how can i tell if a rose bush is dead and if it’s not how do i save it?

Question

My friend has a 60-year-old rose bush and was moving out of his house so we dug it up and put it in a pot. I was watering it and it started showing life on the knuckles of the branch. I went out of town and my mom forgot to water it while I was gone. Now it appears to be dead but I’m hoping it’s not. Is there any way to tell if it’s dead?? And if it’s not dead, how do I save it?

Answer 1

give it some rose food, with water, trim all dead limbs off. full sun just keep watering and if you cut off a few inches, don’t give up . the roots and stub my still take off. good luck!

Answer 2

If the center pith of the canes still has a creamy white look to it when you prune it back a bit, it should be okay. It has likely gone into stress shock. Prune the rosebush back lightly, do not prune all the canes back!!! Just prune lightly. Give the rosebush some water with root stimulator and a product called Super Thrive in it. I use a two gallon watering can and add two tablespoons of Super Thrive and then the amount of root stimulator that it says on the label. Give the rosebush that mix two or three times about 10 days apart. Once you start to see it leafing out again, you can give it a little Miracle Gro multipurpose mixed in with the watering can water and no root stimulator.