Transplant shock or has my rose been poisoned?

Hello! I am very new to gardening, and thought I would try a patio rose. At the time of buying, it looked extremely healthy, however, only 2 days after re-potting it, extreme wilting has occurred and the poor thing looks as if it is on its last legs. After finding out about and researching transplant shock, I thought this may be the only reasonable explanation since the rose is so new (I had sadly never heard of transplant shock before this incident due to being a gardening novice!), but this looks so much worse than the pictures of transplant shock I found online, plus the rose seems to have wilted from the top downwards as yesterday only the top half of the plant had suddenly wilted, but now the whole plant seems to be pretty much dead :-(. One of my neighbours is very malicious, and for some reason was very against the idea of me creating a small garden (my family has a history of problems with him due to his nature) and he owns weed killer, so I have a worry that perhaps he may have attempted to kill the rose? If the attached picture is any help, do you think that this sudden issue may have occurred through transplant shock or exposure to weed killer?

 

Looks like more than just a transplanting problem to me.
I'd say weedkiller, if its gone like that in 2 days, but to be honest it would be difficult to prove.

Is it in full sun?
Was it pot grown? and did you disturb the root ball when repotting?

 

Thankyou for the help! It was in a slightly smaller pot when I bought it so I would say pot grown, it was in a position where it would be in full sun but the weather has been overcast the last few days. I didn’t disturb the root ball when re-potting. The difficulty of proving anything has been my main worry! If another one of the plants go downhill then I’m certain it’s weedkiller (the rose was the most recent, all my other plants are hardier and have been in my garden for over a week so if something suddenly went wrong it must be weedkiller). Trying to think of a way I could test if weedkiller has been sprayed on it just to be certain.

 

Thankyou for the help ! Sadly he would have easy access, my garden is a corner plot in a listed terrace where there is no fencing between the houses :-( he is technically not supposed to have access but because he lives in a different part of the terrace and has a very sweet small dog, everyone in the area of the terrace where I am lets him and his dog in the gardens (including my family out of politeness, making our garden look nice annoyed him because his dog wouldn’t be allowed to trash everything, even though he’s not legally allowed access!) He could have easily snuck around at night or when we are out of the house to do it. Since he has a dog, would dog urination have a similar effect? Either way, if I can prove it was him he’ll definitely be denied access to the gardens from now!

 

Hi,

Doubt there is any easy practical way to prove its weedkiller on just one plant, though it does look a very dramatic die off.

If not a spray, wonder if your compost could have had anything toxic in it ?
Did you add any fertilizer that could have been mixed up with weedkiller by mistake ?
Did you water the plant from overhead rather than the rim of the pot ?

If you suspect a neighbour /having problems with them, then the modern day answer is to fit a security camera, many types around that work via a dedicated box and/or your PC with messaging to your smart phone.

You do not have to sit watching it all the time as they have 24/7 recording plus motion detection so you can get instant warnings of any intruder or you can review all the days activities in just a few minutes.
Cameras can be installed covertly or more obvious if you want them to act as a visual deterrent.

edit - if it was dog or cat spray think you would have smelt it by now, plus it would have a job to cover the plant so entirely.

 

Only other thing I can think of is the rootball has dried out.
Its a common thing after transplanting.

The roots are still contained in the original rootball, was it soaked before potting it up in the new pot?

I'd take it out the pot and check that the rootball has not dried out, the new compost will be wet, but the old rootball could have dried right out and peat based compost it not easy to rewet once totally dry.

 

Thankyou so much to everybody for the help!

 

Agree with Pete, worth checking the rootball, though assume when you bought it , it looked glossy leaved and healthy ?

Would have thought it would have shown more slower and obvious wilt, unless you are somewhere hot like the Med, rather than the uk ... ?

 

I agree, thankyou for the help! I don’t own any weedkiller so wouldn’t have got it mixed up, and the compost was brand new and I watered from the rim of the pot, plus well watered the rootball before potting, will check the root ball now just in case! (Edit: I have checked the root ball and it’s well watered) I think a security camera is definitely needed, other neighbours have had confrontations with him also (he’s even been seen throwing his dog’s faeces into a fenced garden with no provocation!) So perhaps legal action is needed too, if I can’t prove anything with the rose (or if he tries to kill other plants) then I’m sure a previous incident will deny him access from our area. Thankyou so much to everyone for replying and being so helpful, I’m certain now that it was weedkiller (or perhaps dog urine) and not transplant shock or an issue with the rose itself.

 

We had an old neighbour who used to do the same, throwing dog poo and stones into any ones garden he did not like, actually captured him on camera collecting it from the garden of another neighbour with a dog and throwing into someone elses.

Its very frustrating we know, but for such matters the police or legal routes are not realistic.
Possibly the site of a camera and night light will deter him, though talking to your neighbours outside in the garden, will help vent your anger and more to the point it will make him think he has been rumbled and curtail his activities.

ps you can buy very realistic dummy cameras for £5-6, but when putting up do pretend to go in and out and moving the camera as if you are setting up its picture on your monitor, so he cannot tell if its real or not.

 

It’s so frustrating! I’m so sorry about your experience and thankyou so much for the help, will definitely invest in a camera ASAP!

 

Have a look at this link to Swanns site, probably the most popular home diy system.

I use a much earlier PC installed device of theirs and its always worked well for 20 years, though not as good a these newer models.

2 Camera 4 Channel 1080p Full HD DVR Security System