Pruning Roses, the right cut Tweet
May
31
Pruning Roses, the right cut
It is important to use sharp secateurs to make a clean cut.
A blunt blade will make a bruised cut where disease can enter.
Cut at an angle in the same direction as the outward facing bud is pointing.
The cut should be close to an outward facing but with the cut not too close or distant from the bud.
Here are some examples of the right way and wrong way to prune your roses.
This branch below was cut in autumn to reduce wind rock. The branch will need to be cut back harder in spring.
This cut is too far from a bud and at the wrong angle. The red line indicates the correct angle and distance from an outward facing bud.
This cut is just a bit too close to the bud.
This cut was made with a blunt blade (plus at the wrong angle) and could allow disease has set in. Although the shoot looks healthy it will be fighting disease rather than healthy new growth.
Rather than use secateurs with some roses David Austin suggests using shears to trim the rose to form an attractive dome.
Pruning roses is not difficult or complicated as some like to make out. In the wild, herbivores nibble off branches and the plants have evolved to cope with this ‘pruning’.
Pruning encourages new healthy growth.
Remove all dead and damaged branched.
This branch was rubbing against another, damaging the stem and allowing disease to enter.
Cut these branches back to healthy new growth.
Deadheading spent flowers encourages new growth and repeat flowering.
This time lapse shows you what happens when you prune. The sap and energy is put into producing healthy new growth.