Pruning roses is a must. If you want to grow roses, you are going to have to prune them. People tend to think pruning roses is challenging. Actually, it is quite clear-cut. The outcomes can be incredible. Roses in fact very tough plants, so much so, if you are making every pruning mistake in the book, your roses will likely be better off than if you had not pruned them at all.
Roses must be pruned for a variety of reasons. The main reasons have to do with keeping the plant healthy, maintaining the plants beauty and attempting to keep the plant from getting out of bounds, which will come about within a very short period of time, especially the taller varieties.
Proper pruning practices present you with large beautiful flowers atop strong, tall stems, ideal for cut flowers. A good general rule of thumb is the further back you cut a rose bush, the fewer, yet bigger flowers you are certain to get, and they will be on taller, tougher stems. Prune less, and you get smaller sized flowers yet more of them.
Pruning eliminates diseased or damaged parts of the plant. It also keeps the plant more open within the center, increasing air flow and minimizing pest problems.
If pruning does not take place, many rose plants get to huge and monstrous. They can essentially take over and swallow up any smaller plants in its path. Pruning keeps them exactly where they should be.
And so, when is the best time to prune you ask. Well, when the weather is right and you possess the time. You need to do it yearly and during the proper season. Right before growth takes place in late winter or early spring, precise timing will depend on where you live and your environment. This is the best season for the significant pruning. If you do the main pruning and do it effectively, then you should not have much to do during the rest of the season beyond cutting the spent roses off and enjoying the spectacular beauty of the rose.
Where winter temps are 10 degrees or lower, you should wait to prune till after the coldest weather has passed and any winter injury to the plant has occurred. March or April are usually the best time to prune for most of us.
In pruning a rose plant, eliminate all dead or damaged canes, these will be the dark brown or grey colored canes, the shriveled looking and small scraggly looking twigs. Get rid of suckers, healthy canes will arise from the rootstock below the bud union. You may need to dig around at the base of the plant to totally reveal the bottom of a sucker. Cut it flush to the rootstock. Leave the center area of the rose bush as open as possible for circulation purposes. The plant is generally sort of cup-shaped with flowering canes around the outside.
Once you have completed all the removal pruning, at this time you need to think about what you would like to save. The intention is to save the healthiest canes, these are the flowering canes that bloom in spring. The healthiest canes are the plumper and generally the bright green color. The number of flowering canes you choose depends upon the vigor and age of the plant. With newly planted roses, leave about three to five flowering canes. Older plants can support more. Cut the flowering canes back by about a third to a half.
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