Allegra: More roses- Too late to prune?
Gail Futoran wrote:
"E" wrote in message m... I just purchased a house in the Portland, OR area with a very large yard that probably has over 30 rose bushes that I think have been neglected for a few years. I believe most of them are fairly old rose bushes. Most of them have not been pruned back as I've been told they should have been. I've never had roses before, and have no idea what they all are. I'd like to move them all out of the flower beds around the house and into a central "rose garden". Can I do this now? Should I wait until next fall? Is there anything special I should do when I transplant them? I hope someone in the PNW comments on pruning time up there. Seems a bit late to do anything other than a firm deadheading to remove any hips, dead wood, and tiny twiggy stuff, but someone knows the answer. Check the local rose society site for info. Also: remember that climbers aren't pruned back hard. Are all these roses bushes? I moved three very large and one small rose last winter in a fit of redecorating. The ideal is to do it in the late winter, if you can work the soil then, with the roses dormant, just as if you were barerooting the roses. Prepare the beds you're moving into several months in advance. It's hard work. I can't imagine doing 30 roses at a sitting. That would take me several years. I cut back roses that were 6 feet tall and wide to about 12 to 18 inches. I even left a 3 foot cane on Pierre de Ronsard. It was scary, but it worked. The roses I cut back hardest look the best now. I already had the beds prepared well in advance, amended, 2 x 2 ft. holes filled with bone meal and compost and good stuff. Then I *cut* out huge root masses, as large as I could handle with one helper, carried them to their new home in a muck bucket, and planted. I didn't worry about the small feeder roots: this was just like barerooting in the fields, where the feeder roots don't make it and you try to preserve large anchor roots. Every rose survived and is thriving right now. The roses I moved were 2 Westerlands, 1 Pierre de Ronsard and Sunsprte. Sunsprite loved the hard pruning. Here's a little webpage that shows a bit of the roses and the process, before and after. http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ecbernstein/Bareroots.html |
Allegra: More roses- Too late to prune?
"Cass" asked Allegra: More roses- Too late to prune? Yes, if my roses are an indication and in general here in the NW. After the first week of April is rosecide to go after them with a pair of Felcos. The best thing to do as you already suggested is to clean up the beds of decaying material underneath to control any fungus that may appear particularly if the poor things have indeed were neglected, deadhead anything that may be still be clinging to them, taking the twigs and any dead wood would not harm them, but getting into the canes with anything but a debris bag is asking for trouble. This is the time when the cane borers are having their babies and any injury to the cambium or the wood is an invitation for them to move in so that has to be considered as well. Not to speak of the despicable aphids that so far haven't shown here but PM is having a field day. Banner Maxx and Indicate 5 ( now called Phase 5 according to the person BH talked to when ordering ) are coming either today or tomorrow so we will mix them, then we suit and go... Allegra |
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