I agree with Sonic. That sounds like an emergency.

Would it be feasible to place Abe Darby in a pot and let it remain there until Fall? My thought is that between now and then, you or someone can get to the bottom of what is going on with A.D.'s hole and then plant it later.

Yes, I think it's going to have to be a pot and/or a son's help. I've had to pull "the mom card" a lot lately, so I had hoped I had overlooked a quick fix. I wish there was a way to shoot soil in that pocket from above:) Both boys are away for a Fathers Day weekend, so old Abe will have to hold on. Thanks for answering, Sonic, Sheila, and Desertgarden.

Lisa I so wish we were neighbors to hop on over and help you out ! and of course love on that sweet kitty:)

I'd say try building up the soil around Abe. If you can get a hold of a bunch of used coffee grounds, use that to make a mound to cover the "gopher cage", and cover it with mulch. Earthworms will find the used coffee grounds very attractive, and will work it through any space existing below the rose. The mound will shrink as it breaks down, so for now pile it higher than you'd think it should be. To help with water-holding, maybe mix the coffee grounds 50-50 with vermiculite.

:-)

~Christopher

I wish I could hop over and help too. Between Lily and myself we'd have things fixed up in a jiffy. Over used mom card huh? Well sons are still of the male species and it sounds like a batch of cookie, brownies, or a favorite meal could refill the mom card. :)

Hmm, my mind is turning over what you and Aquaeyes said and I wonder if you did have a piece of pvc pipe (or similar) and could actually locate the air pocket, them maybe pour a very watery soil slurry into the pipe? Very very watery but it might be worth a try?

Just a long shot here... would shooting water in on the jet setting of a hose sprayer help to shoot any soil into that spot? That jet setting is pretty powerful.

I wonder if you could use a 2 x 4 or maybe something smaller and ram it down in several places to see if there are some loose areas or holes. After that, step on the soil and see if it goes down quite a bit anywhere, but at least stepping on it should help to firm it up. I had some roses where I'd used too much bagged soil and the whole area was loose and unstable, and with a trowel added dirt from the surrounding area, mixed it up as best as I could and then tamped everything down. It helped a great deal and the roses are now doing fine.

Get a root irrigator and flood the heck out of the root zone through to the surface. If you can turn it all to mud, then the mud will settle into the pockets and the air will bubble up. If you just stomp it down the the surface compacts and becomes more resistant to water penetration, and the lower pockets remain. Since it is a new planting, digging it up and putting it in a pot is a good idea also. Make sure that it is well watered and in the shade for a week or two. I just did that with a rose that I planted in March. It was declining despite pampering in the ground. Within 3 days it has burst forth with growth. I'm breathing a sigh of relief. Also possible is that there is not a pocket, but that there is just preferential drainage, so that the water just runs past the dry spots. It's like when you put water on dry peat moss, it is hard to re-wet. I'm having that problem in my bigger pots, and I had to rework those pots. Good luck! Gotta save Abe!

This is awesome! Thank you all so much! I think I'll try a combo method of ramming a pipe or broomstick down to break through to the pocket, blast water down there(hopefully muddy water) and heaps of coffee grounds. This is great! I think I can manage these things myself. They are certainly worth a try. I don't have a root irrigator, but if I did it would come in handy right now. I feel better knowing there is something I can do. The heat keeps me indoors, and that starts getting me down.( my clowder of 3 helps with this:) I'm going to turn on the hose now to start to soften things up. Maybe I can do something before it gets too hot out there. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Lisa

Lisa I have one of the deep root irrigators Noseometer is talking about. Good idea! I use it for trees, got it at Ace Hardware, and it looks like this..

It works pretty well and cost about $30-40. The one I got can be used to deep root feed too... but there are ones that are just for irrigation that cost maybe $20. Even just making a hole like that with a spike of some sort, or a garden fork, or a broom like you're talking about (my clay is too tough for that... the broom would break), then spraying water down there, might help water get down into the pocket to possibly allow the soil to sink or flow into the pocket.

Good luck with everything! I hope some of these ideas work out for you!