A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum drooping knock out roses - help!

My wife and I have 1 droopy and 1 very droopy newly-planted knock rose. We planted the 2 new shrubs 1.5 weeks ago. We put in a lot of good soil and compost, and a little lime. They are mulched, and in direct sun from about 10 am to 5 pm. In the hot spring sun of Durham, NC, they immediately wilted (though well watered and mulched).

We took them out and I trimmed all of the roots (something I read should be done) and we took out some of the visible lime, worrying that could be the problem. Transplanted. We had rain for a few days and they came back to healthy form.

Now we have had sun the last 3 days and they are again drooping, particularly the one exposed to slightly more sun than the other.

I had read these knock-out roses love sun. Is it possible they are getting too much? Is there any other possible problem? Worrying, we have watered them a lot, but the leaves are not yellow.

They were /are probably suffereing from transplant shock. The one thing you don't want to do it over water them...you can kill them. Newly planted plants, especially those that have had their roots trimmed, may not take up water as quickly, but you need to give the roots time to search out water on their own. Only water if you haven't had sufficient rain, 1 inch a week is a good number. They should bounce back soon.