I consider both ot those products fertilizers. I would wait until after the first bloom cycle. Maybe a "top dress" with manure, but that would be it. I don't do anything until after the first bloom cycle of newly planted bareroots.

I also don't mix compost in the planting hole, but your mileage may vary. I put all amendments (compost, manure) on top of the beds, and over the entire bed.

I agree with Diane. I wouldn't put any of those things on them until after first bloom. If you were talking about just regular bark mulch that would be different but all of the things you mentioned are some type of fertilizer.

Great, yes I realize they are fertilizers and that's what I wanted to know. The last time I planted bareroot I left them the entire first season without fertilizing and thought I'd like to try to fertilize a little sooner this time, so I will wait until after the first bloom cycle.

Good to know that compost added to the planting backfill is not a necessity. Certainly makes things simpler.

Thanks :-)

LOL - I just noticed that I typed 'barefoot rose' in the title of this thread. I'm surprised no one posted to kid me about that one. [g] I think I will continue to think of my roses as barefoot in the garden. :-)

Lol, I never even noticed! I guess we see what we want and don't really read what's there. I like the idea of barefoot roses though since I like to be barefoot in the garden too1

I have a related question - how important is it to hill up newly planted bareroots in the spring?

Is there a reason why fertilizer is not applied at planting?

Kousa - Because it can burn the newly developing roots, and most fertilisers (being nitrogen based) encourage a lot of leafing out, when in the early stages, the plant needs to grow good roots down below first, to support growth up top later on.

redwolfdoc, no expert here, but I hilled up my newly planted bareroot roses this spring, after watching a video someone posted on this forum from one of the rose vendors. He explained that it is needed to keep the rose from drying out while it is getting established. He demonstrated planting the rose as you normally would and then piling on bark mulch. We have had a lot of wind this spring and I'm glad I knew to do that. I've also already seen new growth on just about all of them and have lowered the mulch coverage a little because I had them covered. The video said to leave it that way for the first two weeks.

So I linked to that video from Palatine Roses belowâ¦

P.S. I now know why it says barefoot in the title, I typed bareroot and the auto correct changed it to barefoot. [g]

Here is a link that might be useful: Planting Your Roses / When to Plant

Thank you curdle. I have been bewildered by this for awhile. Thanks for clearing up for me.

I like bareFoot! They are, right?! ;)