Rose Pruning Again

Late February to early March is the time for the major pruning of roses. Back in December, I did a preliminary pruning, now is the time for the last major pruning before the spring season begins. 

First, a comment on hybrid tea roses. This is what most people have in their gardens. I only have a few hybrid tea roses. These are the roses that need the most drastic pruning. Basically, you cut all the canes down to about 1 foot, making the cuts right above an outward-facing bud. The result will be something like this - 

Most of my roses fall into the shrub and climbing categories. These roses are pruned differently and not as severe as the hybrid teas. For shrub roses (and many of the David Austin English roses fall into this category), I first take out the older canes completely to the ground. The older canes are easy to spot - they will be thicker and darker in color. After thinning out the older canes, I remove any canes that are damaged, crossing one another and canes that are extremely thin. I then cut back the remaining canes about 1/3. The result looks something like this -

Before -

And after -

The above rose is a very dense and twiggy one. The following photo shows a more conventional type shrub rose -

For climbing roses, I again remove older canes and damaged canes. If the rose is a newer one, say two or three years old, I will only remove one or two canes at most. Older roses might have a greater number to take out. It is good to train climbing roses so that the canes will go horizontal. If this is the case, I trim back each branch along the cane, like this -

Following pruning, the next step is to clean out leaves and debris around the base. Also remove any remaining leaves that are still clinging to the plant -

I sprinkle alfafa pellets - about one cup for an average-sized rose, two or more cups for very large ones -

Apply fresh mulch around and over the canes. More than likely, there will be more cold weather to come. Therefore, I will wait until closer to spring to rake this mulch away from the center of the rose.

Spray a dormant oil/copper fungicide mixture over the canes.  I use a combination of Monterey Horticultural Oil and Monterey Liqui-Cop. The formula is 1 ounce of horticultural oil and 2 ounces of Liqui-Cop in one gallon of water. Spray the canes as well as the ground surrounding the base of the rose. Make sure you do this on a dry day. This can be repeated later in the winter and early spring. (At the nursery, we recommend three sprayings - on New Year's Day, Valentine's Day and early to mid March). Note: Read the label for more information, especially when it comes to combining products. The Monterey oil and copper fungicide can be combined but others may not. Check to make sure!)

And that is pretty much it! When leaves begin to appear, probably in late March or April, I will rake back the mulch from around the center of the plant and begin to apply fertilizer. 

Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy