It might be; it depends a lot on your soil. "Acidic and deficient in calcium" doesn't say much, IMO; there are so many other factors: nitrogen, potassium,magnesium...the list is long! I know from personal experience that my soil needs a lot of amendment; it's very poor ,but you may be luckier. In any case however I'd think it a good idea to dig in the top dressing of manure and compost on a regular basis, and mulch, mulch, mulch.

How acidic?

Where did the roses come from?

Palatine buds onto multiflora, which likes acidic/very acidic soil. Most own-roots should be able to handle moderately acidic soil. Roses budded onto Dr. Huey are going to be in trouble if the pH is below about 6. The solution is to add lime to the area according to the directions you probably received with your soil test.

Aside from the pH issue, it shouldn't be a problem so long as the holes were reasonably large, and the sides roughed up instead of smooth. The shrub and tree people say you should not heavily amend planting holes, and I've found that to be decent advice.

Any organic material you may have dug in will break down, digest, and disappear. Digging anything organic into the soil before planting may serve to partially correct those issues in the short term, but long term, they definitely return unless other steps are taken to fix the issues. Do what the soil tests indicate, but I would not uproot the plants and do the soil prep then replant. What does Nature do? "She" dumps it all on top of the soil where conditions are right for digestion, allowing rain (and your hose) to wash the results through the soil. Putting all that "good stuff" into the holes may have initial benefits, but when it all breaks down, you have "sunken" plants. You don't want to know how many times over the years I've had people tell me about the "mistake" they made by heavily amending the planting holes and now they have to lift the plants because they are sitting in holes. As long as your soil drains, putting organic material down as a mulch, like falling leaves in the woods, works just fine. But, like the woods, it's something you have to do year after year to keep replenishing the benefits.

What great information . I only knew about the relative hardiness of the rootstocks, not ph tolerances. My soil is less than 5 so I will seek out multiflora stock henceforth. I do have some dr huey but mostly own root. So much to learn before investing in each rose I now see.

Kitasel,

If you amend your soil with compost and aged manure scratched into only the top inch of existing soil, fertilize, add your lime to correct the pH, then mulch on top of that, you can't do much better than that. The top 3-5" of soil is the most root zone active for feeder roots. Keep that soil zone well tended and your roses will thrive.

A big concern of mine for you is your soil drainage. The better the drainage is, the better the roses will grow. Am I correct in assuming your soil is primarily clay? If so, that is good soil for roses if it drains nicely, and you amend its top, productive zone.

Moses