How to Store Bareroot Roses for Three Months?

Question

Mother is about to renovate her yard and eliminate the roses, which my brother five hundred miles away is interested in having. I will transport the roses to Brother in three months. How do I temporarily store them until Brother and I can get them into the ground?

Answer 1

Since they are bareroot roses it is far easier. If they were growing and all full of foliage and buds it could be most difficult. With bareroot roses you can soak some shredded newspaper or just plain shredded paper, place that all around the root systems. Sprinkle water over the entire rosebush and place them in large plastic containers filled with even more shredded wet paper or wet sawdust. Do not put lids on the containers until you are ready to haul them to your brother. Keep them in the coolest place you have. Like the dark area of an air conditioned basement or even a cold crawl space. Not freezing cold but cold or very cool. Keep an eye on the water content in the shredded material or sawdust. Keep the rosebushes covered with it as well. Keeping them nicely damp and cool while in storage is the key.