Pruning Roses - How to Prune Rose Bushes

If you are a new rosarian then Pruning Rose Bushes can seem like a mystery for you. It can be very intimidating, nerve raking process especially when you are novel to the concept. But it is beneficial for your rose plants. While it takes time experience and practice to become an accomplished rose pruner, it is next to impossible that you will kill your rose with bad pruning. So, give a try, it is better than to let them grow uncontrolled and wild.

Need of Pruning
Basically, pruning is done to encourage the new growth and bloom, to remove dead or diseased wood, improve the appearance of the plant, to let more sunlight and air to the center of the plant by removing its uncontrolled growth for better circulation and to control the quantity and quality of the flowers produced. The process of removing spent blooms also known as deadheading during the season, promotes blooming and thus improving the shape and appearance of the plant. Pruning also helps in removing potential threat of plant disease by removing their most likely harboring sites.

The Tools Required
1. By pass pruning shears which can slice the cane instead of crushing it
2. Loppers with long Handles
3. Fine tooth curved saw
4. Long, thick gloves
5. Long sleeves
6. 91% Rubbing alcohol (isopropyl)
7. Trash can

Basics
Always use clean, sharp and sterile tools. This will help you to ensure that there is no spread of disease like black spots. For better light and air circulation, try to prune the rose bush to open the center of the plant. Cut the stem at a 45-degree angle, which should be about 1/4 inch above a bud facing outside of the plant. Make the cut clean and not the ragged one. Remove any weak or twiggy branches.
Also remove all dead, broken, and diseased wood. Branches those look shriveled, dry or black are to be pruned. Remove the remaining foliage. Check for the color of the stem while pruning. Continue pruning until the pith of the stem appears white.

Remove sucker growth, the growth coming from below the bud union. Sucker growth is from the root stock and is a different rose variety. If you do not remove it, then it will crowd over your desired variety.

When to Prune
The ideal time for pruning is determined by the type and species of the rose plant and the geographical location in which it is growing. In general, most rose pruning is done in the spring, with a signal like the blooming of the forsythia. In the absence of forsythia, the swelling of leaf buds on your rose bushes can be another good indication. In short, roses should be pruned just before growth starts in March or early April, when the bumps on the canes get larger and reddish in color.

However, heirloom roses (old) and some climbers that produce blooms on the previous year's wood are the noted exceptions. They should be pruned after they bloom.

Pruning of Climbing and Rambling Roses
The pruning procedures for Climbing and Rambling roses vary according to the type and class of rose bush. The basics of pruning remain constant. The characteristic that distinguishes a Climbing rose from a Rambling rose is the pattern of flowering. While Climbing blooms continuously throughout the summer, the Rambling blooms just once. The Rambling roses are further divided into three categories, all of which are pruned differently.

It is very important that the method of tying shoots of all bushes to a support in a near horizontal position should be followed. These horizontal shoots will generate flowering laterals along their length and offer a liberal display of flowers, quite contrary to Vertical shoots which produce flowers only at their tips.

Pruning of Climbing Roses
They bloom continuously through out the summer. They are reasonably strong, their flexuous stems lending the support like fences, arbors pergolas, and walls. Rosa 'Mermaid’, 'Iceberg’, Rosa banksiae 'Lutea', 'Handel’ is few good examples. While planting new bare root plants, don’t trim the shoots but trim the roots only. Early the following spring, do shorten flowered laterals to four or five buds while the plant is still dormant.

If you are pruning an established climber, prune the flowered laterals in the spring. Don’t forget to remove any diseased or dead wood or the sucker growth arising from below the bud union. For the relatively old climbers, some of the oldest wood can be removed at the base to facilitate new growth

Pruning of Rambling Rose
Group 1
The varieties of Rosa wichuraiana form the first group of ramblers. They flower on one year old shoots produced from the base of the plant. While planting new bare root plants, trim the canes to 9 to 15 inches. Usually, there are no flowers the first season, but profuse flowering the next. In late summer, prune the stems that flowered at their base and tie this new growth horizontally to the support.

Group 2
'Alberic Barbier,' 'Albertine,' 'New Dawn,' 'Paul's Scarlet Climber' and 'Veilchenblau forms Group 2 which differs from Group 1 only in the position of the new canes. In this case, the new canes grow half way up the old canes, not at ground level. The plant is pruned after flowering by removing old wood up to the new growth.

Group 3
Rosa filipes 'Kiftsgate,' 'Francis E. Lester,' 'Wedding Day' and 'Paul's Himalayan Musk form the group 3 with characteristically vigorous roses capable of growing 20 feet in one season. These roses are normally used as a ground cover. Very little pruning is required. Pruning can be done to reduce the size of the canes or whole branches can be removed at the base.

You can dab a little white Elmer's glue on the end of each pruned cane to help prevent cane borer damage. With almost no possibility of killing your cherished rosebushes, make a headway start for pruning to give a healthy, airy appearance to your garden!