It really will depend on the class of rose, how you prune it, but in general, I don't prune any of my own roots the first year..I just let them get settled. Some roses will put out basal shoots their first summer, others won't..it's awkward to see that skinny stem, just sticking out of the ground..but hang in there..it really will develop into a full, strong bush! Next spring, they will have died back to ground level, or a few inches above, and you will prune out any dead canes, (the one!!) at that time..this usually induces the plants to throw basals for you. Don't worry too much about the proportion of root to stem, if it looks good on top and is making new leaves, then the roots are doing their thing underground, too.
One final note on watering..please water deeply, so that the roots will grow as deeply as they can..this will help it survive it's first winter. Watering often, and only the top inch or so of soil will handicap it..it will grow roots where the water is, then they will freeze when the ground freezes. Let it dry out between waterings..so far so good!! Good Luck...Donna

That's why I always plant ny own root roses in a pot when I receive them. They're usually very small with thin stems so I grow then in a pot until they produce larger canes.
Many folks have good luck planting them directly in the ground. Mine seem to get lost in the wide open spaces.
Planted in pots, they can concentrate on making a good root system, then strong canes. This often means I have to wait until mid summer or the following year to put them in the garden, but I manage to save them all.
My own rooted cuttings respond the same way.

this is been killing me... hey karl- i have a situation where i have planted two different own root roses in the same spot to absolutely no avail.last spring i planted an absolutely robust neptune that did nothing and died. then this spring i planted a beautiful rosemary harkness in the same spot(i replaced all the old soil and then some) same thing; greta specimen and now it looks like it is dying too.
you mentioned planting these young own rooted roses in pots first until they gain some momentum. should i dig up that Rosemary and pot her and maybe drop an established rose in that stubborn spot? love to hear from you

Kentstar, you are being wayyyy too hard on yourself... There are so many individual approaches to how to transition/plant your young own root roses and it all depends on the condition of your own root when you receive it... Not all own roots are created equal and to be so hard on yourself is not fair to yourself...
Karl's way is always ideal (100% fail-proof) esp. if it's a baby band (there's no way a baby band can survive zone 5 and colder on its first year)... For young root roses, if! they have matured enough and have reached a certain size, at least 1'6" for example, they can survive being planted straight in the soil... Tomorrow, I'll try to take a photo of my own young root rose as a comparison... My young root rose started healthy and at the appropriate size unlike my very sick baby band. It is now twice the size that it was 2 weeks when I received it with absolutely no sign of transplant shock...

Now if you compare it with yours, what is happening is that you are almost 2 weeks behind with the transplant shock...
About the Sea Tea, what will happen is that it will nourish and start feeding the root system... Once that root system is fed and absorbed, it will supply lots of nutrition to the plant itself... Even though the dying leaves will continue to die, the stored nutrients will push up new growth into the stems... I also believe that some of the softer, semi-wilted leaves will also begin to straighten up. It just takes the sea tea maybe 2-3 days for this to occur if any of the former leaves are still viable. Again, this is all catchup time for the sea tea. My dying baby band started out being 3-1/2" tall with a horrible yellow-green color to its stems and leaves. I left the dying leaves until I could lightly stroke the leaves and they'd fall off/crumble away. Otherwise I left everything else intact. Then new pineapple baby stems started appearing everywhere, and now beautiful glossy leaves... That dying baby band is no longer dying, but thriving... so it goes to show that I would not! be doing any sort of pruning at all! just prop up the bent stems with one of those thin vinyl wire supports with a velcro tie... This allows the baby stem to breathe and circulate its nutrients easier through the entire length of the stem. Think of it this way, if you bent your chin all the way down to your neck, breathing is much more shallow as opposed to a straight neck, head-up position. Young roses benefit from the extra support until they stabilize...

The benefit of Karl's pot method for me would be that it holds in the sea tea so that the tea is preserved in the pot... Since you have ground soil instead of contained soil, if you've been washed out by heavy rain, once your ground soil has dried out to a light loose semi-dry texture, you can reapply the dilute sea tea sooner than the normal 7 days...day 5. However, if it's just light rain, 7 days' interim is ideal... But again, be very! careful not to get soggy soil! Soggy soil can cause root rot...and that! would be horrible... imo do not water too deeply for young root roses... they won't absorb as much moisture as a bare root or grafted nursery rose... (their anchor roots are too immature and underdeveloped). In other words, be sure to feed any excess to other plants. The soil should always be spongy soft not sopping wet. (if you tap the soil it should have a little bounce to it with just a very slight dampness to it). Also, watch the weather channel to plan ahead on how much water your young rose plant will need. Hope these descriptors are of help instead of confusing...

I bought a few own root from Chamblees this year (one gallon pots). The first pic shows how they looked upon arrival in mid-April. A week later I potted one up in a 3-gallon Weeks pot. The second pic shows how it looks today. I wish I had done that with the other two as they aren't nearly as full and bushy.

