I’ve never done a control sample but I always soak at least 24 hours and sometimes up to 72

I've done the soak as well just because the internt and youtube is telling me to ;-)

Granted the roots received is anywhere from 12" long-20" long I have received, so I suppose any sort of cappilary action in a bucket of H20 doesn't hurt anyhow ?

I have done it and noted no difference in performance. Most of the time my roses get delivered late afternoon which is perfect for me to soak over night and plant within a day or two. One time they arrived while I was out of town and I didn’t get home until early Sunday. I could either plant them right out of the box or soak until the following Saturday so I planted them. I gave the area a very deep watering and couldn’t tell any difference. I have also soaked them for a week without any trouble. They are tougher than they look.

Dianela, I wonder if your success was in part due to how wet/humid your area generally is, and maybe the moisture retention of your soil. Here in the parched, windy plains I wouldn't dare try it. Our soils dry out quickly, our air is dry as a bone and the wind dessicates things easily. Not to mention that by the time bare roots get shipped out here (got mine in June last year) they've been in storage for a looooong time.

I totally agree with Magpie. In addition to our usual dryness, we are in a bad drought right now, so it's even worse. Very worried about all this. Diane

I wasn't even thinking/considering soil conditions when I posted this....but that does kinda go hand in hand ! I was simply thinking saying how much -uptake- is occuring with the recommend soak

Like you're asking literally how much water it's absorbing during the soak? Idk, weigh it before a soak, soak for x amount of hours, weigh it again. The difference in weight is how much water it took up. Take a second bare root, weigh, plant in your garden, water, wait x hours, pull it up and weigh again. I would try for 2 bare roots (at least, I mean that's a tiny sample size but) that you can trim to the same weight and as close to the same root mass as possible before the experiment begins.

a1an:

According to Canon Chasuble (at least in the Asquith version): A light sprinkling is all that is required. Immersion is neither necessary nor advisable.

Oh, quit it, rifis.

Magpie and Diane you definitely have a point. First we receive our bare roots early here (March), and our spring is really wet. Even when planted directly from the box they have no real water shortage during the spring. In a dryer environment the soaking could definitely make a bigger difference so they are hydrated. Whatever the uptake is, it will be better than nothing when going into a dry environment.

I always soak bare roots. I trim off the bottom of the roots, and plunk them in a deep barrel of water for at least 24 hours. Sort of like trimming the bottom off of a cut rose before putting in the vase, although I don't do it under water, LOL. Being a chemistry teacher, I'm all for experimentation, but I'm not willing to experiment this way with my purchased bare roots :-D

I actually got to do this experiment by accident. Edmund’s sent me an extra “Peach Swirl” and I didn’t have an extra bucket (they’re all full of rain water from our recent downpour). I couldn’t fit the extra in the bucket with the others so I stuck him directly in my 5 gallon bucket of potting mix like all my bare roots. The next day his twin went in a different bucket.

They both leafed out nicely and are doing very well (it’s a vigorous variety I am guessing!). You couldn’t tell which one got soaked.

But in potting mix I can control moisture and it’s been cool and damp past two weeks here, so it’s all working in my favor.

I typically soak, but there have been times I bought a potted rose that I expected to have a good fibrous root system and instead it was clearly a bare root that had been potted a few days earlier. Took the rose out of the pot, all the dirt fell off and I was left holding a small bare root. The hole was right there in front of me, so I quickly planted it as a bare root, gave it a good soaking and put the pot over it for a few days to prevent cane drying. Never lost a single one.

I don't think soaking is required, but it's probably a good idea.

How much water does a bare root rose absorb? It probably depends on how hydrated it is when it arrives. I have received bare roots with wrinkled canes, and after soaking, they have plumped up.

Does soaking help? Again, it probably depends on the hydration level when they arrive. I’ve had both successes and failures from bare roots soaked and not soaked. Of course there are other factors that may be involved than just hydration, such as the quality of the plants,how long in storage, if they were frozen in transit, etc. It also depends on the moisture level of the ground as previously mentioned. Here, the soil is sand and gravel and caliche, and humidity is usually in single digits. The ground becomes water repellant. So I want the plants to be as hydrated as possible before planting. When planting, I fill the hole with water and let it drain. Then put the rose in, fill about 1/3 and then water again, making sure the backfill gets mixed well with water, even submerged. Let drain, repeat until done. without doing this, the water just runs past the roots. I’ve dug up freshly planted plants to see this.