Rose Plant Pruning Methods; Training Methods; Process

Rose Plant Pruning Methods; Training Methods

Today’s topic is “Rose Plant Pruning Methods and Training Process”.

Introduction to Rose Plant Pruning

Pruning is one of the most important skills in gardening. It involves trimming of plants and cutting them in order to get rid of any roots or woods which are dead, injured or infected. In a few cases, pruning is mostly used to provide space for the growth of new seedlings. The tools of pruning will consist of chainsaws, hand pruners, loppers. In a few scenarios, the plants can prune on their own due to several meteorological conditions like snowfall. Few florae, like, evergreens will not require much pruning. The flora which is delicate like grapevines, roses, trees bearing fruits, roses etc will need techniques of pruning which are specialized in order to prevent any damage which can be caused to the plants. If you are pruning a rose cane, you must always have clarity on where you are going to direct it and why. This will give you a very good result.

Importance of Rose Plant Pruning:

• Pruning is very important for shrubs and trees at the right time. Few plants will be pruned after they flower whereas few others will be pruned at the time of winters in cold climatic conditions.
• Rose plant pruning is also done for the eradication of pests and several types of fungi. Pruning is required for ornamental plants for the prevention of overgrowth. While landscaping, shrubs and few other decorative florae which are similar have to be pruned after flowering directly. The plants which are herbaceous have to be pruned after each and every season of growing.
• In nurseries, it is very common to prune the plants prior to harvest and transplantation. This will improve the quality and quantity of flowers.
• Rose plant pruning is done in order to remove the plant parts which are not necessary. Pruning will give space to the unwanted parts of the rose plant for their growth and also circulation of air. While pruning the roses, you will cut the upright branches of the rosebush. You may also remove the upright branches which are closer to the plant top, at its base or at the middle. This is completely dependent on your expectation of the result.
• Rose plant pruning is done in order to improve the flowering. If pruning is done in a proper way, it will result in the blooms which are bigger. Mainly with the teas which are hybrid which is grown for cut flowers, pruning practices which are good will give big flowers with long stems and also the strong ones. Generally, the bigger flowers will be a result of how much further back you cut a rose. If you prune less, you will get flowers which are smaller but in a large quantity.
• Rose plant pruning is done for keeping the rose plants healthy. Pruning will remove the parts of the rose plant which are damaged or diseased. This will also keep the rose plant open at the centre which thereby increases the circulation of air and decreases the problems which are caused by pests.
• Rose plant pruning is also done for keeping the plants inbound. If pruning is not done, several rose plants will become huge. By pruning, the plants will be kept at their places and at the eye level so that you can have a look at them closely.
• Rose plant pruning will direct the growth of the plants and flowers. They direct them to a location you choose. To take an example, you can prune a climbing rose to direct the growth of the rose on to the trellis.

Suitable climatic conditions for Rose Plant Pruning:

• When the temperature of the winter reaches –12°C or less, you need to wait till the coldest temperatures pas on and check if any damage has been caused to the plant in winter.
• Usually, it would be one month prior to the date of the last frost in the spring which has passed i.e., March or April for many people and this will coincide with your date of removal of the protection in winter. The cooperative extension office or any nursery which is available in your locality would provide you with the details of the frost dates in your locality exactly.
• In the climatic conditions where the temperature is cold i.e., -9°C, you need to prevent pruning in fall. Any pruning which is done after the primary frost but prior to the arrival of winter will result in good plant growth. Fresh canes are tender and there is a chance that the cold climatic conditions may lead to their death.
• If the locality you reside will have winters which are mild and the temperatures will very rarely fall down below –9°C, you need to start pruning it earlier as the plants will also start growing earlier. January and February are the best months. In the localities where the winters are very mild, the plants of roses will never go dormant completely or drop all the leaves. Because of this, pruning has to be done by leaving some foliage on the plant.
• Last weeks of December to the last week of February are the best times for this. In such scenarios, take as many leaves as possible, but you need to make sure that you are not causing any damage to the bark which leads to disease. Removal of leaves will force the plant into the dormant stage and also removes the organisms which cause diseases which would be in the foliage.

Read: Rose Plant Grafting Methods.

Methods of Rose Plant Pruning:

While pruning roses, you will be using three types of pruning cuts. Each type of pruning will generate a response from the plant which is predicted. As the process of pruning grows, you will know that you are combining three types of cuts while pruning:

• Thinning: This type of pruning will remove the branch of a plant at its origin. It will cut a branch back to another branch or to its base. Generally, thinning will not result in a large amount of growth below the location of the cut. After thinning, the plant will be having a less dense branch which is open because of which the circulation of air improves and prevents any kind of diseases.
• Cutting back: Cutting back is a method of pruning in which a dormant bud is cut back in order to stimulate its growth. During winters, when the rose has no leaves and is in a resting stage, the bud will not grow till the spring arrives. But cutting back will focus the energy if the plant into that bud which is not growing. Cutting or pruning back to a bud is the perfect way in order to direct the growth of the plant and channelize its energy into particular canes or branches which you want to flower.
• Shearing: This is a type of pruning which is considered aggressive but sometimes, this is an effective way to be considered. In this method, hedge clippers are used to cut the section of the plant. This results in a vigorous growth beneath the cuts and a plat which is dense and full. Shearing is specifically effective with landscape roses, mainly if the planting of the rose plants is done as hedges.

