Early spring or late fall is the best time to undertake pruning of your roses, as pruning done during these periods is usually very successful. If you want to undertake pruning at the end of fall, it is advisable that you wait till the color of the leaves begin to change and the leaves themselves start falling. In fact, waiting longer has its benefits, as the root system of the plant gets enough time to accumulate more food and pass it on to the remaining parts, thereby helping the plants to grow vigorously and bear additional as well as more attractive blooms in spring.
If you prune your roses very early in the fall, it may cause soft growth quite late in the season. Such growths will not be able to endure the hard frost and will be victims of winterkill. Even to this day, nearly all growers like to prune their roses during the beginning of spring. In fact, some percent of most of the roses that are grown in the north actually die every winter. So if you do not prune your roses in fall and wait for spring, it will be helpful for you in a number of ways. Most importantly, you will be able to judge the damage caused to the plant during winter and then trim it accordingly. You can get rid of the dead parts of the plant and bring the remaining parts to your desired shape.
Generally, spring is an extremely busy period for most gardeners and if you think you will not have sufficient time during spring to undertake proper pruning of your roses, it is advisable that you should prune the plants by all means in the fall. While the rose varieties that are relatively hardier are unlikely to suffer much during the harsh winter months, so you can leave them for spring pruning.
There are various different forms of pruning and it can vary from simply getting rid of the undesirable buds to cutting back the canes severely. When pruning is done properly, it invigorates the plants to grow new buds very near to the place where you have made the cuttings. This, in turn, gives rise to robust flowering stems.
When you undertake pruning, the first thing you need to do is to remove all damaged, dead, thin, weak and diseased canes. You need to cut them away along with the bud union. If the plants are growing on their own roots, cut them away with their crown. Check if there are any injured or broken canes on the plant. Also look for cankers, for instance any dark, depressed lesions caused by fungi. If you find any of these, prune the affected canes or other plant parts immediately just below the injury - at the highest place where the central part of the cane (called pith) is still robust and white. Remember that you should always make the cut precisely 1/4 inch higher than a growth bud. In case the injury is larger and extends even below that point, you should make the cut close to a growth bud just lower on the stem.
Having done this, get rid of the canes in the middle of the rose bush or the canes that are growing crossed to one another. In fact, canes that grow inward actually prevent air and light from entering the innermost parts of the plant. In addition, they also grow cross and rub against each other. Such abrasions may eventually provide the entry point for insects as well as diseases. Cut down all such canes to the level of the ground using sharp pruning shears, irrespective of whether it is only an unwanted cane you are getting rid of or a cane with a bud union or the crown. You should always ensure that the center of your rose plant gets sufficient sunlight and there is enough ventilation for free air circulation. This can be achieved by cutting the excess and unwanted growths in the center.
Ensure that you always prune the inward growing buds so that they do not develop into canes that will eventually congest the center of the plant. While pruning, make sure that you make the cuts quite close to the bud so that no stub is left behind. In case there are any stubs, they will die and soon host diseases and/ or insects. At the same time, be careful not to make the cuts just adjacent to the buds, for doing this may kill the buds. Ideally, the pruning should be done at about 1/4 inch higher that the growth bud leaving sufficient space for it to develop. It is also important that you make the cuts at a correct angle to allow water to runoff and not trickle on the growth bud or get accumulated in the cut - if this happens, it will slow down the healing. Cuttings made at 45 degrees are considered to be perfect for they are slanted matching the direction in which the bud will eventually grow.
There are some pruning techniques that gardeners may effectively use for their roses during their growing season. Remember, when a grouping of blooms has completed flowering, that portion of the plant will have no further growth. All new growths will emerge from the first growth bud just beneath the flower cluster. This vegetative bud will be invigorated into active growth in just a few weeks only when you prune or cut off the old flower cluster. Consequently, you can expect additional blooms on your rose. However, this pruning technique is only successful on roses that produce repeated blooms. When you remove the old flowers, it will also help to do away with the chances of seed formation. All plants use up sufficient energy for formation of seeds, and the pruning off the old blooms helps the plants to conserve much energy, which they would have otherwise spent on seed formation. Now, these plants can spend additional energy for new vegetative and floral growths. However, gardeners wanting rose hips (fruits) should not adopt this pruning technique.
