It was puzzling and I think it happened after those stages in my case. Mine weren't bare root. They had been potted up in 3-gallon Weeks pots and had plenty of new foliage on every cane when I bought them. It wasn't the planting medium either, because I promptly shook all of that off the roses and planted them in the garden the same day I bought them. I took the same steps I've taken with countless roses that have survived and thrived, but these didn't.