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Is it too late to transplant?

7 years ago

In my San Francisco Bay Area yard, we're full on into spring. I have fat juicy buds on most of my roses.

It's almost finished raining this year and part of my yard is being re-landscaped. A few of my roses are directly behind a retaining wall where we need to add about 8 inches of fill dirt. I'm afraid to add the dirt where the roses are because they might get smothered. The best option would be to transplant them, but I'm afraid it might be too late and I might kill them. These are mostly floribundas, a couple of HTs and a Romantica

What do you think? If I moved them, how should I do it please? I've only moved roses in the dead of winter before.

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Comments (5)

seil zone 6b MI
7 years ago
I move roses in the spring all the time. It shouldn't be a problem as long as you aren't going to have a heat wave right away. Dig them and move them to a new spot or put them in pots temporarily. Keep them well watered but hold off on any fertilizer until you relocate them.
gardyloo thanked seil zone 6b MI
jacqueline9CA
7 years ago
What seil said, and additionally I would cut them back to 2-3 feet if they are taller than that. The roots will be damaged and they will not be able to support a lot of top growth immediately.

BTW, I laughed at your mention of "in the dead of winter". I live in the SF North Bay, and we don't have "the dead of winter" here to speak of!

Jackie
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if you could shade it for a week.. that will also reduce stresses .. ive just put lawnchairs over things ... think outside the box ... if you give us a pic. maybe we could come up with some ideas ... you could probably also move them in fall ... and.. night temps are more important than day temps ... if its cool at night.. the plant has a good recovery period for what the day brought ... so watch this weeks forecast.. and shoot for a couple days with cool nights... if you do it poorly.. and lose the flowers.. plants tend to have one function in life.. reproduction ... so if you lose the flowers .. it will probably reflower.. just to try to set seed to reproduce.. even if its a sterile plant ... go figure on that ... i say go for it.. it technically is still spring ... ken
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pink rose(9b, FL )
7 years ago
I have transplanted roses during summer in FL . I water the hole deeply before planting and top dress with a thick layer of mulch and then water daily for a couple of weeks .
gardyloo
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you all, your advice is perfect and it's exactly what I'll do.

Jackie, cutting them down to 3 feet makes sense. I'll be sad to lose the blooms but better to lose the blooms than the whole plant.

I laughed when I said dead of winter too. I live in the foothills of Mt Diablo and the little bit of snow we saw was just above my house. Enough chill that the roses are very happy, but not enough for Lily of the Valley.

I have friends with riding mules and I'll get some of their fully composted manure with worms. Whenever I put it in the bottom of planting holes, and top it off with soil, plants seem to do really well.
ValRose PNW Wa 8a
7 years ago
Though cutting plants back to make up for root loss seems to make sense and has been the practice of many gardeners for many years, research shows otherwise. Cutting a plant back that is not dormant will cause it to start producing new growth. Not cutting back will allow the plant to put its energy into growing roots. Also the leaves are need to produce the sugars for the plant to grow.

I work for a landscape company and we sometimes have to move very large rose bushes in the middle of summer.

The first secret to transplant success is water. We will make a soil wall around the plant creating a well that can be filled with water 1 or more times a day. In our sandy Florida soil we actually leave a hose dripping on the transplant for a week or 2.

The second secret to success is to leave no air pockets as you backfill the hole. The best way to accomplish this is by adding water as soil is placed in the hole to "mud" the plant in.

Lastly, we add a thick layer of mulch.
gardyloo thanked ValRose PNW Wa 8a

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