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deervssteve

I may have to rethink this

deervssteve
10 years ago

I have five roses to plant and one to relocate.

I started to dig up Portland from Glendora. It's about 25 years old and the roots are over one inch thick.
When I was younger I dug up 5 mature Junipers which were also had a lot of thick roots. The process is dig and cut and dig and cut until you can finally pop the bush with only the tap root remaining.

I have one or more roots left before I can pop PFG.
I'm sitting here posting and dripping sweat. I'll finish it because I'm stubborn.

Exercise is good, but I'm seriously thinking about hiring a gardener to dig the five holes and completely excavate PFG which is own root. 68 isn't 45.

Comments (22)

  • buford
    10 years ago

    I hear you Steve. I have to dig up almost 40 roses this year because the county has to dig up my yard. I started pruning down the roses yesterday. Mine haven't been in the ground that long. The good thing is that the county is also going to dig up a bunch of junipers that I don't want and would have had to hire someone to dig out.

    Have you tried tieing it to a riding lawn mower and pulling it out? We did that with a huge shrub we needed to pull out a few years ago.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    out,

    This post was edited by deervssteve on Sun, Dec 29, 13 at 16:16

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    10 years ago

    Now you have two! : )

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Deer assisting with clean up.

  • kittymoonbeam
    10 years ago

    Do they eat all the branches too or just the leaves? I always wanted a dinosaur to come eat all my prunings so I wouldn't have to rent a trailer to haul them off. It's odd to me thinking of them eating big pine trees like giraffes browse trees in Africa. Beautiful sauropods. I wish I could have seen one.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    New growth, flower buds and leaves. I was out shopping and came home to find two deer in my rose garden.
    My first reaction was they were after my unplanted roses.
    From about 20 feet away, I yelled 'You are not suppose to be here'. They ignored me until I was a few feet away and they took off. One of them kept coming back working on the pile of cuttings. I realized they had been eying the PFG for some time but it was in a cage. I had kindly chopped it up and left the pile for their dining pleasure.

  • roseseek
    10 years ago

    Actually, you will probably have MANY Glendoras! Those roots are usually VERY vital and vigorous, so expect some regrowth from any roots remaining in the soil. It COULD be worse, it could have been budded on Huey! Kim

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I considered that. I'm removing all the soil and tossing it down a slope that has pyracantha, scrub oak and doesn't get watered. I'm going down two feet for the hole and most of the roots seem shallower than that. The ground is hard and PFG hasn't spread that much in 25 years.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I have one hole dug and am working on what's left of PFG. Two inch diameter roots. My chainsaw doesn't work.
    I may paint them with brush killer.

    I'm doing a little work at a time to keep from getting pooped.

  • kittymoonbeam
    10 years ago

    Anything that regrows the deer could work on for you. Good for you keeping your heart in shape. I'm getting ready to dig some big holes myself this weekend.

  • Kippy
    10 years ago

    I have to ask, Why did you not like Portland from Glendora?

    Am I glad I did not pick that one to buy?

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I liked the rose a lot and it was there for 25 years. It was very vigorous and even though I cut it way back, it was outgrowing the cage and the space.
    It kind of looked ratty and didn't fit in with the HT that I planted and am planning to plant in the area. It's not the kind of rose you can cage. Over the last 25 years the sunny area in my front yard has shrunk a lot. The prime area for growing roses is only large enough for maybe 10 bushes and I want cut flowers and repeat blooming.
    The other older roses are well established and in partial sun and I'm leaving them alone.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It's 66 degrees now and my roses still aren't planted and are leafing out. They are in pots so I'm not concerned as if they were bare root. I have one hole completed and two partially dug. I need to get moving. The hole where PFG was looks like a bomb crater, but there is more work to do.
    I'm tossing all the soil so I don't have a bunch of little PFG, I'll need to steal some dirt to fill the crater.

  • dublinbay z6 (KS)
    10 years ago

    We are cheerleading from the sidelines, steve!

    Didn't think I'd ever do any more serious rose digging again--thankfully, at my age--but then what did I do this past month?

    Ordered an Eden climber and 2 hybrid musks and one bourbon. Have to first dig out an old climber that died, then dig out some self-planted treelets that are growing over in that "wild' corner and then break sod in two spots that have never been dug up before-- and then I can plant my four new roses.

    I must be crazy!

    Anyway, we look forward to seeing your results, Steve. Hang in there!

    Kate

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The holes are almost done. I need to make four cages.
    I'll plant two this weekend and poison the roots on PFG. Ortho says to wait two weeks before replanting.

    The roses in pots are taking off.

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  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I'm on schedule. I planted Julia Child, Just Joey and PJP II.
    The mache pots were falling apart particularly te one for PJP II. I think it will be ok. I need to go to home depot and by some more fencing for cages. Next week I'll plant fire fighter and the following week Chrysler Imperial. I need to poison the roots today where PFG was planted and need to wait two week before replanting. My goal was to have everything planted by the middle of February. The hard part is over and I will get it done.
    {{gwi:348302}}

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  • view1ny NY 6-7
    10 years ago

    deervssteve, please explain this to me. A gardener can use poison to kill roots and be able to plant in that same spot 2 weeks later? Even with using new soil, is that really safe for the new roses? I don't get it.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    That was the information I got from the manufacturer. A product should become inert after some period of time; minutes, days, years. I trust that they did the research because of liability issues. I didn't soak the hole with the product. I sprayed it directly on the exposed roots. I am more concerned with PFG coming back than the product harming the new rose. It will be six weeks from the time I dug PFG up to replanting and the soil was removed before spraying.

  • view1ny NY 6-7
    10 years ago

    Oh. Best of luck. Please let us know how it all works out.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Today was the day I planned to plant the final rose from the ones I bought; Chrysler imperial. It was to be planted in the hole where I dug up PFG. I guess it will be another week if the rains let up and the hole drains. Despite the evidence to the contrary, I'm not concerned with wet feet.
    PFG was happy there for 25 years.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Last rose, Chrysler Imperial, planted.

  • deervssteve
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    As predicted, PFG is making a comeback from just outside the hole I dug to about three feet.
    I'll give it some more time to show itself and then get a paintbrush and roundup.

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