Moving roses

I have just had to take out an established climbing rose that was twisting happily around my pergola post due to some construction works about to start. I know it is not wise to re-plant roses where one has already been planted but does this apply when you want to re-plant the rose close to its original position.

I think it does. Something to do with rival mycorrhizal organisms in the soil that develop as the rose develops and they reach an uneasy balance. If you remove the rose and weaken its root system then when you replant it the soil organisms are too strong for it.

I may not have got that quite right, but in any case it does not matter, as there is a product licenced by the RHS that you sprinkle onto the rose roots. It contains friendly mycorrhizal organisms that enable it to stand up to the soil organisms until the rose has developed its own defences. It's called Rootgrow:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/About-Us/Business-opportunities/Licensing/garden/Rootgrow 

I seem to remember reading an RHS article about this. They dug out a hole big enough to take rootball, then put a cardboard box of roughly the same size into the hole. Box then filled with soil from another site, then the rose was planted in the box. I think the idea was that the box would degrade in time, thus giving the rose time to establish a healthy root system before the roots ventured out into the soil outside. A dollop of Rootgrow could, I think, only be beneficial.