Hi again, it's Jason from Fraser Valley Rose farm and today I'm going to talk to you about how to plant your bare-root roses
I'll start with the assumption that you're already comfortable with the idea of digging a hole putting the plant in it and
Digging it back in so I want to focus this video on the most common questions about how to plant your bare-root roses
I'll put them up on an index on the side here
So you can skip to the question you're most interested in if that's all you want
the first question I'm gonna answer is
What depth how deep do you plant the crown or bud Union on this bare root Rose?
The second question is what else do you put in the hole?
Do you feed do you amend what else should you put into the planting hole?
The third question is how firmly should you tamp down the soil?
the fourth question will be
When should you plant your bare-root roses or when is it safe to do so and the final question will be where?
Now very quickly before I proceed into this I should define what is a bare root rows mean obviously
This is one the roots are bare
You can see that but it actually refers to the production method more so than the way it's delivered
So the production method of a bare root Rose is that it's grown in a field that this
Rose is grown out in a farmer's field for a year or two then it's dug up by a big machine
They wash off the roots they store it and then they ship it out to their customers now
You may see it exactly like this that makes sense, but you can also find bare-root roses
Sold in the stores that are previously potted for you. I'll show you an example here
So this is one that was received as a bare root rose
I've planted it and now you can use that it's rooted
You can put it out in your garden and you would bury it just along the same instructions as you would find
In my video on own root roses and if you need a reminder of that
I'll put that link in the upper right-hand corner
But please do stick around
For the conversation on how what depth to plant that crown because that applies to the bare-root roses as well
Second thing I will say is that most times when we're talking about bare-root roses. We are talking about grafted roses
That's the majority of the ones that are produced on the market today by grafted roses
I mean that the bottom portion of this rose is the rootstock and the top portion of this Rose is
The Scion variety or top stock and they did that by
cutting the buds of the top stock variety onto the root and then
Slicing off the top stock of the original rooted variety
The reason they do that is because they want to have the vigor of a very vigorous root stock variety applied
To the top stock or Scion variety. It's a very common method of producing roses and apples and some other fruit trees
So I may use the term crown of the plant or graft union the place where the graft is done almost
Interchangeably when I'm discussing bare-root roses
Okay, the first major question
I'm gonna try to answer today is how deeply you should plant the graft union or crown of your rose
When you plant it and this is the most controversial of the things I'm going to say today
Because there are lots of different opinions and lots of recommendations from the different suppliers
I understand that these suppliers in France still recommend keeping the crown above ground level
David Austin
I think these days is recommending it just slightly below ground like an inch below ground level and there are lots of people
Recommending a much deeper depth as you plant your roses. So let me show you on this
When they talk about the crown or graft union we're talking about this spot right here
we're below it is all root stock and above it is basically all stem and
There are different reasons. Why?
People want to place it higher or lower. I'm gonna say right up front that I'm I'm on the high side
I believe that the graft union should be at or above ground level
Preferably just around at I'll give you my reasons for that here. Number one reason is because I work in a
large scale nursery and we plant a lot of different plants bare root and the most natural positioning for the
Crown in almost all cases is to place the crown at ground level
Its natural for the plant to place. That's I mean
It's the definition of the of the crown is that it's at ground level whereas everything below
it is below ground or below ground parts, like roots and every above it is
Stem and an top growth. So unless I have a compelling reason in my business of
placing it lower or higher
I don't do so there are some plants like
Hugh cruz, which I plant a little bit high because they're susceptible to crown rot
there are some grasses that I plant a little bit low because it helps them to
develop branching or side shoots, but
On unless I have a compelling reason. I don't plant. That's the natural spot for me
the second reason I'd say is because when you taught in fact roses are a
Grafted plant when you look at apples and other grafted fruit trees the idea
Is that the root stock that goes below the ground is?
Supposed to be more vigorous or more well suited to your soil or more
Well suited to dealing with disease conditions and so on
So if you're looking to get the strength of that root stock transferred to that top stock then planting it low
Somewhat defeats the purpose in my mind because planting it lower will actually allow the Scion variety
That's now planted below ground to begin creating something called
Adventitious roots that is they'll start to root below the ground and create their own root stock
So you'll get some of the strengths of the grafted root stock
but you'll also be getting the root stock of the Scion variety, which
Presumably if you've chosen to grow it grafted are not the qualities you're looking for in your rows
the third reason that I choose to put the graft union at the top is because the
union is the spot that is most susceptible to
Rot and disease and damage and it's if it dies
Then your plant is done for so I like to have it if you put it below the ground
It's more exposed to soil organisms like fungus and bacteria
It's also moisture for more of the time and so to my mind that creates more
susceptibility to crown rot sand and rots in that area of the plant whereas if I place it up above at
Ground level it can at least dry out and at least I can keep an eye on it
And finally, I have a fourth reason that has to do
Again with it being a grafted plant. Is that on?
grafted roses in some cases
You will get root stock suckers
The the root stock will actually tend to want to throw its own shoots
To take over the growth of the rose
If you have your rose planted with the crown at ground level right where you can see it
It's very very easy for you to tell very quickly
Which ones are the Scion variety and which ones are from the root stock suckers?
