Step-by-Step Guide to Pruning Climbing Roses
The proper care of roses follows a general standard across all the varieties of what gardeners aptly call the “queen of all flowers.” Simply put, roses need adequate amounts of sunshine, good soil, the right amount of watering, and some more tender loving care in the form of mulching, feeding, and pruning. But perhaps, that is putting it a little too simply.
Pruning climbing roses, for instance, should be approached differently to pruning rose bushes or trees. And then, you also have to face the fact that there are different types of climbing roses—ramblers that can grow up to 20 feet tall if not pruned properly and large climbing roses (what most gardeners consider as “true climbers”), which require less pruning than the former. Undoubtedly, this can be a little confusing, especially for the first-timer, but don’t fret because we can help you understand things a little better.
Steps in Pruning Climbing Roses
Step 1: Before you go out there and attack your plants, make sure that your pruning tools are clean and disinfected. This lessens the chance of your rose plants becoming infected with fungal diseases. Remember also to disinfect your shears in between pruning two different plants to avoid one plant from catching spores that may have come from the previous one. A 25% bleach solution should be used for dipping, wiping, or spraying your pruning tools.
Step 2: The saying, “Begin with a goal in mind,” also rings true for pruning climbers. Before you start cutting away dead, old, and diseased branches, have an image of what your plants will look like after pruning. This helps set a framework so you know which canes to take off and which ones to keep. One thing to keep in mind, though, is to take away all foliage and old branches so that you leave enough room for new growth. The old branches will be less productive when blooming season comes around and old leaves are more susceptible to catching diseases.
Step 3: The trick to growing vigorously blossoming
climbing roses is to train them to climb up the support horizontally instead of vertically. Buds tend to grow and flourish only at the tips of vertical shoots because they release plant hormones that keep the lower buds from growing. This can be prevented by keeping the growth horizontal. To keep next year’s shoots growing in this way, begin with unfastening the ties that bind the lower canes to their support. Cut away the lateral shoots and leave it down to two to five buds. Make sure you prune away as much dead wood as possible so that you can prevent diseases, but don’t leave too little because you might kill the bud in the process. Re-attach the canes back to their support. A nylon stocking, a piece of soft twine, or even a wire covered in plastic can be used for this as long as you do not tie them around the canes too tightly. You can then move up the climbing rose.
Step 4: If you are pruning a rose grown through grafting, make sure you check for rootstock suckers that will eventually take over the entire plant if you do not remove them. Suckers are mostly swollen masses of tissue that have grown near the surface of the soil and pruning them away usually won’t work. Get rid of these sore suckers by yanking them totally off the plant. This removes all plant tissue affected by the suckers and will prevent them from coming back.
Step 5: Finally, clean the area around your roses to remove dead leaves and branches that may carry disease-causing microorganisms. Also, spray your roses with insecticide to protect them from pests that come during the winter.
The Difference between Ramblers and Climbers
Ramblers will bloom only once every year while climbers have repeat-blooms, but you don’t need to watch out for blooming season the entire year to tell a rambler from a true climber. Watch out for the little twigs that are more flexible than those in climbers. These little twigs are what make ramblers grow up to 20 feet high if left un-pruned. Also, the flowers of a rambler are small, but they still remain gorgeous because they grow in huge clusters that burst out from the buds.
The best time to prune both ramblers and climbers is when the plants are dormant in the late winter or early spring. For ramblers, however, pruning should also be done right after every blooming season. On the other hand, a large climbing rose should be left un-trained for the first three years, taking away only the dead foliage and branches so that new growth can take over.
If you follow these instructions religiously and exercise your own discretion as to which canes are healthy enough to leave behind, you will be rewarded with beautiful climbing roses that produce brilliant flowers. We both know that pruning is not the happiest of tasks in the care of roses, but if you put in enough effort to it, you know you will be thankful for it.
