One thing I will mention Wal, is that now is coming to the time when you can do great preliminary work before lifting in Winter. I suggest that use a spade to cut down and around the roses to sever the roots. Whatever diameter your spade took around the plant needs to be increased at least 4 inches to allow root movement in the pot once they are planted. Cutting roots now gives the roses lots of time to produce feeders at the severed root ends, and provides the wherewithall for the roses to take off straight away. You also don't need to be too hard with the tops, on which you might retain good young wood to help with the quick change of growing medium. Plant onto a pad of 3 inches of potting mix. 18" pots would be ideal I reckon. Of course, heeling in is another option.

Leaving if to dig in Winter and transplant will be a huge shock to the plant. The top will have to be cut down much farther while it waits for root development to begin.

I have moved roses recently from the ground to large pots, mainly because they were not doing too well in their location.I have the pot ready,some Miracle Gro to help prevent root shock and dig up the rose ,keeping the rootball intact.
I have only lost one rose and that was due to some virus and was not retrievable anyway. All the others are booming along.
These are young roses say 2-3 years old.
I make sure they are well looked after the move,some Charlie Carp a few days after the move and general observing.
Most of my roses sprouted new growth within 24 hours.When that happens you know all will be well.
Good luck!
Michelle

Lozza
Quote [Leaving if to dig in Winter and transplant will be a huge shock to the plant. The top will have to be cut down much farther while it waits for root development to begin.]

Are you suggesting I move them now ?

Wal, Sorry but no. In Winter, the roses are dormant (here), and will not readily fire up without waiting in unfavourable conditions to rejuvinate. Up there you may get a quicker response, given the warmer climate and much less of a dormant period, but to give them a head start by providing feeder rootlets is the optimum course of action.

I have never needed to use "plant starters", and hesitate to use anything at planting time anyway, other than for the plant to get up and running naturally. The plant is recovering, no rich food please. Also, I don't like products pushed on me for the imagined ills of my plants. The promotion of these products may soothe the brows of those needing reassurance. Tempting placebos, aren't they? Just my opinion.

I respect your knowledge lozza and have often acted on your advice but the use of products....
If you have great soil then fine you probably dont need them.
I have fair to poor soil here,my husband was born and raised on a farm and still has one. He says the soil here is ok, but needs a bit of help to give the plants what they need when the soil is lacking.
So I get the supplements and the roses are a treat.
cheers
Michelle

Michelle, The best thing you can do for poor soil, is to beef it up with natural manures. I prefer the more balanced chook poo, but used in plenty and spread over the soil, will result in rapid improvement in structure and nutrition of your soil. Dig it in if you can, but any humus is much more beneficial than chemicals that readily leach out of the soil. The point is to separate the particles of soil, and keep them apart to encourage the presence of worms, to retain moisture and warmth, and give fertility to the soil. Always use natural solids. JMHO. I remember in the very old days, about 1940, my dad had a bath down the back behind the shed, in which he had an indeterminate amount of cow poo, diligently gathered in a wheel barrow from the dairy farm at the top of our street. He would drown this manure with water and leave it for I know not how long. But he used this "tea" as he called it on his vegies, etc. The soil I remember was not good, cos I used to play with my Dinky cars there. I think he might have saved himself and the neigbours some pain, if he had just dug the poo in. However he might have known the potential for weeds by so doing.

Thanks Lozza

In fact my +1 brings home cow manure ...its like a powder..well rotted and we dig this in regularly and it works a treat.
Funny you should mention worms ,they have appeared here of late.nice fat juicy ones, so I guess we are doing the right thing:))
cheers
Michelle

Hi Wal sorry I did not see this post earlier but I tend to steer clear of this Forum these days.

