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Most people grow at least a few roses in their garden against the walls of their garden or against the wall of their houses, but to many gardeners the correct way to prune roses remains a complicated and mysterious process.
Roses in the wild produce strong new shoots from near to the base of the plant each season. In subsequent years the secondary, or lateral growth fro these shoots becomes progressively weaker. When strong new shoots appear, the food taken in by the roots is directed to this new growth and the original shoots are gradually starved out. Eventually the old shoots die and remain as dead wood before failing to the ground - a natural but long-winded method of pruning. The purpose of pruning is to short-circuit nature by cutting away the old worn-out shoots and so encourage the production of vigorous disease-free new growth and the optimum numbers of flowers for the rose concerned.
Pruning is a simple operation, but as roses range in size from miniatures, which are less than 1ft tall, to vigorous climbers, which may reach 30 - 40ft, they require a variety of pruning techniques to keep them healthy, free flowering and within bounds.
Rose "eyes" or growth buds are located in the axils of the leaves. If the leaf has fallen they can be seen just above a leaf-scar. Always cut close to bud. There are certain general principles that apply to pruning all kind of roses.
- Always use a sharp secateurs and a knife, as a ragged cut caused by blunt tools may cause the shoots to die back. The cut must not be more 1/4 in above the eye and must slope gently away from it. If you cut too high the snag will die back, a cut too low may damage the eye or allow disease spores to enter the wound. A cut in the wrong direction allows moisture to gather by the eye.
- Cut back into healthy wood. If the pith is brown of discoloured cut back the shoot until healthy white pith is reached.
- Cut to and outward-pointed eye to encourage an open-centre habit. With roses of spreading habit it is sometimes useful to prune some branches to inward-pointing eyes to obtain more upright growth.
- Vigorous modern roses may often produce two or three shoots from one eye after pruning. As soon as possible reduce these to one shoot by pinching out the young growth. Never allow more than one shoot to grow from a pruning cut.
- Cut out completely any dead and diseased stem and weak, spindly growth. This may mean cutting it out to ground level, with a laterally growth, to the junction with healthy stem. Where two branches cross, cut one back below the point where they cross. With shrub and climbing roses this is not always easy, but whenever possible at least prevent branches rubbing against each other or on their supports.
- Keep all branches well spaced to allow free air-flow through the plant and to allow light to reach the leaves. This lessens the likelihood of such diseases as black spot, rose mildew and rose-rust, which all thrive under stagnant air conditions.
- Burn pruning to reduce the possibility of spreading diseases.
Suckers - Most roses are budded on the selected rootstock of a wild rose species. During the growing season shoots may arise from below the budding point. These are sucker growth from the rootstock, which can quickly weaken, and eventually replace, the rose variety concerned. They must be removed as soon as they are seen.
Trace the sucker back to the root from which it springs and pull it off at the point of origin. Never cut it off at ground level; this only encourages basal buds to produce several more suckers.
With standard roses, which are budded at the top of stems of wild rose rootstocks, shoots may arise from below the budding point on the stem. These are treated as suckers and carefully pulled off, or pared away with sharp knife.
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