Re-Potting Our Knock Out Roses

When we first bought our small Knock Out Rose bush in the one gallon container, I figured it would be an easy plant to manage. And believe me, I’ve had these plants before and I based my belief on my history with them. They are easy to manage, but I’m beginning to have doubts about that in the soil we have around here.

We have sand. It’s a gray, weird looking sand, but it’s still sand nonetheless. I’m sure there’s organic matter hidden in there somewhere, but I haven’t been able to find it. And being sand with very little organic matter, water retention is somewhat of a problem. I found that out after planting this bush in the front of the house.

At first, it looked great. They always look great right after you get them home from the store and plant them. But after a few days, I started to notice that the leaves were beginning to curl. I watered the plant only to find a slight positive difference. A few days later, the leaves curled again and I watered it again. Same thing – over and over again. I began to think that either there was something wrong with the soil or the water wasn’t hanging around long enough to keep the rose bush alive. I don’t know.

I didn’t want to risk it. I figured that if this thing has been living in a pot just fine, why not put it back into one – but this time, a slightly larger one. So that’s what I did. I took the rose bush from its one gallon pot, planted it into the ground, took it out of the ground and planted it in a three gallon pot. It’s been in this new pot for about two days and I am happy to report, things are looking up. I’m beginning to notice a whole lot of new buds and even a flower ready to bloom. I’m sure the good soil and additional water helped with this.