Now any plant can be moved any time of the year and I moved them when they need it, be it Winter or Summer. You know the saying "In Rome do as the Romans do " well here its "In Queensland do as the Queenslanders do ". And I have never lost a plant yet including a 15ft Fig tree that I dug up Feb 2005 on a very hot day.. with I might add had no soil attached..Some people would be shocked at what I do in my garden but it works as most garden books are about plants for temperate climates and we cannot go by them. I grow heaps of plants of all different varieties on this 3/4 acre block

I do hope that you dug up your roses in the past few days while we got that beautiful rain as it would have been ideal I dug up a rose a couple of weeks back and potted it and as you know we have had eight weeks of 32 degree days and it has sprouted so many leaves I am so happy with it. I did not prune anything (but that all depends on the size of the plant) I just dug it up shook a bit of soil off put potting mix in the bottom of the big pot planted it topped it up gave it a good drink and it has not looked back put it under a tree for that day then next morning put it out in the sun Its a hybrid tea I only have three I prefer the Standards, easy on the back when pruning..

Just remember our Roses dont go dormant ( as said above ) so do it now while it is wet as its works believe me, I have also moved my Standards at other times except Winter but they went straight into the new beds not into pots.. and I did not get it out of a book or from known facts.. It came from my Garden in Queensland...Plants have to be a lot tougher up here and will transplant anytime with care because they are used to this constant warm temperature. Cheers...MM.

Oh hello again Misty. Re dormancy in Queensland, and anywhere else for that matter. In constantly hot weather, dormancy can be induced by withholding water from the plants. They will become dormant, not dead, just unproductive, until awakened by drenching rain. Please don't run away with the idea that it doesn't get hot in Victoria. Don't you remember? Fungus friendly humidity could be your biggest problem. Anyway as I've tried to inform Queenslanders, you have a well-respected State Rose Society up there, no doubt well equipped to help beginners, and those struggling to grow roses successfully. Secretary: Bill Allen, 07 5546 3975. There anyone will find a broad field of expertise upon which to draw from Queensland experts.

Hello there Laurie.. Yes I know that Melbourne gets hot I remember the 2nd March 1966 when the temp got to 106 F thats between 41-42 C I think, and of course that record has been broken many times over the past few Summers...Thank you for your tips on the Rose Society I will keep that in my address book not that I will need it. My roses are coming along fine for now except for bud worms which is a big problem, and the occasisonal BS ..
I may let my roses go dormant next Summer next year I will think about it first as I do get lots of buds and usually cut them every morning for the vases ..Cheers..MM.

Wal, on the top of everything else told here, I can only suggest that you try to move your roses when it's not too hot, and also, put them in shade for some time after moving. Then move them in semishade.
Water them twice a day (morning, evening) and they'll be ok. I had the similar problem and that's how I preserved them during this hot summer.
- Tom

Lozza, you could impart a lot more information to people if you didn't do it in such condescending and sneering manner....
Yes the various states have their Rose and Horticultural Societies, and yes they usually have people only to willing to help out those seeking information about growing roses, and anything else (I guess I can say I speak from personal experience here, my Mum was a member of the W.A. Rose Society, Gosnells Horticultural Society, accredited Rose and general Horticultural and Floral Art judge with the W.A. Horticultural Council. That was the environment I grew up in. The info was always there at hand.)
But today, for the average person just getting going, sure they can ask at their nursery but unless they happen to come across an exhibition being staged somewhere like at one of the big shopping centers, they are not going to come across Rose Society members,or other types of horticultural people or even think about consulting with them.
Most of them would be too afraid of being shot down in flames for their ignorance, such as I have seen here,after watching the carrion fowl circling and waiting, after reading back through some of the archived postings....
Wal, listen to Misty, she is already doing it your area so to speak.
In the warmer climate, proper dormancy is not going to be achieved; MISTY, do think your roses, when they were under water stress, went dormant? I would choose to do it at the time of the year when the weather was at it's coolest for your area. Although this is probably going to be your driest part of the year it shouldn't be a problem. If you are going to be keeping them in pots, for the purpose of transplanting them into your new garden arrangement, I am sure you will be pretty diligent about watering them.
I was always taught that you reduced the canopy by the same degree that you reduced the root mass/ball...
I have relocated a lot of roses into pots at one time..., (the ones that I could save from a malevolent ex)(if it were people, I think they call it forced migration)
about 300 of them. But because we have such sharp winters here, I could hold of until they were truly dormant.
I dug up, with a great deal of grunt and push and effort, (ladies think of childbirth) plants that had been growing in the very fertile Donnybrook soil for about 6 years.
Most of the H.T and Floribundas had exceeded their growth stats as described, and as for the D.A.'s, if they weren't 7ft tall, they were 7ft wide, and as for the O.G.R, well, digging them up was another challenge. But we did, a sister and a friend came out to help. Totally backbreaking ... heartbreaking as well, but we got the plants dug up. Then, because the only pots that we had managed to acquire in enough numbers were 10- 12" ones, that's where we made things fit. There were a handful of larger pots, that we managed to put in the larger plants, like my beautiful Albertine. But mainly we dug and heaved and grunted, got the bush free off the...

