Question
This is a follow up question.  The gentleman who answered the original is no longer able to answer, so I will give you a brief scenerio. BY the way, I appreciate his answer; he calmed some of my fears.
 the scenerio: Bushes and ornamental grasses were flooded when we dug sprinkler trenches near to them. The dirt was out and the rains came!!!! The expert advised me to pull the vegetation out if the water would be standing for 2 or more days.  This is the case. He said not to add more fertilizer when I replant them, and that would be OK (I think)if most of the soil is kept intact around the ball when I pull them. But I might have only a little soil left at the roots.  I can't really tell the extent of the damage until the rain subsides enough for me to dig the bushes out. I though I would have to add top soil and something else to the exposed roots before Id#UYP replant.  What say you?

Answer
Hey, Broken hearted.

I'm not sure I completely understand the scenario.

If I understand correctly, the plants are still in the ground and you have an open trench close to them that is now full of water.

Some of my answer would depend on what kind of bushes and ornamental grasses you have and how big they are. Many smaller plants can go for a while as bare root plants, which is how many mail-order companies sell plants so that one doesn't have to pay shipping costs on heavy soil.

For larger plants, definitely keep as much soil as you can around the roots. However, you can also look at pulling the plants out as merely transplanting them. You can get some burlap at a home improvement store and wrap the roots in a burlap ball full of soil. If the plants are smaller, you could buy some of the plastic pots that plants typically come in from the nursery.

Whatever you do, while the roots are exposed or while the plants are out of the ground, don't let the roots or the soil dry out. Roots have very tiny hairs on them which are responsible for the majority of nutrient and water uptake. If all those tiny hairs dry out, the plant could lose a lot of leaves and branches, and possibly even die.

If the plants are really big and difficult to handle, you can place them on the ground in a shady or semi-shady area of the property and simply cover their roots with soil, tamping the soil down so that the roots make good contact with the soil, and again keeping the soil damp but not wet.

Hope that helps.

Russel