Shrub rose: pruning for the winter

Roses are the pride of many gardeners, despite the finicky and complexity of care. Only the fulfillment of the requirements and rules allows you to get flowering bushes in the summer. Moreover, some varieties of spray roses bloom several times a season, enveloping the surrounding space with their fragrance, if you take care of the plants correctly.

The formation of rose bushes ensures timely and correct pruning, which is carried out in spring and autumn. They are held in different ways and have their own goals. We will talk about how to prune spray roses for the winter in the article.

The value of autumn pruning

For spray roses to please their owners, the plant must be strong and healthy. Beginning gardeners are most afraid of pruning. This is not surprising, because mistakes are almost impossible to correct. If spray roses are not pruned in the fall, they will go into the winter with unnecessary shoots, which will weaken them in the spring and prevent a large number of buds from forming.

The main thing is not just to cut the shoots on rose bushes, but to decide to what extent the procedure itself is necessary. As a rule, proper pruning ensures the growth of a sufficient number of shoots and green mass on roses in spring, and the plants overwinter more successfully.

So, what does autumn pruning give:

• spray roses develop and grow better;
• the vegetative growth of new shoots is enhanced;
• nutrients are not wasted on highly branched bushes, but fall into those parts of the plant that are preparing for the winter cold;
• during pruning, roses not only rejuvenate, but most importantly, get rid of diseases and pests;
• bush illumination, air circulation increases.

Thanks to pruning, as one of the stages of caring for rose bushes, there will be a timely laying of flower buds and new strong shoots that will have time to ripen before sheltering for the winter. So next summer your roses will bloom profusely.

How to cut

Pruning of rose bushes is carried out with special tools and solutions for disinfecting cuts. We will need:

• secateurs or slicing cutters;
• garden file or hacksaw;
• rake;
• Bordeaux liquid and garden var.

Work must be carried out in tight gloves, as the spikes can injure your hands.

Before the start of events, tools must be treated in potassium permanganate or wiped with alcohol. If the tools are blunt, they need to be sharpened. Dull tools during pruning flatten the shoots, bite them, which leads to deformation, exfoliation. Such shoots on a spray rose either die off or do not heal for a long time even after treatment.

General pruning rules

Shrub roses for the winter are pruned only in dry weather. This ensures rapid healing of wounds and a reduction in infection by diseases. Before pruning shoots and shoots, the leaves are first plucked from all shoots. On a bare rose bush, all the flaws and unripe shoots are visible.

In addition, you must follow the rules that apply when pruning for all types of rose bushes:

1. The shoots are not cut with secateurs directly, but always at an angle of 45 degrees. Why exactly? The answer to this question is simple: water does not stagnate on an oblique cut, which means that the wound will heal faster, spores of diseases will not have time to penetrate into it.
2. First of all, you need to remove thin and dry shoots from the rose, and those that are already more than three years old. Then comes the turn of soft and weak shoots that do not have time to ripen before shelter. They are so weak that in winter they will certainly freeze, despite the shelter.
3. Branches on a spray rose that have grown inside the bush, leaves and buds with flowers are also subject to pruning.
4. During pruning, you need to pay attention to the kidneys. From them you need to retreat at least half a centimeter. It is best to leave the buds growing outward rather than inward. When in the spring the grown shoots do not cross, which will ensure sufficient air circulation in the middle of the bush.
5. Above the kidney should remain at least one centimeter of shoot. If the cut is too low, the kidney will not have enough strength to open up in the spring. A greater distance will reduce the immunity of the plant, weaken the shoot.

   

6. When caring for spray roses and preparing them for winter, pay attention so that the apical bud left during pruning does not germinate and looks out.

   

7. When trimming stems, pay attention to the color of the wood. The living core on the shoots of rose bushes is white. That’s exactly what you need to get to. If the wood on the cut is brown, you will have to perform a short pruning. The processes of white or bluish color are also subject to removal. They won’t be able to survive the winter. But they will certainly become a source of infection.

Safety Precautions

Not only mature spray roses are subject to pruning, but also those that were planted this year. Everything is done exactly the same.

After thinning, everything under the plants, including leaves, must be removed and burned. After all, these plant residues can cause fungal diseases.

Experienced gardeners, after cutting garden roses, must treat them with fungicides, blue vitriol or Bordeaux liquid. Along with brilliant green, garden var or wood ash, these preparations not only contribute to the healing of cuts, but at the same time help to get rid of diseases and insects on spray roses and on the soil.

Rose pruning dates

Gardeners, especially beginners, are often interested in when to start autumn pruning of rose bushes. Even the most experienced person cannot give a definite answer to the question. The thing is that you need to focus on the weather and climatic conditions of the region. Even in the same garden, every year such an operation is carried out at different times, which can stretch from October 20 to November 10 for gardeners living in central Our Country.

Early shortening of the shoots will not allow them to ripen before the onset of cold weather and will cause their death.

Proven pruning methods:

Transplanting rose bushes in autumn

Often you have to make room on the site and transplant the old rose. This is a serious job that requires certain operations to be followed so as not to lead the plant to death.

How to set deadlines

As a rule, planting and transplanting rose bushes is scheduled for the time when pruning is carried out. It’s about mid-October. After all, the transplanted plant needs to take root and get stronger before the cold weather. This takes at least a month.

Before you dig up the bushes and move them to a new place, you need to do a little pruning. It concerns long and dry shoots. You don’t need to touch anything else. Adjustment and formation of a spray rose is best done after opening, during spring care.

Proper transplantation is the key to flowering

Before transplanting an adult plant, you need to prepare a hole. It should be deep and wide. The main thing is that after transplanting a spray rose, it should not be higher than it grew before.

The bush planned for transfer to a new place is dug in half a meter in diameter, notches are made, then a clod of earth is gently lifted. It is better to raise a rose with helpers.

Since the plant has a limited time to take root, it is necessary to save the root system and the earthen ball of the bush rose when carrying and moving to a new location.

Having laid the rose bush in place, it is sprinkled with earth, trampled down and well spilled so that the water reaches the bottom of the pit.

Sometimes a rose is transplanted in another area to which the plants need to be transported. In this case, the rose taken out of the pit is placed on a rag and tied up so that the earth does not crumble. You can plant without removing the fabric, only the knot needs to be untied. Matter will simply pereprete in the soil, giving additional nutrition.

Care for a transplanted spray rose will be the same as for other plants.

Conclusion

At first, during the autumn care and pruning of spray roses, errors will occur. But with experience, they will become smaller, and your rose bushes will always please the eye with neatness and abundant flowering. Do not be afraid of difficulties, because they can always be overcome.