Pruning … it’s all in the timing
ROSES: SHARP WAY TO KICKSTART GROWTH IN SPRING
A straight cut is always best, and easier, and the flower itself will decide where to sprout.
In gardening there is a time to sow, a time to reap and a time to prune. Even though that rhythm doesn’t change, it is still possible to experiment and even “manipulate” the performance of your roses. That makes gardening interesting and fun.
Pruning is a case in point. Generally, the time to prune roses in most areas, except very cold areas, is from 15 July to the first week in August.
But, at Ludwig’s Roses sales areas, pruning starts at the beginning of this month for about half of the plants of each variety with the second half pruned by 20 July, in order to have peak spring flowering stretched out.
Gardeners who want to extend the flowering of their roses in October can do likewise: prune some roses early and do the rest from mid-July onwards. Even if the final pruning is postponed into August it only delays flowering by a week or two.
I always like to reassure nervous gardeners that one cannot prune a rose wrong. Roses are incredibly resilient. One winter, a veld fire at the farm burnt some of the roses down to the ground. By October, when the roses came into flower, there was no difference between the hand pruned and the burned roses.
Although a sharp pair of secateurs and loppers makes the cutting easier and smoother, roses will even sprout from lacerated cuts made with a motorised saw.
So don’t worry about cutting to an inward or outward facing eye, or the angle of a cut. A straight cut is always best, and easier, and the rose itself will decide where to sprout.
Pruning basics
The purpose of pruning is to rejuvenate rose bushes, to improve their growth and production of flowers. Most bush rose varieties perform better on younger stems.
Younger looking basal stems are retained and older woody ones cut out. Grey coloured stems and prickles indicate it is an older stem.
Light pruning
This type of pruning is simple and quick. Because more stems remain on the bush, there’s more stored food, which kickstarts growth in spring. The bushes also develop deeper and broader root systems that make them more resilient.
Cut tall rose bushes uniformly down to 70cm above the ground, medium high rose bushes to 50cm. Miniature roses can be cut down to 20cm. Remove dead branches and older main stems. Cut forked branches back to a single “tine”. Thin side stems are left or they can be cut back to about 20cm.
Hard pruning
This method results in fewer, but better quality and size of flowers. It is suitable for roses planted close together in a bed and need space to grow. However, if the soil is not enriched with compost followed by regular watering, the roses will struggle.
Start by lightly pruning the bush, as set out above.
Further reduce the height of the bush by cutting basal shoots down to about 40cm to 50cm above the ground and remove all remaining side stems and forks. The result will be three to four shortened stems.
Pruning a ercare
Improving and aerating the soil by digging in compost or manure and a slow release rose fertilizer like Vigolonger after pruning, is as important in determining the performance of the rose. This encourages the multiplication of all-important microbes and a slow but steady release of nutrients for the season.
Water well afterwards, followed by weekly watering (if there is no rain) until September when watering needs to be increased to twice a week.
For a “live” pruning demonstration visit https://www.ludwigsroses.co.za/rose-growing-tips/rosecare/winter-pruning/ and view the YouTube demo.