where you are beyond zone 9 in the US.

Pruning the tops does not make a plant grow roots. It does rob the plant of the energy it would have used to grow new roots. So, just leave it alone for now.

I use thorny rose or blackberry prunings to protect plants from burrowing rodents. Shove the thorniest canes into the burrows. I've also successfully used those sonic gopher repellers that you drive into the soil and they make a beeping noise. Works well enough if you put them close enough together and only try to protect a small area so the gophers or voles have some place else to go. I would think it would work for a single plant. Not a whole yard. You do have to get them all the way into the ground or you'll hear the beeping too, and the batteries need replacing every 6 months.

Gophers can eat an entire root system and leave the plant just balanced on the soil with nothing holding it there. Nothing much you can do in that case. Voles don't generally eat the entire root system so the plant can recover once you convince the voles to leave the plant alone.

Good luck on reviving your rose, I hope it comes back for you! I always have to plant my roses (and most other shrubs and trees) in gopher cages to protect them, I think it is the best way to deal with those little nasties. Many days I go out to the garden and see the evidence of gophers tunneling up to and all the way around the cages before leaving un-fed. It is much nicer than seeing a dead plant :o)

This happens to us every time we make the mistake of planting a rose directly into the ground.
This week, it was an International Herald Tribune.

Last Spring, it was a pair of 'Jeri Jennings.' (Those both made it, and are almost back up to the size they were before the gopher attack.)

If gophers have eaten the roots, PULL THE PLANT UP.
Put it to soak in water for a couple of days.

Cut it back, so there is less to support, and re-plant it.
Plant it DEEP. Keep it well-watered. Pray that it takes off on its own roots.
If you got to it in time, it may just make it.

But for God's sake, plant it in a gopher basket, at the very least.
We plant in 15-20-G nursery squat pots, with many, many holes drilled in them. Otherwise we would have NO roses.

Jeri

Thanks for the tips everyone! I am in Santa Cruz, in the banana belt, everything and anything grows here (except tulips, dangit). My little house is so completely surrounded by roads and cement yards that I really didn't think a gopher would tunnel that far to get to me. This one is the only one I have had in 8 years. The tip about the blackberry vines is a great one, thanks! I think I'm going to go with the 'leave it alone with lots of water' tip right now. Thanks again.