When do I cut my roses back? and how far back do I cut them?

Question

I live in northern VA.

Answer 1

Let me preface my answer a little. First, thanks for letting us know your location, it helps alot in answering questions. Second, rosarians are a fickle lot, you are certainly going to have alot of differing oppinions. Lastly, different types of roses require different pruning techniques. The ones I'm giveing to you apply to hybrid teas, grandifloras, floribundas and some shrub roses.

Fall is not the best time to prune your roses. Usually the dormant season, or as buds are breaking in the spring are generally believed to be the best times for pruning. I personally do my pruning when the Forsythia shrubs are blooming. That is a good indicator that the weather is right, it's beginning to warm up and growth is starting.

The first thing to do is prune out all the dead or diseased wood. If you cut in the fall, or early winter, you'll probably still have some die-back, so you'll be pruning the bush twice... I like to do less work, so I just wait until very early spring.

After the dead stuff goes, cut out the crossing branches. You want good air circulation to prevent insect and disease problems. Lastly, cut off the wimpy stuff. Any branch that is not as thick as a pencil or your little finger should go, or at least be reduced down until the branch is that thick. In this way you will have the largest and most flowers. The thicker the stem, the larger the flower can be. As a very final step, you might need to even out the plant, so you don't have any wildly differing height canes.

You should also seal your cuts, I use a little ELMERS GLUE, that keeps the rose borers out.

Good luck-
I hope that this helps

Answer 2

General Pruning:
You do this to remove any dead or dying canes or spent flowers. You need to pick a set of five leaves, but not necessarily the first set. Pick a set of five that are pointing outward because that will be the direction of a new cane and flowers. If you choose one pointing inward then your canes can cross and will cause other problems. Cut the cane at an angle like this (/) about 1/4" above the five leaf set. It is okay to do this with each cane and especially if the cane is dying. It is also okay to do this throughout the growing season because it promotes new growth. Also, it is important to seal any pruned cane the size of a pencil or larger with white glue to protect the wound and promote faster healing.

Autumn Pruning:
Any time between the first freeze of Autumn and the last freeze of winter you can seriously prune your rose down to about 2 feet. This will create a fuller, lusher plant for the new season. Once again you will want to cut at an angle. However, instead of cutting above a five leaf set, this time you will want to cut right above a node which will resemble a small, reddish, slightly pointed bump on the cane. Like the five leaf set, make sure the node is pointing outward.

http://www.bayeradvanced.com/article/how-to-prune-hybrid-tea-roses.html?source=google
Video from Expert Village on how to prune a rose:
http://homegarden.expertvillage.com/videos/deadheading-roses.htm

Good Luck

Answer 3

Don't cut rose bushes down in winter wait till spring. Cutting them back encourages them to shoot now and they will frost. If you 'butcher' and they are not a robust variety some will die. I would cut them down by half. They don't need to be cut down in summer for the heat. Only to encourage more flowers. I live in Australia and not heard of here and it does get to 105 deg F where I live!

Answer 4

look if you got pruning sheers cut all dead limbs baclk to green to find out when to prune and how far back to cut contact www.jacksonandperkins.com they can tell you when to prune you tell them your area hope i helped paul and shelia

Answer 5

cut them back now and very low

Answer 6

There's like a knob at the base. Get a hatchet and chop that out of there.