24 Jan Roses Summer Pruning
The main idea in summer pruning is to remove spent blooms and to help manage the shape of the plant. You also need to manage any problems such as diseased sections on the rose or possible problems caused by crossing stems. People are generally scared to prune roses as they are confused by all the rules they have heard reguarding it. Following the steps below will help you through these issues:
- Use only clean sharp tools when pruning as blunt tools will damage the plant and increase the probability of disease infections.
- Prune to an outward facing bud. Buds are found along the stem at the point where a leaf is or was attached. An outward facing bud points away from the centre of the bush. This opens up the centre of the bush allowing air to circulate and also stops stems growing into each-other and damaging themselves.
- Make a sloping cut pointing in the direction of the bud approximatly 5mm above the bud.
- The length of the removed material depends greatly on the rose being pruned. If the removal is for cut flowers then desired length will come into play. Generally speaking though if you go down the stem from the bud and count off 3-5 leaves/nodes and make your cut to the next outward facing bud below you shouldn’t go too wrong.
- All crossing stems should be removed leaving the healthier of the two.
- All shoots originating from the rose understock should be removed as they are a different rose to the one you selected.
- Fleshy water shoots produced mainly from the older wood on your rose should be left to grow and harden off as these will build the framework for your rose later on.
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