Bare Rooted Rose Quality

Just a question how often do members water there bare rooted roses a week when it doesnt rain..

Soils are different in different areas Danny, our is heavy black loam, but they will get one good drink a week, I also leave a dam around the newly planted one's and when that is full move onto the next rose. In pots, do not let the 'medium' dry out at all. In the past when I was at the rose nursery, the measure was water till wet and keep it so water never ran out the bottom of the pot, only seeped, hope this helps.

Thanks roseman for the advice.

Well! I received my bare rooted plants from Misty Downs today and I'm not very happy with the quality of some of the plants. My Cl. Souv de la Malmaison has two types on fungus growing on it, black dead-looking roots, one cane is very dead and the graft is very dry and woody and dead looking (one cane is alive on this rose though). Charles Rene Mackintosh also has black dead-looking roots, and La Reine Victoria has a furry type of fungus growing below the graft. Marie von Hautte has a big split  in the middle of the root system which runs up the 'trunk' section below the graft. Pretty Jessica and Alba semi-plena are tiny little things that only have one living cane. Most of the others are looking quite brown and have slight to significant cane die-back. The best looking rose is Adam Messerich which I did not order and did not put on my 'free rose' list! 

I feel pretty unhappy about the health and/or quality of about half of my order. I wonder if this is reasonable or not? I would like to hear what you guys think about it, and what (if anything) I should do about it.

Mine all arrived in good condition and are in pots until I finish the new gardens. They have all taken off and are looking quite healthy.

They have done better than the Treloar roses I received a month earlier but I suspect this more to do with the variety rather than the quality as the Treloar roses are looking fine as well just a bit slower.

Apart from a couple of freebies that they have given us as in the past that were very small and did not survive (I should have potted them instead of planting them out), their roses have always done well.

Once again the varieties that you have ordered may not be the strongest growers and this may have something to do with it.

Zoe, phone them immediately and ask for replacements or a refund.  That is not good enough and I'm surprised at Misty Downs! 
If you don't feel up to it, I'll do it for you!!!  

Thanks Sue  I certainly can't be bothered to phone up and complain at the moment, perhaps I will feel more energetic about it all tomorrow, and could call them if you all think it's a valid complaint?

Has anyone ever received bare root roses that were growing mould, have a big split in the rootstock, or have dead canes or black roots? 

I'm wondering if this has come about because I asked for late winter delivery? Perhaps they have been dug up early and sitting in plastic bags for two months or something? If that was the case, I wish they would have told me, and I would have just asked them to send the roses and I could have healed them in or potted them up until I was ready to plant them, rather than having them get mouldy and die off in some store room somewhere.

 I did nominate a late delivery from Treloars and they all looked fine, and Jean from Reliable said she would heal the roses in for me until I was ready to collect them. So it's strange.

Take lots of photos and email them to Misty's and tell them that these plants are below par and you want replacements. If they want the old ones black , send collect.....

Evening Zoe,  you have mail

Has anyone ever done that before (ring up and whinge)? And are these types of pics sufficient?

Souv de la malmaison:

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And another shot of her:


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Marie von Houtte:


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Mouldy La Reine Victoria:


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Vintage roses are very slow sellers so you can expect a lot to be well past the ideal one to two years old.
Younger roses will have more feeder roots unless eaten by Curl Grubs. It's a hard life trying to keep all plants at the optimum age for dispatch. The larger the number of plants a nursery keeps then the more chance they will be of a lesser quality. Sometimes we have to be grateful to get a rare old rose what ever the quality. Vintage Roses in USA have battled for years to keep going with one of the largest selection of old roses in the world.

I think Thomas has the right idea because they give free of charge any rose not expected to grow well or survive. When a rose does not grow well then I regraft them onto a more vigorous understock and not worry the nursery.

The best roots I have seen on plants came from Treloar's. Shortest roots came from Swanes but these Dr Huey understocks are so vigorus it doesn't seem to hold them back. Thomas have a few older roses due to the vast range so roots seem to reflect this problem. They are great people to do business with, one of the golden oldies. Jean from Reliable, nice service for a late delivery.

A lot of those old roses are pretty crappy on their own roots anyway so sometimes putting them on Dr Huey is the answer.

Thanks matey  I'm pretty sure all mine are budded onto multiflora, so I hope they do OK. They're all oldies except for a few Austin's.

Yes, I was very happy with the service and plants from both Reliable and Treloars, and I have been very happy with the service I've received from Misty Downs too, just not the roses!

Ducky' I would clean the split then tie together with plastic tape. Then a day or two in seaweed water and plant as soon as possible. I can't see this split caused by digging a real problem. Marie Van Houtte is one of the best Tea roses, ever green, doesn't need pruning and flushes in all seasons. Since the bareroot season is almost over I would report it to Misty and tell them you will be back if the plant does not do well.

Bruce, the quality is not there and Zoe should not have to fix mistakes,

Regards David.

Ozeboy wrote: Since the bareroot season is almost over I would report it to Misty and tell them you will be back if the plant does not do well.

Bruce the above is part of your post. As we speak Zoe has this in hand.

David.

Thanks everyone. I will call them tomorrow and let them know. I'm sure they will be good about it. I will let you all know what they say.

Thanks for the advice re:cleaning, taping and soaking Bruce. I just don't really have time to mess around with stuff like that this week, unfortunately. I've got them all soaking overnight, with the two mouldy ones soaking in a separate bucket. I don't think those ones will live but I thought I would ask here first.

Hi Zoe,

How did you go?

Cheers
Brett

Hi Brett, I just spoke to Noel, he said he'll see what's happened and get back to me. So... nothing yet, I guess!

Good Luck Zoe,

Let's hope there is a happy ending

Cheers
Brett

Hang in there Zoe!  We can take a trip up there with our "arms" if you like! LOL  

Hahahaha Sue, that sounds like a fun outing!

But I'm sure there will be a happy ending here. It doesn't make any business sense to have unhappy customers floating around out there. I'm sure they'll fix the problem and gain a happy customer for many winters to come

Zoe, there will be a good outcome, you know what I mean,
David.

Hehe john, where do you find these pics? Lol.

Zoe, my roses from Misty Downs arrived last week. I was getting a bit worried as I like to get thing in well before September so they get their roots down before the hot weather. I figured it was my fault because I didn't order till fairly late May ( couldn't make up my mind). I was very happy with my roses overall, but one was like yours, root stock dead and very sad looking. They included 3 free roses in my order, and I'm sure they would replace the rose if I asked. I haven't ordered from them before.