I am in a Mediterranean climate in Calif. If I had your rose, which has been in a ~ 2 gallon pot for "several years", I would wait until the Fall, when those new basals will hopefully have hardened off a bit, and then I would plant it in the ground.

Jackie

Thanks, Jackie. I may have "moved it up" from a smaller pot before, but don't remember. However I DO remember that it's been in a pot for several years for sure...

I've always preferred to grow them until they are the size and momentum of five gallon bud and bloom plants before releasing them into the ground to fend for themselves. Otherwise, they have always felt too small and too easily damaged or killed by either blind feet, critters or heat extremes. But, that's me.

Interesting discussion, because I have wondered whether planting too soon may be the reason some of my Chinas and Teas aren't doing what they should do. In fact, I may dig up several of them this fall/winter and put them back in pots. I think one of the main problems is that their small, young roots have trouble growing in the ground.

Lindsey

Here, my pots are mobile and moved to the North side of my home. That is an advantage in the extreme heat we have been having. Of course I can water them carefully there too. I dug up a DA rose "The Squire" because it was just sitting there. It really seems to be doing better in a pot. Some of this goes against common sense it seems.

In other words, Bart, no rush to plant in the ground.

@ lplantagenet7AVA "I think one of the main problems is that their small, young roots have trouble growing in the ground" That could very likely be part of it. I think it's also safe to add that the majority of Teas and Chinas are slow to develop the root systems required to produce strong plants, compared to many ramblers, floribundas, minis, HTs, shrubs, etc. Pot growing, of course avoiding the dry out and fry roller coaster too many of us allow them to endure, can push them to mature faster. The potting soil is going to be warmer than the ground, generally about the air temperature or a little less, unless the sun shines directly on the pot sides or the pot sits on a sun heated masonry surface, where, in hot climates, it can quickly, literally cook the roots in the pot. Warmer soil has several benefits...it stimulates soil bacteria to digest organics faster, releasing food faster and regularly. Warm soil also stimulates the plants to grow faster, making use of the increased nutrients, pushing roots and top growth, so they mature more quickly.

Thank you all for your comments.There seem to be good reasons both pro and con; my own general impression is that ,after a certain point,many plants start sort of "languishing" in pots. I am not good at pot culture; it seems to require so much time and money, not to mention the enormous quantity of water required. So there is definitely a part of me that wants to get as many as possible planted out in the garden, for though watering out there without running water is challenging ,plants are OK with being watered only once a week,whereas the pots need water almost daily,and though I try hard, the "dry out and fry roller coaster" sindrome is very familiar.Plus, the pots are on my terrace-in other words, sit on hot masonry and some do get their sides hit by the sun. The advantage is that here at the house the terrace goes into shade in the PM, whereas out in the garden it's full afternoon sun.

My experience with potted trees has taught me that there's sort of a "sweet spot" when it comes to the size of the plant that I put out in the garden. Too small and they just can't hack it, but if they are very big it's much harder to do a good job with planting, plus they seem to be less motivated about getting their roots into the surrounding soil-as if they are tempted just to get by on their existing root system, without reaching out and adapting to the new environment (note that this is the case even though I was very careful to avoid the "bathtub effect" that happens if you plant out a root-bound tree or prep the soil incorrectly) . That happened with one very big potted rose once-I had Melina, the Tantau rose, growing out in my garden, but it wasn't doing well, so even though it was pretty large I dug it up and grew it on in a pot for a while. It seemed fine so after a season I re-planted it out in the garden. It failed completely; grew backwards and dwindled away. Now, there were many factors involved other than the size of the plant that could explain that failure-inadequate soil preparation is at the top of the list,as per usual,but also that particular variety etc, etc., etc.

The bottom line is that , once those new shoots harden off, I'll have to let ET dry out just enough so I can pull it easily out of the pot and look at the root system. I have noticed that roses in pots, at a certain point, wind up with too many roots all clustered around at the bottom of the pot; when they are like that I think it's best for them to be planted out. I 'm also toying with the idea that perhaps it might be better to sort of "bare-root" potted rose somewhat, the reason being that I want to encourage them to reach out beyond their little ball of potting soil into the native ground. Of course that's a thin, thin line to walk-you don't want to disturb the roots too much...

We have always planted our own root bands out after a brief harden off. Usually 4 or 5 days after we get them. We do put wire cages around them to protect them from rabbits and window screening on top to shade for a few weeks more.

We are in the Denver area and the original owners amended the soil so it seems things grow well here.

We like the small bands because the hole that needs to be dug is much smaller than for one in a big pot.

I wonder how much depends on the individual rose as well as the variety, because I have several roses, either purchased or propagated, that I planted when they were small and which established themselves well and quickly while others with similar histories have languished.

Yesterday afternoon, I looked at three roses I had considered digging up and putting back in pots for a time. Two will stay where they are--the size of the main cane is comparable to the size of a grafted rose at the bud union which suggests that they ought to have established themselves reasonably well below ground--only the top growth is subpar. I have decided to try pushing them as much as I can this summer with extra water and compost and perhaps they will begin to do better.

Lindsey

I think Bart needs to be extra careful in a hot climate with no irrigation system except herself.

I planted ownroot roses in ground quicker in Alaska than I do here because they could get fried here so easily.

Once again, I truly appreciate your thoughts and hearing your experiences and opinions. Sheila is right, I DO have to be extra careful, especially about that "fry factor". This year I'm shading 3 roses that look peaky/seem slow, etc.-this July sun is always so brutal, and the days so long and hot! But Lindsey is right, too. The ET that I inadvertantly "murdered" probably shouldn't have been planted out. I'd bought it as a potted plant, grafted, but it was planted in a small pot, with the bud union high above soil level. Now, I do NOT like that at all for my roses, so I re-potted it,but in order to get that bud union at/or slightly below soil level, I had to use a big pot-one that was deep enough to accomodate that long shank. However, it was really way too wide for the circumference of the root mass; I don't know how to cultivate a rose in a pot that is too big; the plants tend to sort of "suffocate" in too much soil or something? all I know how to do is graduate a rose from smallish pot to larger pot to larger pot...(though knowing what I do now,with hindsight, I think I should have put it in a truly huge pot, along with other small roses; that really seems to work well,even though it does mean that when you want to plant them out you have to disturb the root system). In the mean time, a branch broke off of my "Huddersfield Choral Society" and I stuck it in with ET, just in case it rooted. Well, it sure as heck did! grew like mad! by the end of the season the pot was obviously full of roots, so I confidently took it out to my land at planting time, took out the root mass, and began seperating the two plants. To my amazement, I found that almost all of said root mass was from the own-root HCS; ET had hardly grown at all. I even thought about re-potting ET (which I should have done), but instead decided that since I'd already stressed it out by seperating it from it's uber-vigorous neighbour,it was worth trying to just plant it out. Actually I think it could have made it, if I hadn't over-done with that da#ned urea...