A number of rose varieties become very untidy after they finish blooming. It has been seen that the petals of these roses are left behind as a messy, brownish lump when flowering is over. Therefore, it is necessary to remove these spent flowers by deadheading. In fact, deheading the plants will not only give a fresh look, but also promote new growths quickly.
At the same time, you should be expecting problems like rose galls to affect your plants. Rose galls are basically distensions caused by tiny insects that leave their eggs inside the stems. When hatched, the larvae survive consuming the soft tissues inside the stems and these result in swelling of the stems. If you do not check this menace and allow the larvae to complete their entire life cycle they will eventually contaminate the other roses as well. Therefore, it is prudent to cut and remove all types of swellings on the plants as soon as they come to your notice. Similarly, you should also cut and get rid of different infections like cankers immediately when you find them. Usually, these infections start on dead wood, for instance on branches that have been damaged during the winter cold or those that are left behind as pruning stubs. What is concerning is that these infections can quickly spread to live tissues and, if not checked, may cause severe damage to the plants.
If you look carefully, you will notice that flowers appear at the terminal of secondary stems that develop from the main cane of the rose. While many people may be unaware of this, the fact remains that collecting flowers from the roses is actually another form of pruning the plants.
Irrespective of removing the withered flowers from the stems (a method called deadheading) or cutting the blooms for a floral arrangement, you should always use the same method - never cut the flower stem shorter than just higher than the first leaf with five leaflets under the bloom that you are cutting away. You should know that the next stem will actually grow as well as bloom from this point. On the other hand, if you are making a cut at the three-leaflet leaf, several small shoots will grow from the stem top, but these shoots will not develop into robust stems and not produce flowers.
While you are removing the blooms from tall and robustly growing roses, it is advisable that you also use the opportunity to shorten the height of the plants and bring them back to shape. While you are free to cut down the stems to the height you desire, it is important to allow no less than two leaves with five-leaflets on each stem so that they may help in producing food for the plant. At the same time, be careful not to cut more that one-fourth of the plant's foliage. Cutting the foliage in excess of 25 percent will make the plant suffer a shock and push it into a brief dormant phase. During the first year of their growth, plants should only be pruned lightly when you are removing the faded blooms. It is necessary to promote the growth of the plant as well as help the rose to produce more foliage.
Many people often ask which the best time to prune rose blooms is. Older blooms that have already passed their peak need to be cut away at the earliest. Doing this will help the plant look neat and also keep the area clean as it will preventing the petals from falling down on the ground. At the same time, it will promote new growth and also ensure that the plant blooms sooner.
If you want your repeat-blooming climber roses to blossom profusely during their second bloom, it is advisable that you prune the plant as well as deadhead them immediately after they have completed their first flush flowering. Also prune the secondary stems of the plant, allowing two leaves having five-leaflet each on every stem. Soon you will find a new stem with a flower bud at its top emerging from each leaf axil - the juncture of the leaf stalk and the stem.
You should stop deadheading the roses as fall draws close because deadheading promotes new growths and if it is undertaken close to fall, the new shoots will not get enough time to produce blooms before the frost. In fact, the new growths will also be more vulnerable to harm due to the winter cold as well as wind. If there are any flowers on the plant from the last summer, allow them to remain and fade naturally. This will enable the plants to tolerate the harsh winter cold better. However, you can prune the plants somewhat during the fall, but it should only be restricted to cutting away the tall canes that may be susceptible to breaking or injuries by the wind.
Provided you are growing climbers, old garden roses or shrub roses that do not have repeated blooms, but only flower once every year, do not necessitate deadheading. Once the blooms have withered, the plants will bear a small fruit, which is known as hips. You can harvest and cook ripened rose hips, especially the ones whose color has changed to yellow, red or orange on ripening. Alternatively, you can also leave the hips on the plants for the consumption of bird visiting your garden.
