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lynn2112

Bare Root Rose in Transit???

Hi,

J& P shipped a bare root rose to me on 2/5/14. This rose was sent to North Carolina, then Illinois, where it sat in a facility for over 5 days due to "adverse weather conditions". It was then sent to CO, then finally to Las Vegas. From here it was sent back to CO, then back to Las Vegas. It has been in Las Vegas, again, since Friday, and then today, UPS transferred it to my local post office for delivery scheduled tomorrow, 14 days after it left their warehouse. It has been in the 70's here. Could this rose be healthy? It has spent 14 days in transit�. I am so perturbed.

Lynn

This post was edited by desertgarden561 on Wed, Feb 19, 14 at 0:51

Comments (9)

  • Evenie
    10 years ago

    It depends on the packaging and temperature. If they were well-wrapped in plastic and did not dry out, and kept rather cold, they should be fine. They are dormant and should survive a long time as long as they don't get warm or dry. 14 days is a very long time, but you can't be sure until you open them up.

  • Glenburn
    10 years ago

    Lynn, thank God I do not live in the USA, I am in Australia. I have friends in the US and they tel me the postal service is terrible, why did it go around and around, did they give you any explanation or do they not respond to the public. I assume the address was correct.
    Anyway back on track, If it was me, on opening it I would SOAK it in a bucket overnight with a liquid fertilizer, again this is what I would do.
    Regards David.

  • nanadollZ7 SWIdaho
    10 years ago

    Why would UPS, United Parcel Service, a private company, be transferring your rose to the USPS, United States Postal Service, for delivery to your home? These are two different entities.
    In March of last year, I had a couple of roses from Hortico tied up at the Canada-U.S. border for days, before the roses made the cross country trip to my home. I can't remember exactly how long they were en route, but the trip was pretty lengthy, and the weather was mild. They arrived fine, were planted, broke dormancy, and are still doing well in my garden. I think your roses will be fine, but I'm not sure who you should blame for the crazy route they took--UPS or USPS. Diane

  • nikthegreek
    10 years ago

    The roses will most probably be fine unless they had not been wrapped properly. In those temps they might have sprouted already. If they show white sprouts longer than a 1cm or so (sorry can't think in inches) it will be best to break these sprouts off. A dump in an appropriate fungicide solution or a spray with a copper solution before planting is not a bad idea either. I've had bare roots being in transit for longer than this and they ended up mostly fine.
    Nik

  • nikthegreek
    10 years ago

    The roses will most probably be fine unless they had not been wrapped properly. In those temps they might have sprouted already. If they show white sprouts longer than a 1cm or so (sorry can't think in inches) it will be best to break these sprouts off. A dump in an appropriate fungicide solution or a spray with a copper solution before planting is not a bad idea either. I've had bare roots being in transit for longer than this and they ended up mostly fine.
    Nik

  • pat_bamaz7
    10 years ago

    Diane, It's an economic shipping option that some companies use now for ground service. Both UPS and FedEx offer a version of it (Surepost is what UPS calls it and Smartpost is what FedEx calls it). They bring the package to your town, but the post office makes the final delivery to your door. Unfortunately, it makes it difficult to track once the post office receives it, and I've had several issues with delivery once it's in the post office's hands. It would not be my choice for shipping, but many times the consumer isn't offered the choice of regular ground service verses Surepost/Smartpost. I don't believe the around the country and back part of the shipment would have been the post office's fault on this one, though, unless they returned it to UPS as undeliverable, and UPS had to re-ship (I've had that happen several times even though my office parking lot connects to our post office's...they could literally toss it over the fence into my arms, yet the post office frequently sends it back as undeliverable due to an invalid address).

  • Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Dianne,

    I have been tracking the rose via the UPS site using the tracking number. On 2/18, the package was transferred to the Post Office " due to the holiday". Beats me. It will be interesting to see which truck delivers the rose today. It is not the first time this has happened. I do not live in the 'City of Las Vegas" - proper.

    Nik, Thank you for the information. My roses generally arrive per schedule, and have never been in transit for two weeks. It is the end of the bare-root ordering season for some suppliers, and this rose will be placed in a prominent position in my landscape. Hopefully I will not need to replace it with something else at this point.

  • User
    10 years ago

    UPS and USPS trade off services to and with each other -- it's just what they do. A package can travel 3/4 of the way by UPS and then they hand it off to USPS for the last leg of the journey. I see it happen frequently, especially with merchandise purchased through Amazon.

    As for the rose, I once ordered fifteen Gallicas from Pickering, and it took about 20 days to arrive. During that fifteen day transit period, my Gallicas spent a week sitting in a FedEx facility in Hawaii. No explanation was given, other than the fact that it was an error on FedEx's part.

    Oh, and the roses were fine.

  • Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My rose arrived; I am guessing delivered by the Post Office because my dog goes nuts when the UPS truck hits the corner, and I did not receive her boisterous alert today. Well, the plant is dead. It was bone dry and cutting across the canes revealed brown dead wood. I suspect its demise is due to spending the last 4 days in a Las Vegas post office. In some areas it hit 80 degrees on Saturday.

    J& P is sending a replacement Friday. Hopefully the transit time will be closer to normal.

    Lynn

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