I am sure there are info about this. But this is about a certain situation. We are moving from north San Diego county to northern Alabama in 2 weeks. So my wife’s mom lived on the house for 60 year. She died 2 years ago. About 25 years ago she plants a bunch of roses. I thought it would ve nice to take 2 of them with us. A surprise for her when get there so I will dig them up and get as much of the roots as possible. Now do I prune it back like I normally would or no because that will add another big stressed on the plants. I plan on putting the in soil for the 2 days of travel.
First, water them very well several days prior to digging them so they are full of water and more easily able to endure not only the loss of roots (digestive system) but the stress of being in the dark and possibly hot truck. Determine what size container you’re going to pot them in prior to digging. If you can obtain and handle 15 gallon nursery cans, those will provide the largest easily handled root ball size. Definitely prune the tops to match the roots. If they are 5’ tall, they likely have roots at least 5’ into the soil, whether they’re straight down or out to the sides. If you cut the root system down to 2’, the tops are going to die back to at least 2’, possibly more. Balancing the tops with the bottoms helps reduce the extreme stresses on the plant until they can regenerate the feeder root system required for them to survive. Don’t worry about filling the cans with native soil. Obtain a good quality potting soil to help make up any soil loss to the root ball and to pot them in the nursery cans. The potting soil drains better in containers than native soils do, which reduces the potential for the roots to rot in overly wet soil or dry out in overly dry conditions. Once you arrive at your destination, the potting soil will help you be able to successfully hold them until you can plant them. I doubt they will attempt to flower after such treatment, but if they do, I’d keep the flower buds pinched off to reduce the stress on the plants.You want to redirect any growth into the production of canes and foliage to feed the plants. I don’t know what to expect from the weather at your destination, but I would place the canned transplants in bright, filtered light, preferably morning sun if at all possible, as that’s the brightest, coolest sunlight. Being cooked by hot, direct sun is going to be the greatest enemy of the transplants so you want to make sure they remain properly watered and permitted bright, clean sunlight without the “cooking” of the afternoon sun…if at all possible. Once they have leafed out again and begun growing in their cans, transplanting them into their new locations will be safer and hopefully easier. Once they’ve begun growing again, you can gradually move them out into increasingly more direct, hotter sun to acclimate them to the conditions they will be planted in. Think of what we are advised to do after being inside most of the winter before we go out in skimpy clothing into the hot, direct sun. You want to gradually expose your skin and the plants, to increasingly brighter, hotter conditions to ease you and them into being used to the heat and light to prevent either from being fried. Good luck on the move. I hope you can enjoy your new climate.