I think conventional wisdom says that once you pot them, you should give them a season, or at least a few months, to root out before you plant them. That way the root ball doesn't fall apart when they're removed from the pots, setting them back growth-wise.

That being said, I often plant my bareroots in pots early in the season, then plant them out in late spring or early summer and they seem to do well. You just have to be careful when planting them. The guy who helped me last spring with my planting unceremoniously dumped out a Munstead Wood and the root ball fell apart. I was NOT happy with him! It was one of three MW's I planted together to form one big bush. I couldn't really tell the difference in the growth between them after a while.

I just had this experience with my new Augusta Louise. When she arrived, I wasn’t well enough to do anything but put her in a VERY small pot. I had soaked her roots for a few days, and needed to her those roots covered. About a month later, I transferred her to a larger pot. Yes, all that soft soil fell away from the roots. I could see new roots starting to grow, but not nearly enough to make a root ball. I just carefully moved her to her larger pot, and hoped for the best. I can see that mine isn’t as leafed out as Tiffany’s is, and we live very near each other, and received our Augusta Louise’s at the same time. I’m not really worried about it. I’m sure I set it back some by disturbing the roots so soon after putting her in her temporary pot, but she’s doing fine. I’m sure she’ll catch up. Most roses are tougher than I originally thought. Lisa

I may have this same problem this year because the ground is so saturated I have ponds of water after each rain that then freezes into skating rinks. I asked for my BRs to be delivered between mid to late March because I like to have them here in case we get a break in the weather. However last year winter never left until after mid-April! I have held BRs covered in damp newspaper and plastic for a up to two weeks in a cool dark location and I have had a few that stayed in their soak for several days or more when something happened that I could not get them planted as planned. Just be sure you have a pot big enough that the roots aren't cramped. You can trim them but most BRs come with such short roots anymore I hesitate to cut any more off. Yes it takes several months to get a barely stable root ball. I will probably wait until the end of September to plant them out if I have to pot them up.

Thanks everyone. Funny story, that I just got an email that DA has shipped my roses, I thought they were coming end of February. They’ll be here tommorow. I definitely will not have my runs done by then lol, so I think I’ll pot them and then, shoot for end of April, early May to put them in their homes.

I ordered 3 Evelyns from DA last summer to be shipped this spring and they just sent the email saying they were shipped lol. I am gonna put them in 7.5 gallon nursery pots for awhile. I also picked up a bare root Lavender Crush cl at a Walmart yesterday. It is also going in a pot.

DA root systems are usually pretty big. It would be hard to get them into a 3 gallon.

These are some from DA's I bought last year. The roots are really spread out so need a wide pot. I usually have to trim some to fit them in a 7.5 gal pot..bigger would really be better lol

Last year I directly planted my da roses , they had roots as big as palantines! Amazing ! I have potted roses and planted them whenever i got to it, I never knew a thing about them needing to be in th pot a season ? It made me think about the local nursery , they get bareroots and pot them , and sell ready to plant . But last year all the Da were potted in the green pots , and when I bought and planted them, the roots had been chopped severely to fit the square pots. I didn’t think much of it ($200 later) and all of those did so crummy for me. Hoping for better next year !

I think its probably much better to plant them in the ground but I am out of flower beds again. Last year I had to make three new flower beds. Now they are full. So mine are going in "holding pots" for now lol. I guess I got problems.

I have some DAs from a few years ago still in pots I give them fresh dirt and compost in the spring. They are still doing ok..the watering can be a b**** tho when its hot and dry and you have a lot of potted plants to water.

Moses Thai is genius! Do you think walmart or Lowe’s would have bags? My bareroots are set to arrive tommorow. I didn’t know that at the time I asked my original question.

sultry, I do have some 10-15 gallon pots I just figured smaller would be better for easier transport later. Also those roots look amazing.

