Rose pruning

Rose pruning seminars fill the nursery-cafes every where with keen customers. Worried pruners can watch the demonstrations, literate pruners can read the pamphlets, visual pruners can peer at the pretty plant pictures . Rose pruning is a topic that causes angst for even the quite experienced gardener, but its not really all that difficult. Even if you did no pruning, the roses would survive. Rose pruning isn’t as complicated as some people make it out to be. In fact, there are only four basic rules and a few common sense ones.

Cut away all branches that cross over the center of the bush. Good air circulation around and within the plants discourages fungal diseases like powdery mildew. Cutting the blooms is often sufficient for the first few years. Climbing teas should be encouraged to develop laterals along the canes, and the laterals may be pruned back to 1/3 their length. Cut at a 45-degree angle, just above an outfacing bud. This will encourage the new growth to be away from the center of the plant.

Cut dead laterals off snugly at the point where they emerge from the mother cane. Cut dead terminals--or tips--at least an inch below the end of dead tissue, well down into live wood. Cut out any canes showing cankers, discolorations or sunken areas. Make cuts 4 to 6 inches below the infected area. Cut the stem at a 45-degree angle, which should be about 1/4 inch above a bud facing outside of the plant. Make the cut clean and not the ragged one.

Cutting back rose canes stimulates new growth, helps reduce disease, and improves air circulation, while giving the plant an attractive shape. Although a rose's bloom season varies by climate, a good rule of thumb is to prune shrub and climbing roses after they bloom. Cut any new shoots which have emerged from below the soil line to about 1/2 its length. When the branches finish flowering, cut them back to a new outward facing bud. Cut or tear them off. Many roses are sort of spliced (grafted) to the roots of a tougher plant.

Cut approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch above a bud, on a downward slant, away from the bud. Cut to an outside bud to make the plants grow wider. Cut away all weak or damaged stems and remove the oldest canes, leaving five to seven strong canes untouched. Remember that flowers are produced on stems at least one year old on most running or climbing roses. Cut these out at ground level or where they join the main stem. Some canes will be useless for part of their length so can be pruned back to just above a healthy branch.

Cut back to good healthy wood. Discolored pith (interior of cane) may indicate frost or disease damage, and while such a cane may bloom, it will usually die back come summer.

Cut back some whiskery branches, and the job is done and when you have finished get rid of the debris because it's full of disease. Cut it as soon as you realize what it is and the more decorative part of the plant should take over.