Prune your roses year-round for the biggest blooms. All you need is a good pair of sharp pruners, a dull knife and a good pair of gloves to protect your hands.
To get the most out of your rose bushes, you'll need to prune year-round. But one of the two most important times for a serious pruning is in the spring. In the Coastal Bend region, that can begin as early as late February or early May.
You will need the following items before you begin:
• a good pair of hand pruners
• a sharp keyhole saw and large loppers
• a heavy pair of leather gloves
• a pruning compound
• a dull knife
The first step is to remove any canes that are dead, old or non-productive. Look for canes that are gray and scaly. Here are a few tips on how to prune.
1. Remove growth an inch below a canker.
2. Remove sucker growth as close as possible to the main root. Suckers arise from the rootstock below the graft union. Pruning these will encourage future basal breaks, or new shoots, which will soon produce canes.
3. Take a close look at the bud unions and use a dull knife to remove any scaly wood.
4. Remove all twiggy growth on the remaining canes.
5. Clean out the middle of the bush as much as possible to allow for good air circulation, which prevents insects and disease.
6. Once the dead wood is removed, you are ready to prune the healthy canes. Cut each cane back to a dormant bud. A bud that has already begun growth will continue to grow and bloom very little.
7. Cut ¼ inch above the nearest outward-facing bud with the cut at a 45-degree angle (the higher point above the bud). Make sure there is a good bud on the cane facing toward the outside of the plant.
8. Cut the cane at the point where the diameter of the cane is the size of a pencil or slightly larger.
9. Seal large cuts to prevent insects and diseases with a sealing compound such as orange shellac or Elmer's Glue.
10. Finally, when you are done pruning, remove any old foliage left on the canes and spray with a mixture of Funginex, Benomyl, Orthene or Diazinon as a clean-up spray. Spray the entire bush and the ground around the bush. You should be left with a rose bush about 18-24 inches tall with four to eight canes.
Add some fertilizer and spray regularly for pests. Pretty soon, those miserable-looking sticks will burst forth in a spray of colorful buds and blossoms.
Source: Texas A&M AgriLIFE Extension, Nueces County