Hear hear Rosalie
I'm glad to see someone finally standing up to aggressive members of the forum. Please see my post re this point in the roundup thread.
Its a pity that a few make it unpleasant for all.
BTW that was a massive job you have described!!
Good on you.It must have been great to see them come back and thrive again.
cheers
Michelle

Michelle are you suggesting that Rosalies comments as she kindheartedly sets us all straight are not aggressive?
Laurie is a rose proffessional who does have a lot of knowledge, that is just a fact.

youngquinn
Without wishing to cause a flame war here,I think there is quite a difference in the way the two members you mentioned in the above post, post their comments and opinions.
While I referred to Lauries experience in my comment, I also noted that I have used his valuable advice.
However, there are ways to put your opinion across without offending members.
Of course some members will be more definite in their opinions and thats fine,these can be posted without causing angst.
I hope this will settle any misunderstandings.This will be my last post on this topic.
cheers
Michelle

Michelle as you say there are ways of puttng your opinion across without offending members, I humbly submit that the following is not one of them....

The amount of myth, misconception and misinformation concerning the use of glyphosphate almost leaves me dumbstruck.... Almost....!!!
There is room for everyone to express their opinions but such a beginning from Rosalie leaves me cold and certainly not wishing to have this person ram their opinions down my throat.

I see in another thread ( Roses that Tenants wont kill ) that one of our Members has dug up a rose in summer put it in a pot forgot about it, and it now lives in the semi-shade under a gum tree that sucks the life out of the soil that surrounds it. Just goes to show how tough Roses are..

Many months ago I put a similar post in about my two crepuscule's growing on a Arch under the shade of a big gun tree that only got afternoon Sun at the time more later as the warmer weather came..But I was blasted by guess who? The Expert

Then there was the post I put on about my other climbing roses on another Arch these were the first climbers I had every grown so I asked for help on how to prune. I was told it is a big shrub treat it as such by guess who? The Expert

Plenty of others gave me help and they are not experts like guess who?

Then there was the one about my new season roses getting fried as Brisbane went from Winter to 36 degs like Summer in just one day and the new roses were just flowering for the first time and also had lots of new tender shoots...I was told to deep water them plus other tips even though I told Guess who? they are watered deeply every second day and heavily mulched..

But did the expert have a go at all the Victorian when it happened to them NO not a word as maybe the same thing happened to Guess who?

Then there was the one about straying your bare roses with lime sulphur ( Not my posting )I was appalled at what Guess who? wrote in his answer...

Now I am not disputing that Laurie is not a expert in his field after all anyone that has been in the same job or business for so long would have to be a expert..All Iam saying is I am sick and tired of the way he writes to some of us, not all mind you, just a few and I happen to be one.

And if someone knows from another State what you can do and cant do with a plant please respect their answer as they are the better judges seeing they live there and have tried it and it works, please dont quote me things out of Books or papers you have read.. Iam no Expert just a home gardener but I would rather know a little about a lot of things that a lot about one thing.......

And I think some of our Members have had enough of the way other Members write in reply to their postings and thats what this is all about no one is happy anymore as there is too much bickering on this Forum..
Maybe tomorrow we can start and act like Adults that want to help each other to grow beautiful plants.....MM

MM IMO you often misinterpret things and take offense where none is intended.
"And I think some of our Members have had enough of the way other Members write in reply to their postings and thats what this is all about no one is happy anymore as there is too much bickering on this Forum.. "
I* accept and respect that this is your view but I dont understand why you feel you can make statements on behalf of others.