Lily, ive always planted my stuff strait into their beds also, but unfortunately my stuff is not ready yet. It rained again all day today. At this rate it’ll be fall before the grmound is dry enough to run the tractor around :(

Local sources are very iffy, and possibly very expensive, call around. Amazon would be your best bet, with 3, 5, and 7 gallon ones at @ 5/$10.00. 10 gallon may be too big, maybe not, it's hard to decide not seeing the roses.. The pots from Amazon come fast. Don't get the fancy, higher priced ones, not necessary.

Put the roses in cold storage when they come. They will be fine. Actually, you can decide what sizes of grow bags to buy AFTER the roses arrive, then order them. The roses can wait in their dormant state. They are asleep anyway.

Just keep the roses well hydrated and cold, about in the low 40s F. is ideal. Then you can pot them up without being in a hurry. You may not be able to prepare the bed for a while. No need to rush anything at this point.

Certainly you've already had enough stress with all that rain, and roses coming before you can plant them. I am sure the end results will be fine.

One more bit of advice, pack the potting soil tightly when potting, but not too tightly to inhibit draining. Loosely packed soil will be prone to fall apart when the positioned roses are being placed into their final holes. Also, roses in fabric grow pots dry out faster than those in solid pots.

So to reiterate...Let the roses come. Put them in cold storage. Then order the grow pots, getting appropriate sizes after seeing how long the roots are. Pot them up when the bags come. Prepare the bed when the weather permits. Plant the roses thereafter. All done.

Actually the roses can stay in cold storage for weeks, I would say 4-6 weeks, if they come dormant. You could just cold store them, then plant them when the beds are ready, no potting up needed. This depends on how soon the beds will be ready. If not by the end of Feb., I would pot them up when they come. Take what comes.

Moses

It’s not so much stress, as depressed that I can’t get anything done. Once I start a project, it consumes me untill it’s done. So essentially, just throw them in the refrigerator, untill the bags get here?

It poured here last night and I caught a bunch of rain water so I will probably soak mine for few days. They are supposed to arrive today.

I got my bags ordered. I ordered a set of 7g and 10g. I’d like to have some for the next time this happens lol.

Another option for pots is to go to your local nursery and buy the pulp pots they use for potting up their bare roots. That's what I did last year.

I know that I have roses .coming so if their planting bed isnt ready I can at least get the pots ready by adding some soil and compost. Hauling the soil is a pain. So I get that done and then after soaking I pop them in their pots and fill iin with soil.

A lot of what comes are so small that I keep them in their pots to give those roots a chance to develop.

Shakespearean,

I believe you're all set for success now. I too, like to finish a project once started ASAP, so I know how you feel. As old as I am, I still am trying to learn to be patient. Never ends, learning!

Moses

Hi. Sorry if this is OT. I have a few DA in my shopping cart. Between the varieties, if there is a shrub, I am picking those vs. the bare root, as the bare roots are not *own root*.

Rose NOOB here but I thought own root would be more preferred ?

It depends on your climate, soil, etc if you want own root or grafted roses. Also, some roses are more vigorous if they are grafted and just kinda sit there if on their own roots.

My 3 Evelyns just showed up and are happily soaking in rain water. I need to go get more potting soil and perlite tomorrow.

My 4 are now soaking also, as of 15 minutes ago. The munstead wood is huge and is definitly gonn to need a 10gallon I think. I see now why everyone was saying 3gallon would not work. This is my very first order from DA. I feel I Definitely got what I paid for.

Shakespearean,

Good to hear you are pleased with your Austin order. Hope the weather dries up quickly.

Moses

we've had a very mild winter this year. Maybe this is the new ~norm~. I dunno. In my brief readings, I interpreted that if given the option, OWN root will always be superior than grafted. But those in post #7 speak for themselves on the quality one may get by order the BR from said vendor.

I got my roses planted in their bags yesterday, except munstead wood. It was too big even for the 10 gallon, so I ended up just putting it in a 20g pot I have. Thanks again for the suggestion Moses!

Good news! You moved quickly. You do like to do things promptly.