Anything that's coming from below the ground and from the side is a root stock sucker and anything coming from that crown itself is more
likely to be the Scion variety moving on now to the reasons for planting low the reasons vary depending on who's giving the
Recommendation one recommendation I've heard is that it offers some protection from extreme winter cold?
So planting it lower and I heard the quote the lower the zone the lower the crown
Okay, that makes some sense. If is offering some
Insulation from the soil down to the ground of the plant now, I don't grow in a particularly cold zone here
So this is gonna be a hard one for me to refute
I know that you can add things like evergreen boughs or dried leaves to the top to insulate that crown
But I will leave this one to local experience. The second reason that I hear quite often about the
About the reason for planting it lower is almost like the opposite of what I said above about the grafted roses
which is they say it's an advantage that the Scion variety will begin to root as well as the the the
root stock variety and you'll have double the amount of roots and
Over the long term this may add to the strength of your rows
And if something dies off
At least you have more roots of the own root
Variety rather than just the root stock variety down there in my opinion
This is kind of a spurious argument because if you wanted to grow an own root Rose, I've got a greenhouse full of them
So you can choose own root
You could choose grafted presumably you're choosing the drafted because you want the advantages of the root stock
Not because you want them on their own roots the third reason I've seen
Offered as to why you should plant you or crown low comes from some very respected rose Aryans people. I respect a lot
I like Paul Zimmerman's channel. I think he does a great job on roses. I just disagree with him on this issue
The reason he gives is that it
Prevents Windrock or reduces the damage from wind rock on your roses now for this
I'm going to throw up a graphic but you've got to imagine that within that planting hole that your rose has some
tendency when it's not
extremely well rooted
to pivot
when the wind comes against it and sort of rock around in that planting hole if the soil is not firm enough and if it's
Not firmly enough rooted in there
and so the idea would be that if you
Move that pivot point down lower and you plant some of those stems firmly into the soil
That you will get some protection from wind rock
and of course in this case
my feeling is that you aren't going to get the benefit from that unless you plant it quite deep that is if you have
Three or four inches of those stems
Underneath the ground. It's going to provide more protection from wind rock
Again on going that far below ground makes me nervous
That's just a personal thing
but the second thing I'll say about it is that I don't have problems with wind rock in my garden due to some of my
Other recommendations that I'm going to make in this video
I do prefer planting in the native soil and not filling up the planting hole with a whole bunch of other
Amendments i've believe in firming down the planting hole and letting the roots of the plant
extend out further and encourage them to do so, so I think that if you establish your rose well,
You won't have those same problems with wind rock and then you prevent some of the disadvantages I think of
Planting so low. So now you've chosen a right planting depth
Whatever you decide and you dug a hole to that depth in your garden
The next question you may have is what else should I put into that hole? What should I feed it with?
And what should I amend the soil with to make my rows more successful over time?
Now if you're thinking is to throw a whole bunch of stuff in there a whole bunch of manure or a whole bunch of fertilizer
A whole bunch of soil amendments to make that soil perfect for the rows
I think that maybe you're better suited to trying something in a pot where you actually have all that control where you can fill the
With whatever you want. You can liquid feed it
You can you could push for big blooms in the first year, but if you're growing in the garden
I think your goals may be slightly different than that
I think your goal in the garden is to have a long-term
Well-established Rose where it pushes roots way deep down into your garden soil
In the first year and second year and then gives you long-term
success and I think that packing the whole with a bunch of amendments and fertilizer is
Counter to that notion and think of it this way if you put everything the Rose
needs into that planting hole if it has, you know a rich
Compost and manure and has a whole bunch of nutrients right there where the roots are. Well first of all,
You could possibly over feed your rose. You could possibly even as it's developing the brand new roots
You could have overdone it and it could burn those roots
This is first trying to establish but assuming you've got the balance
Right and it just grows into that hole and fills it up with roots. It has no incentive to push the roots
Elsewhere into the ground. It's it's it's getting everything it needs in that planting hole
What's more the more you physically change the characteristic of the soil within the hole the more the outside of the hole?
