Bought 4 potted rose bushes and they are doing fine but have gotten real long stems. Should I cut them back?

Question

They are blooming on the ends of the long stems

Answer 1

"The way you cut your roses can affect the health of your roses. Taking long stems with the flowers, weakens the plants because of the loss of foliage. The general rule to follow when removing roses is to cut just above the first leaf with five leaflets. New plants are especially sensitive to leaf loss, so take only short stems along with the blooms during the first year."
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/county/cass/horticulture/inform/flowers/cut.htm

For more established plants with a lot of foliage, cutting longer stems with the flower isn't a problem. "You can cut them down to where they originate at the previous stem if you wish. You can also cut any stems that are in the way of walkways or otherwise creating a problem. As the roses go dormant and flowering ceases, you can cut extremely long canes of hybrid tea, grandiflora, and floribunda roses back to prevent them from whipping around in the wind and damaging the plant..."
http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/1996/093096.html

The type of rose determines how & when you prune it. Here's a detailed article about this:
http://www.thegardenhelper.com/pruningroses.htm
Good luck with your new roses! Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hi. You're wondering if the plants should have those very long stems? Well, what I'd do is wait until there's a lovely bunch of flowers and clip it for a vase inside your house. Then you will have pruned back the rose and not lost the beauty of the flowers.

Roses produce 3-leaflet leaves near the flowers. They won't produce side shoots from the spots where 3-leaflet leaves grow. They produce side shoots from the spots where 5-leaflet leaves grow. So, you want to prune (or clip your roses for vases) at a spot just above a 5-leaflet leaf. Leave a very short stub, angled away from the leaf. You want it to be long enough that when it browns over (healing the wound) you will still have green stem by the leaf, so it's still actively growing and will grow another stem, hopefully another flower.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

remove the dead flowers this is called dead heading, pruning should be done in late winter prior to spring growth, dont be afraid of severe pruning as roses can take a walloping, are they pruned to a standard height? is there a head area in which the shoots are forming from? what variety are they are they climbers? you need to know this there are plenty of books on roses. who's idea was it to put such lovely flowers amongst a bunch of pricks?