Question
I recently found a person wanting their 10 year old roses removed, these were a variety of very large 10-15 feet tall bushes. We dug them up and replanted them in our yard, I have cut them back, and kept the root wet, watering nbearly daily with a drip system. They all look like they are dying, I was to told to cut them back HARD, as I am fairly new to gardening, I not sure how hard  is hard enough. I have been told 5-6 branches, 5-6 inched long, cut off all leaves, also I have been told cut the branches in half, or to the cane. These bushes are very large and have 10 branche sor so, do I cut them all back, how HARD is too Hard?

Answer
Keeping the roots wet is a good idea because when you move a rose you damage the feeder roots which take up the liquids so you have to do it for them for about 6 weeks. By then many will have grown back. When mature roses are moved all the leaves are cut off as this makes the rose go into a dormant state and so isn't stressed by the move. If you have the time take the leaves off.
It isn't a wisdom to cut tall, old roses back hard all at once as they can die from shock. Cut your roses back to about 6 feet tall. Then cut out any dead canes and canes that are thinner than a pencil. Cut these thin canes right down to the base so other new canes can come up. The thin canes won't produce good blooms. If there are any side branches sticking out that are really long, cut those back by a half. Make sure you stake these roses because any strong wind will rock them and disturb the roots again and that will cause them to die. Just ignore the fact that the roses look sad and if you are in a warm zone keep watering. However if you are in a zone that gets nasty winters mound up all around the base to 12 inches with compost, soil from another area of the garden or any mulch such as wood chips.
Your roses will not look good until next spring when they should start to put out new growth they may not even do anything until summer. In spring is the time to give them some slow release fertilizer such as Osmocote 14-14-14. Just take a hanfull and sprinkle it all around the base of the rose bush. It will save you fertilizing them all the time.Hope this helps.