QuestionI live in Houston and planted (ten) 3-gal. double knockout roses in my backyard last week. I mixed together 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 cow manure and 1/3 rose soil to plant the roses. They get about 5-6 hrs. sun each day. After about a week the blooms began dying (which I expected) but the stems the blooms are on are also dying. Is this just stress from being transplanted? I have watered my new roses every day, maybe about 1 minute per plant. Could you please tell me if the stems dying is normal or do I have a problem.
AnswerBecause your roses were in such a large pot, they should have taken off right away with no problems. When a rose is in a good sized pot it always saves it from going under stress from transplanting. If the cow manure was not totally aged, it could have burnt the roots and that would cause the rose to act the way you described. Transplanted roses would need about a bucket of water every three days but again your large plants should have not gone under any stress. If you purchased them close by, tell that what has happened because if you did everything right, it is the Knock Our roses that are at fault and the garden centre should replace them for you.