Advantages of Rose Plant Pruning:

• Pruning in a proper way will help in the improvement of the health of your rose plants by discarding the branches which are dead or about to die. These branches of the plant are dangerous and the removal of these will decrease the risk of the harm which is caused. This will also eradicate the decay.\
• Pruning will also help in the improvement of the appearance and structure of the rose plant by restricting it from developing in broadway or with branches which are weak.
• Pruning your plants will improve their exposure to sun and circulation of air all across the tree and the landscape which is underlying. This will help in the improvement if the health if the rose plant. Ensure that you are watching out for the symptoms like sun-scald which will frequently affect the trees which are leafless at the time of winter.
• Pruning the trees which are bearing fruits will help in the improvement of the size and quantity of the crop. The trees bearing the fruits must be pruned at the end of winter for shape and to expose the center section of the tree to the sun.
• The plants which are planted recently have to be pruned as compensation of loss of roots and to start training the tree to get the shape.
• Pruning will also improve the view of your garden.

Training Rose Vines:

Climbing roses create a huge impact in your garden. These grow very aggressively and have the capability of growing to great heights in the garden. These climbing roses will occupy difficult spaces in the garden such as vertical walls which get a lot of sunlight with less or poor soil at its base. These climbing roses will make the wall which is bare or the fence which is unsightly to a tapestry. You will have to start taking care of pruning and training at this stage. Training is a simple process which involves five steps.

Before starting this process, make sure that you are wearing leather gloves which are heavy so that you can secure yourself from the thorns and two hand pruners which are good in condition and hedge shears. You will also require strong, non-biodegradable tape in order to bind the rose plant to its structure.

Read: Rainwater Harvesting Methods.

Providing structure:

• The primary step is the determination of how will you support the plants and train them. You will require a structure which has appropriate height, width and strength. Do not make use of trellis which is made of cheap plastic material which your climbing rose came at the time of purchase. This will be crushed when there is heavyweight after one year of growing and weathering and this would be way too small.
• You will need a structure which is sturdy in order to tie huge rose canes. A fence which is made of metal wires which are horizontal which are strung tightly in between the posts is typical.
• Other options will be steel wire fence which is not only cheap but can also be built easily, a trellis which is tall standing against the wall of the house. You need to have a thought about the shape in which you want to plant in order to make sure that the structure is large enough for the accommodation of long-term growth. A height of 6 feet is a better goal for the plan which is manageable.

A year of the wait after the planting is done:

After the plantation of climbing rose is done, you need to wait for one or two years to allow your plant to overcome any transplantation shock and put some bulk on. Cut the canes that will come your way or allow the rose to look wild with growth which is long. You will make use of this long growth in the further stages.

Selection and Training of Major canes:

After the primary period of growth, your rose bush must have few cases which are long and extended in several directions. Now you will have to train these major canes as per the directions you need on your structure, by generally spreading them out from the centre of the plant.

Select a cane which is healthy and large, bend it to the desired structure, and protect it with your ties. Bend the cane in a horizontal way according to your space and the direction until your cane permits. Now cut any growth which extends beyond the area of planning. Continue till you get the major canes you need. It may be one major cane in each direction on a fence made of wood or six major canes which are radiating on a fence which is chain linked.

Now you will have to bend the major canes in a horizontal position as these are the primary ones and also the structural parts of the rose plant. These will not have much flowering, but they will give rise to shoots which are short which will flower a lot. If the structural canes are in a horizontal direction, then there will be short shoots because of the rise in sunlight.

Maintenance of Rose plants in spring:

Each and every year, in the early spring, prior to the leafing of the plant, trimming of the plant should be done back near to its structural canes and make necessary updates to the important canes.

You will need to remove all the shoots which are flowering back to a few nodes from the important canes. This will make the plant clean and tidy and ensures that the growth of the plant in the coming year is strengthened enough for holding the flowers.

Now cut the important canes which are dead, damaged and also weak. Remember that the branches which are brown are not that necessary. Those are just old and also woody. If any of these canes are not dead but weak and did not produce much in the previous year, then these kinds of canes should also be removed.

Train the major canes and tie them as required just as you have done it previously. Fresh major canes will act as a replacement for the old ones which you have removed or else they can be redirected to a new locality of the space in which you are growing.

Remove or cut all the other unnecessary major canes. The fresh major canes will frequently come from suckers which generally locate at the base of the plant. The canes which are not that important should be cut down from their respective bases. Do not be in a thought that each and everything which is produced by the rose plant has to be tied to the structure.

Removing dead rose flowers from the plant:

You can start cutting off the flower heads which are dead from the plant as soon as they bloom if required. You can deadhead them as hybrid tea roses or floribunda roses. If you do not have a garden, then do not even think about deadheading. Climbing roses are generally meant for viewing up-close, but if your roses are particularly in an area which is visible, like a patio, then doing some extra work is worthy. In any of the scenarios, deadheading will give rise to more blooming.

Read: Gladiolus Growing.