Is it late enough in the year yet to prune back my roses? They are very
old, poorly looked after bushes with loads of gnarly old growth (about 8
feet high in places!!) and I'm planning on hacking them back to about 1 foot
long stems. Should I hold off till the weather gets colder and wetter or go
ahead now?



a

: Is it late enough in the year yet to prune back my roses? They are
: very old, poorly looked after bushes with loads of gnarly old growth
: (about 8 feet high in places!!) and I'm planning on hacking them back
: to about 1 foot long stems. Should I hold off till the weather gets
: colder and wetter or go ahead now?
:
:
:
: a

I would go ahead now. November is the normal time here but we're almost
there

: Is it late enough in the year yet to prune back my roses? They are
: very old, poorly looked after bushes with loads of gnarly old growth
: (about 8 feet high in places!!) and I'm planning on hacking them back
: to about 1 foot long stems. Should I hold off till the weather gets
: colder and wetter or go ahead now?
:
:
:
: a

I would go ahead now. November is the normal time here but we're almost
there


I'm not sure why you'd want to prune roses just yet. The idea behind waiting
till late in the year to prune roses and other plants is to allow them
(deciduous plants at least) to withdraw nutrients from the leaves and relocate
those nutrients in their roots and stems over winter for use next spring. As
we're still experiencing some extremely mild weather, and may do so for some
time to come, cutting back roses now will probably stimulate new growth, if
anything. Something you're surely not wanting to do right now?

I'd hold off 'til the roses have dropped their leaves, then prune back to
within a few buds from the base of the plant. Wait 'til spring and for the
worst of the frosts to have past, then prune back to as low down as you can
(leaving enough buds to ensure good growth for your roses). This will ensure a
maximum reduction in height (which seems to be what you're after specifically)
while still ensuring that your rose survives.

I hope this helps and makes sense.

Dave.

"Robert" wrote in message news:bkhg44
I would go ahead now. November is the normal time here but we're almost
there


Christ ... you'll be saying it's almost Christmas time next!! ;P


a

Subject: Rose pruning yet??
From: "al"
Date: 20/09/2003 14:10 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

"Robert" wrote in message news:bkhg44
I would go ahead now. November is the normal time here but we're almost
there


Christ ... you'll be saying it's almost Christmas time next!! ;P

Only 96 days to go)
****************************
Rhiannon
http://www.livejournal.com/users/rhiannon_s/
Q: how many witches does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: depends on what you want it changed into!

"DaveDay34" wrote in message
news:20030920084149.19898.00001675@mb-
I'm not sure why you'd want to prune roses just yet. The idea behind
waiting
till late in the year to prune roses and other plants is to allow them
(deciduous plants at least) to withdraw nutrients from the leaves and
relocate
those nutrients in their roots and stems over winter for use next spring.
As
we're still experiencing some extremely mild weather, and may do so for
some
time to come, cutting back roses now will probably stimulate new growth,
if
anything. Something you're surely not wanting to do right now?

Sounds sensible. The only reason I want to prune now is to make it easier
to woodstain the fence behind it!! It can wait though

I'd hold off 'til the roses have dropped their leaves, then prune back to
within a few buds from the base of the plant. Wait 'til spring and for
the
worst of the frosts to have past, then prune back to as low down as you
can
(leaving enough buds to ensure good growth for your roses). This will
ensure a
maximum reduction in height (which seems to be what you're after
specifically)
while still ensuring that your rose survives.

When you say to buds, all the buds are on the end of branches ... or am I
getting what are unopened flowers confused with something else? At the
base, the bushes have substantial, branchless trunks - it is this far that I
want to cut it back to. Will this kill it? Should I stick a couple of pics
up to explain better?


a

al wrote:

When you say to buds, all the buds are on the end of branches ... or am I
getting what are unopened flowers confused with something else? At the
base, the bushes have substantial, branchless trunks - it is this far that I
want to cut it back to. Will this kill it? Should I stick a couple of pics
up to explain better?


Buds in this context means 'nodes' the positions where leaves are/were.
If you look just there, at each node you will see a small (often red)
'bud' - sometimes quite flat, sometimes prominent. This is where you'll
get new growth if you prune just above it. With roses you normally get
new growth from 2 or 3 nodes below the pruning cut. In old wood you
can't always see the nodes but if you are in radical pruning mode you
can often get away with making a random cut which may or may not force a
dormant bud to shoot. Roses are hard to kill but please remember the
type of pruning you're proposing is a 'kill or cure' treatment - mostly
OK but you could lose the odd one. Something a skilled gardener could
make an educated guess on if they are able to see the plant in the flesh
rather than in a photo.

Rod

Buds in this context means 'nodes' the positions where leaves are/were.
If you look just there, at each node you will see a small (often red)
'bud' - sometimes quite flat, sometimes prominent. This is where you'll
get new growth if you prune just above it. With roses you normally get
new growth from 2 or 3 nodes below the pruning cut. In old wood you
can't always see the nodes but if you are in radical pruning mode you
can often get away with making a random cut which may or may not force a
dormant bud to shoot. Roses are hard to kill but please remember the
type of pruning you're proposing is a 'kill or cure' treatment - mostly
OK but you could lose the odd one. Something a skilled gardener could
make an educated guess on if they are able to see the plant in the flesh
rather than in a photo.

Rod

I've just thought that another avenue that may be open to you would be
propagation of 'new' bushes from your 'old' rose bushes. Taking cuttings
should be an option, but success will depend on the type of roses you have.
Look in the RHS book on propagation or in any good book on propagation and you
should get some good advice. I'm not sure whether layering would work as
well/instead.

All the best.

Dave.

in article , DaveDay34 at
wrote on 20/9/03 4:08 pm:
snip
I've just thought that another avenue that may be open to you would be
propagation of 'new' bushes from your 'old' rose bushes. Taking cuttings
should be an option, but success will depend on the type of roses you have.
Look in the RHS book on propagation or in any good book on propagation and you
should get some good advice. I'm not sure whether layering would work as
well/instead.

All the best.

Dave.

Some older roses (in terms of age, not variety) can be very hard to strike
cuttings from but it's always worth a try, certainly. We have a fabulously
scented Mde. Isaac Pereire and it's fiendishly difficult to get cuttings
from that to strike. But it's certainly worth a try.
--

Sacha
(remove the 'x' to email me)

"Robert" wrote in news:bkhg44$huu$1
@hercules.btinternet.com:

: Is it late enough in the year yet to prune back my roses? They are
: very old, poorly looked after bushes with loads of gnarly old growth
: (about 8 feet high in places!!) and I'm planning on hacking them back
: to about 1 foot long stems. Should I hold off till the weather gets
: colder and wetter or go ahead now?
:

I would go ahead now. November is the normal time here but we're almost
there

I agree you could do them now if it's convenient. Personally I'm not doing
mine yet as they are almost all coming back into flower again now that the
cooler damp weather has returned!

Looks like I shall have a rose-scented autumn...

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--