How to Trim Roses
To trim roses, regardless of the stories you’ve heard is not really a complicated thing to do. It is natural for every gardener to dream of owning lush, healthy and beautiful roses. To achieve a perfect, well-tended look plant, you would need to trim roses regularly.
Many gardeners trim roses during the cooler seasons, like autumn, when the plant is dormant. Others prefer spring time to trim their rosebushes. You need to remember, different roses require different types of trimming.
With the right trimming tools and few basic techniques in this guide, every gardener can succeed in growing their rose garden.
Schedule for Trimming
Trim roses when it is not blooming time. Preferable time is when the rose has lost its leaves completely or experience frost brought about by the cold season. Get to know the variety of your rose and your location. Consulting an expert gardener or someone working in a plant nursery is always a good thing to consider when you are not sure how your specific rose bush grows.
Things You Will Need
Make sure you have the following before you proceed with your trimming:
- Heavy duty gardening gloves
- A pair of pruning shears; preferably curved-edge shears.
- Sealing compound
Don’t forget to wear cotton long-sleeved shirt to protect your arms from rose thorns scratches and pricks. Always remember that clean pruning tools will keep your roses free of contaminants. Wash your tools after use and store them in clean dry places.
Trimming Your Roses
- Remove weeds, grass or leaves from your rose bush to reduce the chance of insect infestation.
- Cut dead or damaged woods from your rose. Remove weak stems, spent blooms and diseased branches. Cut dead canes close to the union bud as possible.
- Crisscross branches and past season growth should also be cut from the bush. Cut back overgrown branches and those that grow away from the original shape of your bush (Make sure they are trimmed the same length as the rest of the branches).
- Trim all foliage. Remove suckers by pulling them off the plant. Suckers are long, thin, flexible canes that originated below the bud union.
- Trim roses to a vase like shape. Rose bushes should be open centered as possible. This allows air circulation and development of a strong plant. This can be achieved by cutting out small branches near the middle of the bush. Leave three or four canes. Spread your cutting evenly and level all branches.
- Consider the height of your rose bush. Most rose bushes should be about 18 inches.
- To trim your roses, make your cuts about one-fourth inch above a bud. Trim buds facing outside the bush so that it will allow new canes to form. Always slant your cuts so that moisture will run off and prevent disease and rotting.
- Seal your cuts by a sealant compound to protect your plant from diseases and insects.
- Throw away cut pieces and trimmings to prevent disease from developing.
When you trim roses regularly, they will grow healthy and beautiful for all to see and enjoy. Trimming roses becomes less challenging when you apply these simple tips.
Beautiful roses are easy if you take the time to learn the proper way to care for them. Remember that caring for roses will require your commitment. If you don’t do any research then I am confident your first rose bush will end up like mine did 20 years ago — pathetic. There is nothing more beautiful than to see the dew on the rosebuds early in the cool of a summer morning.
If you have tried to grow roses, but failed, there are some basics that can have you growing beautiful roses in no time at all. You will need to pay regular attention to your rose plant. This is no secret, but once you know exactly what and how to care for roses; the proper steps to take in caring for roses, it will be much easier.
Watering your rose plant is the most basic of necessities when caring for roses. All plants need H2O and the rose is no different. When you water, think about the roots of the plant. Since the roots of the rose penetrate deeply into the soil you should provide the plant with about 1 inch of water a week. The deep root system enables the plant to extract water from the sub-soil even if the surface soil is dry. Under-watering at the root level results in a poor root system that will stress the plant during drought or dry spells.
Proper care must include the right food, e.g., fertilizer. If you are fortunate to have good soil, it has been documented that most species are able to survive for years without any fertilizer. There are tiny organisms in the soil that provide natural food for the plant. A word of caution: over fertilizing can kill the much sought after bugs and your plant becomes a junky that can’t survive with out the fertilizers.
When to fertilize? That’s the question! There are two times that you should fertilize. Knowing when, gardeners can use a slow-release fertilizer just as the plant begins it’s after dormancy party in early spring. A little bit of food can be applied after blooms have ceased and the plant is building up nutrients and energy for the next year. No matter what you should never fertilize the plant in mid summer.
Roses respond awesome to both organic and non-organic fertilizers. An up-side to caring for roses organically is that it helps to feed the fungi and bacteria living in the soil, making the soil more nutrient-rich for your rose plants. The combinations that works the best are 5-10-5 or 4-8-4 – that’s lingo for ‘your roses are going to love this’. Your local nursery or garden shop will know what these are.
Everyone looks better after a hair cut and this is no exception for your roses. Spring is the usual time for pruning, right after the plants has awakened from their winter nap. At this time, cut away the broken, dead and/or diseased wood from the plant. This helps to keep the plants healthy and to aid in airflow through the plant. Shaping your plant is another reason for pruning. The next stage in caring for roses the proper way is pruning the buds after the plant has bloomed. Removing the bloom encourages new growth and allows the plant to establish new buds.
Caring for roses takes skill, knowledge and patience. Man, there is nothing like showing off all your hard work, and it’s a great feeling to sit on your porch, admiring what you have created with your bare hands.
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