A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Rose Pruning

So, being a novice gardner last year (not that I am any better this year, just a bit more informed) I hacked my roses down pretty far. Too far, I think. We moved into this house in Sept., and I'm not sure they were ever properly taken care of, they were wild and unhealthy. My line of thinking at the time was "well, I will cut them back, and start over in the srping" They have bloomed once, and I pruned them the best I could, and are actually going to bloom again! I have looked up tons of info on how to prune roses, and it is mind boggling. Too many different ways. I have alot of tender growth coming off the bud union, and alot of the strong canes that were cut back too far. Should I leave everything until the fall, and do a good pruning then, taking off all the weak canes? How many strong canes should be on a bush?

if canes are comeing out of the bud union or below then will not always be the same as the bush SHOULD be most roses are grafted and those belowthe union will be of other rose used to graft onto.
(I hope that made sence to you)

as to pruneing.I prune mine when flower finishes blooming.I will cut back to the 1st set of 5 leaves& I cut at an angle& with cutting at an angle I can direct my growth& yeah sometimes I scerw up.I have directed a few following blooms as upsidedown flowers.Also different roses get pruned different& some bloom all season and some bloom 1 time then wait for next year.

Another thing to do is go to your local rose society& go to a meeting or 2 .I went to 3 meetings at the one in TYLER TX.met a lady from my town.she came to my house and showed me how to prune and let me know which bushes were planted in bad spot.I learned a whole lot that day.

maybe this link will help
http://www.oldheirloomroses.com/prun1.htm


here is artilce from rose magazine.you may wanna look around in their a bit will find loads of rose info
http://www.rosemagazine.com/pages/pruning.asp

also fertilizeing is a big help to a happy rose.a well fertilized rose can fight disease off better .I fertilize every 2 weeks& use compost tea most the time& rose fertilizer 2 x a yr.feed them bannanas,alphalpha and today will be collecting some rabbit manure for them from neighbor...has on area of old rabbit cages& it gave me a compost attack,so will get some for me roses and the rest will fill up my compost pile.I swear it looked like at LEAST 6 55 gallon barrels laying there& my roses will love me to death!

Hope those links help ya& glad don't have your cold winters.they are harsh on them roses.I'd say if have evergreens in yard to use them branches in winter time to help protect plants from wind& snow