A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 pruning rose bushes

Have a rose bush that i couldn't find the right spot to prune.It doesn't have any outward growth on 5 stocks.It looks ill what do i do with it?

Hello and welcome, I would say thin the bush out. I found with big rose bushs that once I started poking about in them I found a lot of dead wood and started but cutting it out. after that it was a matter or figuring out what shape and size I wanted the bush to be and trimming back to it.

Welcome to the forum, becca! I am not a expert on any plant but I did want to say "hello".

Dianna

When i first pruned a rose bush(someone elses) I was terrified that it would not reappear in the spring, but it lived, so the next year i pruned my own and so on, You just have to do it. roses need to be pruned so take of a the lenghths of a few buds on a branch/stick and you'll get the hang of it.

Hey Becca,
Just to let you know, I'm going to move your
post into the plants AND flowers SECTION,
You've gotten some good response's here,
but I'm sure you'll get a few more into there..

Welcome by the way, to The Garden Helper's Forum!
We're very glad you found us..

Hi Becca! I'm new to roses too, but have been pruning them all summer. What we do is count down from the top of the stem, until we see a set of 5 leaves coming from the main branch. Then, cut just above where the 5 leaves connect to the main stalk. Cut on a diagonal so rainwater can run off it to help prevent disesase.

The key is not to be afraid to cut it - I don't believe you can ever cut one 'too much'. We've cut a few of ours down to the ground this summer because of blackspot, and they've made a complete rebound - you'd never know we even touched them -- other than the missing blackspot

I remember my mom always trying to convince everyone to help her cut the rosebush - but everyone was afraid to kill it! She knew that if you cut it back, it would grow better, and fuller. Nobody listened, and she ended up with a 10' tall rosebush of about 4 stalks So, don't be afraid - cut away!

Hello again Becca....

I am also a new rose grower,
well, I've grown them, but I am not all
too fancy with them....

I can tell you some basic's, but I'm also
at a bit of a dis~advantage as far as roses
for your growing climate...*I am growing zone 5*

Now, normally at this time I would be putting my rose's to sleep or at least preparing them for the winter...

I'm hopin' someone who grows rose's in your climate can chim in...

~~~~~~~>Do you happen to have a picture??<~~~~~~~
That would be great...


I do know that if I ever want new basal growth
for my rose *but this is usually in the spring time I do this*, I will give my rose a good watering, scatch in some Epsom Salts, and water that in again too..
Then I find some new soil/dirt from somewhere's else on my property, and fill a bucket of it.... then take it to the rose in question,
and dump it on top of it...covering a good portion of the bottom and stem of the plant,
and give a good watering again...
And wait..... what this does promotes new, red, basal growth from the bottom of the plant....
*although it may be the root stock of the rose too, not sure in your case, you may have rose's that don't need a cold tolerant root stock, so it may come true to the rose you bought...

Now, once the rose sprouts some new red/green growth, you want to pull that new soil/dirt away
from the base/stem of the plant, uncovering the new growth...

I am not sure this is what you wanna do so late in the season, but again, not sure of the correct proceedure in your area...

Hope this helps some....