Rose Pruning: An Essential Skill

Why & How to Prune Your Roses

Rose pruning is one of those crucial tasks that must be done for the health of your roses.

Pruning your roses is not one of the most enjoyable tasks, but you MUST know how to prune your roses if you want them to flourish and be lovely.

No matter what type of roses you are growing, it is always important to prune them. While some rosarians will stray away from this process, rose pruning is always a good idea.

When you decide to prune, you are ensuring healthier roses in your garden. Despite the technique that you decide to use, and even if you prune your roses without following the exact directions, rose pruning will help your roses to grow.

First off, rose pruning stimulates your roses' growth. No matter what time of year you decide to prune your roses, it is essential that they have exposure to the sunlight and air.

By doing this, it will help to jumpstart their new growth. Open air allows sunlight and air to move through the plants, giving them the nutrients that they need throughout the summer months.

If old roses end up staying in the same place, and if the roses are not pruned, there will be a blocking off of the nutrients, which can cause a lack of circulation to the roses. This will often cause the roses to not be able to grow and bloom as much as they could.

Second, pruning your roses will help you take control over wintering bugs and diseases. Over the winter months, bugs and diseases will find that rose bushes are a warm place for them to hide. They often can stay hidden when spring comes around.

Through rose pruning, you can make sure that such pests will have to leave the home that they have made over the winter.

Another part of rose pruning is also removing dead wood and decay that has built up from before. If the dead wood and decay stays, it will often cause other diseases in your roses. By removing them, you will allow more space for the roses to grow, and will allow healthier growth by the roses too.

If the smaller stems are not pruned, they will eventually seed and become dormant. Over time, the roses will deteriorate in their appearance and become smaller than they were before.

Even if your roses are not pruned properly, the rose pruning you do will help them to grow stronger. If the stems of the roses are somewhat larger and thicker, there will be fewer blooms, but they will be a better quality.

The more you prune, the better quality roses you will end up having.

Rose pruning never takes more than a sharp pair of pruning shears and a good set of thick gloves. It is then a matter of finding the right time to begin pruning your roses, whether it is in the spring, or simply watching for when the leaf buds begin to swell.

Each type of rose will need to be pruned at different times, according to when they will begin to bloom and what the high season for them is.

Early each spring, dedicated rose gardeners take out their rose pruning shears, pull on their gardening gloves, and prepare to prune their rose bushes for the coming bloom.

If you live in a milder climate, however, you don’t have to wait until spring. You can prune in late fall, as soon as the plants go dormant.

Almost every dedicated Rosarian has their own unique philosophy and technique for rose pruning. Every rose is different, so before you begin to prune, take the time to figure out what kind of roses you have, if you don’t know already.

There are certain guidelines you can follow for almost any type of rose plant. Remember that the objective of rose pruning is relatively simple and straightforward...

You want to remove or reduce parts of the plant that are not necessary, and which will increase air circulation, sun distribution, and improve the overall health, beauty, and bloom of the plant.

Here are four proper rose pruning techniques that will work for nearly any kind of rose:

1. Start by taking a good pair of hand shears and cutting away dead wood and removing any broken canes, or canes damaged by insects, weather, or disease.
   
   Sometimes it may be difficult to distinguish between live wood and dead wood. Live wood is usually a healthy green hue, but winter frost may turn it black so it resembles dead wood.
   
   To determine if the wood is alive or dead, make a slight cut on one of the stems. If it’s alive, the wood will be white. Cutting away dead wood prevents against disease and allows the plant to grow with more vigor.
   
   You should also remove any wood or canes that are thin and spindly so that the plant can expend its energy on healthy stems. As a general rule, you should also cut out any branches that cross and rub against one another. This will also help prevent your rose plant against disease, and give your plant a more appealing shape.

2. Make all rose pruning cuts just above buds. Buds are the small nobbles that grow along a stem. This is where new shoots will grow, so be careful not to remove the buds!
   
   When determining where to cut, choose buds that are facing outwards. This encourages new growth to develop outwards. If your rose bush grows outward, it will receive better sun distribution and air circulation, and have a more attractive shape.
   
   When you’ve located buds that are facing away from the middle of the bush, use good pruning shears to make a clean cut. Ragged or incomplete cuts can become susceptible to disease and insect borers, so make sure your cuts are done as sharply and cleanly as possible. Angle the shears so that they are at a 45 degree angle, and pointing toward the middle of the rose bush. Make the cut approximately 1/4-inch above the bud.

3. Part of the rose pruning process should include removing suckers and any trace of rootstock or dead cane that may be emerging from the ground.
   
   These attract pests and disease, so it’s important to remove them when you’re doing your rose pruning. Be sure you don’t leave the rose debris on the ground surrounding the plant, and don’t put it in your compost pile. Throw away rose debris to ensure it does not attract insects.

4. For significant cuts, consider sealing the cut with white wood glue. Most cuts that are wider than the diameter of a pencil are considered significant, and are good candidates to be sealed.
   
   Sealing the cuts speeds up the plant’s healing process, and makes the process of rose pruning less traumatic for the plant. Most importantly, sealing protects against any insect borers that may enter through recent cuts.

Throughout the year, practice proper rose pruning techniques—even during the active growing season. Inspect your blooms for vigor. If you find canes that are poorly positioned (growing inward rather than out), remove them once their bloom has faded.

What is deadheading a rosebush?

The simple answer is that by deadheading you’re cutting off the older dried up roses that are dead. Deadheading encourages new flower growth for its next growing season.

Using the deadhead method is typical for the new modern breed of roses that are genetically engineered. Older roses are usually pruned, which is a different type of care for roses, and wild roses are left most of the time for a look of wildness in form.

Also, for the older type rose varieties at the end of their season they will form hips or seeds that will need to be left on. This will help them grow again in the next season. Always be sure on the type of rose plant, whether you need to let hip, prune, or deadhead. It makes all the difference.

By carefully deadheading your rose bush next year—as part of your rose pruning routine—you’ll have great looking roses.

How do you deadhead?

When pruning roses and deadheading, remember to always consider your zone areas, and if in question consult a good book, talk to your local florist, or ask around for some local help from a qualified rose grower. It might be necessary to do all three for the sake of your rosebush.

Cut at a 45 degree angle with a sharp pruning tool, back 3 to 5 leaf branches downward from top of bloom. This cut will be off the main branch.

Cut the leaf set or stem that is facing the outward direction. This will be the high side of a cut, on the side that the leaf set is on.

The optimum leaf set removal for the first year's trimming is a 3 bunch, but 5 are ok too. The goal is to try to remove as little as possible for the first year’s season.

Also, it’s vitally important that you start looking to deadhead your rose bushes at least 3 to 4 weeks before it starts to approach the end of the rose growing season.

In summary, rose pruning allows a way for roses to become stronger and more vital plants. By cutting down the old growth, you are allowing room for the roses to grow.

No matter what type of roses you have, and even if you make a cut that turns out wrong, rose pruning is always a way to ensure that your roses will remain healthy by giving them the proper nutrients, space, and care while they are in growth.

Top of Rose Pruning page