Presents a texture change to the roots and roots actually have a notoriously hard time getting past texture changes
so if the soil in the hole is
Loose and light and the soil outside the hole like mine is rather heavy
It's going to stop growing the roots on the inside of the hole and will not anchor firmly into your native soil
So it touched on this slightly when I talked about wind rock in plants, but I think in my case
Wherever I have amended heavily and I only did that early on I ended up with that wind rock that stem
moving around in the hole after a year or two
But where I've done it basically with my native garden soil with very little in the way of amendments. I've done much much better
So those things that you should avoid?
Outright are those things that are high in fertilizer salts and could burn the roots of your soil
So definitely avoid things like epsom salts
fast release granular or soluble fertilizer
hot fresh manure those should definitely not going to the planting hall if you want to amend go for the
slow-releasing amendments in this case
I'll point out
bonemeal for instance which releases over a long period of time and actually is not so bulky that it would change the texture of your
Soil so if you want to go ahead with something like that, I think that's fine
But otherwise unless your garden soil is truly terrible
I would plant in your native garden soil and see where it goes from there
It bears mentioning at this point that even though I say plant in your native garden soil that this does nothing to stop you from
Amending the soil as the rows grow
So if you see it establishing you see it's doing well growing shoots
And it's presumably rooting well into the ground and looks a little bit hungry
You can always feed that Rose from the top layer of the soil by adding manure or compost
or other fertilizer to the top of the soil it will
Then move down through the profile of the soil and improve the whole area over a length of time without creating that
Mechanical barrier for the roots right up front and from there
Oh, well right into the next question
Which is how firmly do should you tamp down the soil or how much should you pack?
the native soil back into that hole and my answer is that I do prefer a
Little bit of handling as you're planting to fill the voids around the roots
so to push the soil in between the roots and to pack it down around the roots of the rows and
the goal there is not to
you know stand on it and stomp down and push it in like super firm and make it and make it like
Cement the goal is just to return the soil that you removed from that hole to the same density and the same
Rough texture as the stuff that's around it for the same reasons that I mentioned in the previous section
which is that you really want to see the roots go exploring and any kind of a barrier between the
firmness of the soil inside the hole and the firmness of the soil
Outside the hole will present a barrier for the roots to grow outwards and explore
The next question is when should you plant your bare root rows and you can take some guidance from the marketplace on this it tends
To be that you will not find the bare-root roses in the store until it's the right time of year
For you to plant them
however when you order them
You do get some control over that so I'll give you a rule of thumb
Which is four to six weeks before your last hard frost
That's when you should put a rose in the ground in the fall
If you're doing it in a spring you should wait until the last hard Frost in both these cases
It's just a matter of having the roots establish. Either before the hard Frost comes and can do some damage or
after the last frost so that you don't have the soil all heaved around in your planting hole and finally
let's talk about where to plant a rose and the answer here is in a
Reasonable soil in a reasonable amount of light when it comes to reasonable soil
I'll say this if you have to take a pickax
to break up some clay or to break up a rocky or heavy soil if your drainage is poor or your drainage is just
Extreme like very sandy soil
then your roses probably won't do very well in that spot and
In trying to remedy that if you just dig a little hole in the spot and put a whole bunch of rich soil there
That's probably not a good solution for the long term for your roses
Especially when it comes to a wet soil or a poor drainage that hole will just fill with water
Anyway, so for the long-term benefit if you have a truly awful garden soil
You should consider things like either amending a larger area
addressing the drainage and addressing a large volume of soil or building a raised bed or
gardening in containers now when it comes to sun exposure the rule of thumb is of course that roses shooting at about
Six hours of full Sun a day during the main part of the growing season that said there are some roses that do
Okay with a little less Sun things like hybrid
Musk's or some of those cluster flowering landscape roses can tolerate a little bit less full Sun?
Also, if you are in a climate, that is very very hot
You may consider a little bit of high
Dappled shade or afternoon shade a bit of an advantage for you because it will help your roses to cope with that really high heat
Level? All right. Thank you so much for watching today. That's all I have on the topic of Barrett roses
I hope you've enjoyed the discussion and
I will call out at this point for those who have different opinions than what I've said in this video
Because there are a lot of people who come here who are new Rose growers, and they don't just want my opinion
I'm sure they would benefit from the opinions of other Rose grower in their area who have different ideas about
What you should put into that planting hole or how deep you should plant that crown
So I look forward to hearing that in the discussion below