Tutorial on planting bare root roses

Tutorial planting bare root roses 

Most importantly: Buy proven good roses from a good nursery which specializes in roses. So no roses from Walmart or Aldi or whatever.

What do we also need?

Mycorhizza fungi (several brands but buy one especially for roses)

Organic manure +Compost mix. Available online, also in the States, Britain and Australia

For France, Belgium and Holland: Or brun or Secret Vert. This, together with the mycorrhiza is really really necessary. Buy enough of it.

A good pair of sécateurs or clippers

Rock dust or Lava dust or lavameel

You can plant from November till the end of March but always do it in mild weather with no frost predicted.

The evening before planting you stick the roots of your roses in a bucket of water and let them soak overnight.

The day of planting we dig out a spacious hole. Throw the garden soil in a wheelbarrow. Take a rose and if needed you prune away broken branches or too long ones. Also we prune broken roots. Now we put the roots in the hole and we spread the roots out. Do the roots have space enough? Is it too deep? The right dept is when the graft comes at ground level. If this all is the case you look at your soil in the wheelbarrow. Add approximately 3 big handfuls of compost or farm manure and mix it good. Also add a good 200 grams of rock dust. Now you have top notch soil to fill up the hole with.

Make the roots of your rose wet again and treat the roots with mycorrhiza, you need to coat them with it. Also spread a handful of mycorrhiza in the planting hole. Take the rose and place it in the hole. Spread out the roots in every direction and start filling up the hole with your soil mix. Hold your rose while you fill it up. Once your hole is filled up you gently pull the rose a bit up. Now the graft must be right below or at ground level. Only now you press the soil down gently with your foot.

Water the rose in thoroughly and immediately. Once the water is drained away into the soil you spread a thick layer of manure/compost around the foot of the rose. Three inches or 7 cm isn't too much, more is always better in this case. So a good amount of compost mulch. 

And that's it! You repeat this for every rose you plant. I can't stress enough how important it is to plant your roses in the right way. It will improve succes rate immensely.

DON'T FORGET: Manure/compost ISN'T FERTILIZER! It's pure organic humus and it's the foundation of good roses. You can't burn your roses with it even if you give them a meter of it! So don't be a Scrooge, give plenty, it will reward you.

PS: In colder climates with severe frost you can plant the graft deeper to protect it from freezing. I would suggest two inches (6 cm) below groundlevel. Remember that we also mulch with a thick layer of manure/compost and this already is a protection.