subject: How Best To Prune Roses [print this page] For rose pruning make sure you use a pruning guide as there are many different types of rose all requiring different types of pruning.
One method the same for all roses is autumn wind rock pruning. When growth has stopped in the autumn remove about one third of the growth to stop the plant being moved around in the ground by the wind. If a rose moves around too much the stem will push the soil away from it and water will get in and freeze and kill the plant.
Do not prune this way too early before winter as you will just encourage the rose to make soft growth that will be killed by the frost.
Dead heading is very important for roses to keep them flowering longer. Dont just cut off the dead flower, prune down to one or more leaf joints to encourage more growth, just removing the stalks will cause die-back.
When you give the rose its main prune start looking for signs of buds breaking in February and just before they start to break then is the time to prune. Dont prune too early as the winter weather will kill the buds and dont prune too late as the plant will waste energy in producing growth just for you to chop off.
Roses are mostly grafted onto different rootstocks and these can sucker so this unwanted growth must be removed as soon as possible. The best way is to catch the sucker growth as it appears and rub it out with your thumb. If you prune it out you will only encourage it to shoot again, try tearing it off without damaging the stem.
Standard roses sucker a lot and hard pruning off the top will make it worse so prune as little as possible. A vigorous rose will be even more vigorous if pruned hard so as little pruning as possible is best to keep the rose in check.
Always prune to an outward facing bud on any rose to produce an outward facing plant that has an open centre.
Once roses have been pruned it is most important to remove all debris from the shrub and around the base. Take away all prunings and remove dead leaves. Debris provides the disease pool that will allow early infection next season with Black Spot and rust.
If you are uncertain about the type of roses your client owns, ask. Most home owners will be able to tell you what they have planted, or what they believe the varieties are. Trouble only exists when you are unsure, and have not taken time to find out.
