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deervssteve

Just planted by three bushes

deervssteve
11 years ago

It's been over 20 years since I planted any. First thing I learned is that I had a lot more energy in my 40s than in my 60s. I was smart enough to dig the holes a couple days before planting. The way I prepared the soil is to dump a couple bags of planting mix on the driveway and the heavy clay soil from the holes in a pile next to the planting mix. I shovel the clay into the planting mix and then shovel the pile into another pile and then move the pile again. This is how always do it. I was pooped. I planted a rose and took a short break between planting the next.

I always planted roses with the bud union above ground level. The growers instructions said to plant with the union slightly below ground level, which I did. I unpacked the roses on Thursday and had them soaking in a B1 solution for two days. The instructions said 1 to 24 hours. One site said up to a week.

Back when I was a teenager, my father asked me to dig a 100 foot drainage ditch from the back yard (which flooded) to the street. The soil was hard adobe. I would dig the ditch and then fill it with water to soften the soil and dig some more until the ditch was deep enough to drain properly.
I used the same technique to dig the holes for the roses.
What has me concerned is that it took a long time for two of the holes to drain. I've heard that wet feet is bad for trees and plants. Only time will tell. The plants were great.
Strong root system. The St. Patricks has 7 canes, the Olympiad 6 and the Double Delight 4.

The Deer repellant better do a good job.

Comments (4)

  • intris
    11 years ago

    St. Patrick and Olympiad are on my short list for roses to quest for. You must post photos when they start to bloom! Good luck. :D

  • KarenPA_6b
    11 years ago

    Wow,I am going to be in trouble. I have ten roses to plant at end of this month. I did not realize it is so much work.

  • mzstitch
    11 years ago

    I too have hard clay soil, which is why my limit is planting four a year. I ordered five this year, but one is going in a pot. I too dig my holes than take a day or two off. We do have a roto-tiller which helps though. To refill, I use my wheelbarrow, mixing my soils in that before dumping them in the hole. As far as drainage goes though, if you dug down deep enough you should be okay. I dig my holes 2 1/2 feet x 2 1/2 feet. I have put a few inches of water in them and sometimes they do see to hold water too long, but I have never had any problems.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Since I haven't bought any roses in a long time, Iost track of the bareroot season. Local nuseries say that it is from after Christmas to mid February when the remaining roses are closed out. I waited until the day before St. Patricks day to plant St. Patrick. A month ago the soil was probably a lot wetter. I was getting pretty large orders from Hortico and Pickering and planting 10 roses a day. I struggled to get over 20" depth on these. The ground was rock hard.

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