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Like Donna, I generally leave them alone the first year. Every leaf they have contributes to their ability to grow. I also plant 1-gals directly in the garden after hardening off for a week. They might as well start getting used to real dirt, which calls for a different type of rooting pattern.

While I agree with serenasyh's concept of playing it safe with baby own-roots, I disagree that it is impossible for them to survive in the ground. Every single one of mine planted in the ground made it through a horrendous winter of frequently colder than 20 below weather, and I planted eight of them in various locations around the property. Only a couple went into pots before planting, the rest went straight into the ground.

I don't disagree that one needs to be careful with their baby own roots. I do know that every rose I had in pots, bareroot or own-roots, perished but two, and the jury is still out on those. They didn't, however, receive any winter protection in their pots.

Aurora your roses look great! I wish mine had come looking that great! Mine were in a qt size container and very droopy! I can only hope mine recovers enough to look like yours! I vow to always pot up for a while now lol. I can't really see keeping them potted for a year though, because of our weather. I don't have an insulated shed to put the pot in over winter, nor a garage to put them in. Only have the house. Wouldn't that be too warm for them over winter, not to mention the dry air in winter?
BUT, what I COULD do is bury the pot itself maybe in the ground over winter.

Unfortunately not all own root plants are shipped the size of those from Chamblees. Too many of them are shipped almost as soon as they root.
These very young tender rooted cuttings often get lost when planted directly in the ground.
If all were the size of those from Chamblees, one could plant them directly into the garden with 100% take.
Any tiny bands I get are grown in pots until they are at least that size

Greenhaven, I am a strong believer in Karl's method... If every own root were as large as JeffAurora's, as Karl again emphasized, those have no problem being directly planted into the ground. I too said that if a young own root reaches at least 1'6" or has very large leaves it too will thrive in the ground... there is absolutely no way! my tiny recovering baby band will be able to make it through our winter extremes and unpredictable weather... Its largest leaves are only up to my 1st knuckle in size and it's grown from 3-1/2" to 5" now in stem length. That tiny thing would perish because it doesn't have enough stem thickness to survive the winter...

(lol! Kenstar, you would have freaked out had you gotten this completely yellow, wilted dried up, sick scrawny band)... Heirloom Roses did a terrible job with that baby band and had it not been for the sea tea it would have died.

Again, a picture speaks a thousand words, here is my tiny recovering baby band...

Here is my young root rose from Roses Unlimited (my guess is that it was originally 5 mos. old). It was planted directly into the ground like yours Kentstar. This rose will need lots of protection for the winter, but it is so healthy and will make it through winter... The size and color of its leaves convinced me that it was ready for the ground even though it was only 9" high when I received it... Kentstar, you say yours is 9" high...so ours are a good side-by-side comparison of what your rose will look like once it has the chance to recover with the sea tea... Exactly 17 days have passed since I got this own root rose. It is now 11" high so almost a foot but not quite... Several of its leaves are a full 3" in length, so as you can see very short stems in comparison to its huge leaves..., but it is thriving and has grown 3 new stem shoots (2 visible from the photo...-left-hand side right below the vinyl support and one on the bottom lowest cluster of leaves)
Kentstar, I am an organics rose grower so my roses are not going to be as "pristine" (insect-free) as other roses here on the forum, but as you can it is very, very healthy!

I plant ALL my bands directly into the ground. Last spring I planted about 75 bands, and by September they were large blooming bushes. I was very pleased with their growth and vitality.

Then we had one of the coldest winters in recent memory, with a stretch of -22F days in January. I was a little worried about their immaturity and hardiness since they were only youngsters. My only method of protection is oak mulch and leaves around their feet, but this spring all of them popped up and are blooming their heads off. The only casualty is Dragon's Blood, but I have a duplicate and it's doing great. Strange how one died and one lived, isn't it?

I ordered another 30 Vintage bands and they were very large and healthy, so I popped them right in the ground. A couple are already blooming and stretching their legs, and many already have new growth.

Direct planting of bands works fine for me. The caveat is, though, the SIZE of the bands that you are planting.

I can, however, understand why you would be hesitant to plant the tiny Heirloom bands in the ground. Been there; done that....and those do not thrive without being time to grow in a pot. Last year as an experiment I tried to grow 3 of them in the garden; 2 died. Distant Thunder is still alive, but is still very small. I expect it will take at last another year for it to reach any any decent size.
-terry

I always plant my tiny Heirloom roses plants right in the ground and have never had any problems with them. I only plant in the spring or early summer though and never in the fall. Still, I am not in zone 5 like you are and that might make a big difference.

Mine were all bands, too. But I do say again that I don't disagree with potting them up...just wanted to point out that it is not impossible in some instances to put them straight into the ground. I truly believe that it has a lot to do with how well the rose will get established before winter.