One nice thing about the grow bags is that the longer the roses are in the bags, the better the root systems become. When the roots reach the fabric sides off the bag, the dryness (normal - part of the good effects of fabric bagged plants), halts root growth from circling the pot. The dryness/air at the sides root prunes them making for a healthier, more robust root system, and consequently a healthier, more robust bush. At transplanting time, there is minimal to no root shock.

So if it is some time before you can plant your bagged roses, they are just growing better and better roots in the meantime....all for good.

Moses

I’m actually really glad I bought extras, I don’t have a place set up for my veggie garden this year, since I’m remodeling everything. I think I’ll try a Few veggie varieties in the bags this year. I love fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

In the past I've put bareroots directly into the ground. This year is the first where I'm not ready and weather isn't accommodating, so I've planted the 7 I've received so far into 5 gallon pots. I do plan to transfer them into the ground probably around April, VERY carefully.

I thought I was going to put my new bareroot Desdemona in a big rose gold colored pot on my patio for a year but it arrived with 15” vertical roots so it went straight into the ground last night. I threw some stock seeds in the pot instead :) the color would have been so perfect :/

If you know how to sew or know someone who does, you can make your own grow bags out of weed block fabric. You can make them any size or shape you like, so you can customize them to your plants. Just google DIY grow bags for patterns. :-)

Perma, what a great idea!! I might try that. I made my own grocery bags from chicken feedsacks. They came out really cute and people always ask me where I got them.

One year there were Pink Purina (Layina) chicken feed sacks to support breast cancer and I bought that kind until they quit selling them, so I have a big stash so I can make some more lol.

Come to think of it, one can probably make grow bags from feed sacks as well.

Off topic. Do you guys over-winteryour roses outdoors in your fabric pots. How cold hardy is it ?

I use fabric pots for for extra veg. plantings I have no room in the ground no more. The pots primarily are a very light mix of bark/coarse vermicul.

I did overwinter a Hydranga that I was ~testing~ in a 30G fabric pot one winter. It fared out fine outdoors all winter. Ha. The pot was so heavy and frozen to the ground. I was sure I had killed the dang shrub. When I went to lift the 30G post, the soil underneath the pot was frozen and stuck and I was lifting out *soil mass* that was frozen to the pot. Come summer, it bloomed out just fine

I wonder if you sunk the fabric pots into the ground for the winter if it would work..thats a lot of work though lol. I have heard of people growing fig trees and climbing roses in colder climates and they dig a trench and lay the trees and roses over on thier sides and cover them with dirt, then leaves..it probably depends on just how cold, wet etc the winters are.

Yeah, not in Florida but where we seereal winter, hee hee, pots can be overwintered in soil, mulched ontop, etc.

For how I treat fabric pots, I generally don't overwinter them in soil - moreso not in rose format, but because I don't want the pots to sit in cold wet dirt (fabric pots get the algae goo growing on them when in that sorta enviroment). At the end of the season, even with my veg plantings, sometimes I will either pressure wash the outside or go all in and empty out the potting medium on a tarp and wash them in the washer with bleach. The outsides get a bit knarly....

I like certain things about growing in fabric pots. But the drawback is I find it's actually more work in maintaining them them real dirt. Every 3-4 years, I take my my pot medium, which is more like humus at that point, and treat that as mulch. And fresh new potting medium in the pots again.

There are lots of folks out there growing veg in those fabric shopping bags, set down in a kiddie pool for irrigation. Wondering if that might work as a good temporary holding set—up? (The nice thing about using the shopping bags is that they have handles!) :-)

Perma - yeah, I've seen pics of walmart fabric bags in the kiddie pools and makeshift saucers. And then I see the algaish stagnent water in those kiddies pools and such. I dunno. I'm sure it's fine but when I see it, I say yuck

Hi,

Can someone tell me where I can purchase Augusta Louise? HMF lists Hortico as a supplier but they don’t have it on their site. Thanks