Planted bare root rose...not sure if it's alive?

Hello everyone!

Newbie gardener here although once upon a time I did grow a couple of sunflowers, in unsuitable pots!

Warning: Lots of questions!

In a rush, I bought a bare root climber Queen Elizabeth from Pound Stretcher (probs not a good idea). So after a week when I bought it, I soaked in water for a few days and planted it. But it's been two weeks and I've not seen much life. I stupidly undug it today to see what was happening with the roots and I saw that it was rooting a bit but one bark had some kind of white mold on it? Is there anything I can do?

I've uploaded a picture of it in the attachments.

If in the unfortunately scenario is doesn't grow, will I be able to plant another rose/flower there or will that compost be unusable?

Thank you!
Happy gardening!

 

@SmallGardeningGal from what I can see the stem looks green and two weeks isn't really a long time so I would just be patient.

 

Your graft union looks far too highly planted to me, re-dig and plant deeper @SmallGardeningGal.

The Best Way to Plant New Roses

Will tag our good friend @wiseowl, he's a very keen and knowledgeable rosarian.

Nick

 

Thank you! I will just be patient then. Just a bit worried I'll wait 12 weeks and nothing happens!

Thank you so much! Will redigging it and planting it again so much cause any harm to the plant?

 

Afraid we are a bit more pessimistic, a strong rose like QE should have more stems than that single one and have plenty of buds ready to break out.

Though it might grow its probably it will need a year just to get going.

To hedge your bets, if you can find another plant in better condition or mail order then that should grow away much better.

You should still be able to buy pot grown ones when the garden centers reopen in a month or two...?

You should be looking for sonmething more like these -

 

I dunno about Pound Stretcher, and huge sweeping statement coming up, but I wouldn't buy any of those sorts of plants from any of those sorts of outlets ... my particular angst is with the dirt cheap fruit trees (Apples mainly) sold in the Spring all in plastic bags in a huge pile. No information about rootstock (which controls how big the tree gets) and significant uncertainty as to whether the variety is actually what the label says. On top of that I suspect people are buying them "for price" rather than the far more important "what variety of Apple do I actually like to eat". So they grow it, wait a few years for it to get productive, and only then find out that they should have planted a different variety (or, heaven forbid, a less vigorous rootstock!). Even paying twice as much an Apple tree will massively repay the original price ... as I would argue will the beautiful flowers on a top notch climbing rose

I'll get off this soapbox now before I fall off .. or am pushed ...

 

Thank you for your comment! Looking at a comparison picture for a few weeks back, I actually think it looks like it's dying (turning less green now) I may order one online I think in a pot! Will it be okay to plant a new bare root in the same place as the old one?

Okay thank you! Funnily enough I buried it deep when I first planted but thought it was too deep, so planted it a bit higher again. Instructions were so unclear. I feel like I've fiddled with this bare root so much I should just get a new one

 

Hiya lass. Welcome to the forum. I have known many folk to buy some good roses and other plants from the cheaper shops. OK usually when buying bare root roses, three stems minimum. Never mind. Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow. So let's see what we can do. Yes the plant needs to be deeper, as Woo says make sure the graft, that's the swollen part of the stem is just below soil level. Firm it in. and keep watered. Now have a look at the stem/s, are there any signs of a bud. It may take a while before one appears, all the while hopefully the roots are growing. Keep an eye on it and keep us informed.

 

The general rule is not to put a new rose in place of an old one, but as we are only talking a couple weeks do not think its a problem.

Just freshen up the soil and add a bit of fertilizer like Fish, Blood & Bone.

If you are really keen, you can use Mycorrhizal fungi on the roots to help it get established quicker.