Thanks for the advice. It's so painful to cut them down so low, but if that's what's going to prevent them from dying, I'll do it. :-(

Maybe others here have better experience without cutting them so hard and can advise differently. i hate having to do it also because you wnd up losing a lot if the blooms from that year

I'm a bit confused as to how cutting all the canes makes it easier on the rose? If it can't support all of its canes after a move and some die, that makes sense to me. But would all of them die? If not, aren't you (general "you", not singling anyone out) removing stored energy in the canes that could have made it and helped fuel the new growth that the rose needs to make to stay alive? It doesn't make sense to me to remove the canes when they hold energy that the plant can use to help offset the shock of losing some roots during the move. Can someone explain?

They say when moving that the top should be the same length as the roots

Mischievous Magpie I am not certain what the actually scientific process is. When I moved one of my Mel’s heritage a few years back I just dragged the entire plant to its new location (maybe 7-8 feet tall own root). The result was that all canes completely dried out and died to maybe a foot off the ground. My assessment was that the diminished rootball could not maintain the long canes for very long. There was not real long term damage because the plant just started growing new canes once it recovered so it was like nature pruned her to whatever the rootball could sustain, but it made my relocation process much more difficult by having to drag around 8 feet long thorny canes. No scientific data here tho just what I have seen in my own plants. Maybe some of the rose experts here can explain better. I would think also that like you mentioned any extra cane that remained would help the plant get energy faster. I only tried it that one time

I feel like some experimentation would

be a good idea. I have several plants that I need to relocate. I am going to leave some intact and then see if what happened to Mel’s heritage happens again or if some canes remain without dying out.

I'm moving some around in spring too, and didn't plan on cutting them back first. Hopefully I can remember to compare experiences with you later in the year!

I think the general idea is that too much top growth can't be supported by seriously chopped roots, hence Kristine's comment about the top being the same length as the roots. I was having a conversation with a friend in OK a couple of days ago about a nursery in MI that sells potted bare roots in 2 gal pots for a very high price. She claimed she didn't care how chopped the roots were, as long as it had a lot of good long canes. To support my contention that chopped roots are a bad combo with long canes, I found a great old thread from here, but I can't find it now. Anyway, the idea is that if you should always cut the canes to be about the same length as the roots to give the roots a chance to catch up to support the top. Personally, I'd rather cut the canes down low on a climber I move, rather than allow the plant to struggle, and see what makes it. Not to mention making the moving easier for the mover!

Hmm, no pressure of course! But if you ever find that thread I'd love to read it. When I move some of my roses soon, it will be the first time ever having really done so. So I'm not sure what is the best technique.

Magpie, I really tried... I found two related threads with some similar info, but couldn't find the one I was really looking for. Try Googling chopping bare root roses roots, or something similar :-D

Okay thanks 🙃 I appreciate that you tried.

I did not cut canes on my gopher injured rootless roses. I left the canes full length and popped them in a water filled trug overnight then potted them in 5 gal pots. The entire top canes survived and they regrew roots. I replanted them in the ground last Fall in wire cages.

Some were 5 ft tall and they kept all the top alive. They grew, bloomed and are thriving.

My plan had been to cut off any top growth that died back, but none did.

Magpie: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1584728/question-about-shortening-canes-of-bare-root-roses

Bella Rosa, since they are climbers, if it were me I would not cut them back if you could handle them. Of course, if they are impossible to handle that is another story. My rescue story happened during the dormant season thankfully.

Thanks everyone for your advice. Wish me (and my rose!) luck.

Rule of thumb when transplanting roses is that the length of the canes should be about the length of the roots or twice as long. If the canes are many times longer than the roots then the roots will struggle to support all the growth that will want to push out from the canes and the plant may struggle to get enough water to such long canes. but of course you can leave the canes longer if you are willing to really baby them and make sure the soil never gets dry until established. You would probably need to be really careful about getting too dry for the first summer.

Where is malcolm manners when you need him?