A "hard" prune would take a rose down to 3-5 canes. Many Hybrid Tea roses can handle this. However if you have an old fashioned rose or a David Austin rose they require a more gentle touch. I generally take it down a third, cutting out dead wood and wood that crosses itself. (The picture on the left shows before, the picture on the right shows after.) Sometimes I will take out a cane that is in the middle of the plant, or one that goes in a funny direction. Again, this helps prevent disease.
A few other tips for pruning. It's best to make your cuts about 1/4" above the growth bud and at an angle. To cut back on disease it's important to clean up all the dead leaves and clippings underneath the rose bush.
Sometimes a rose will send up a sucker. This looks like another little rose bush that is right next to yours. Or it can come from the bottom of the rose bush, underneath where the rose is joined to the root. If you let it grow, it will produce a rose that is a different color. It will also suck the strength of the rose into the "new" plant. So it is best to cut it off at the root. You may have to dig a bit to get there. You can see the sucker to the right in this picture.
Here's a picture of what it looks like when it's all done.
2 comments:
Wish you were close by. thanks for the visuals
OOH==Thank you so much for posting this little series on pruning. We have some rose bushes that we just planted this summer and it's pruning time and I didn't know how to do it.
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