Roses are one of the most popular flowers for home gardeners, but they aren’t always the simplest to care for. Common rose problems can be bushes with fewer blossoms than expected, bushes growing out of control, and uneven growth are all common rose bush problems we all have to deal with.

New Shoot Growth:

Does your rose bush have multiple new shoots that extend far above the main form of the plant? If so, the most appropriate pruning measure is to trim off these canes to get the bush back into a more manageable form. How to prune these shoots is not as simple as just hacking them off. Follow the procedure outlined below for the greatest success.

Pruning Roses – Addressing The Dead Growth:

If your rose bush has dead areas, or canes that have very little if any foliage on them, cut these canes all the way down to the base of the plant, very near the grade level. Not only will this improve the plant health, give it added natural vigor, it will bring needed air-flow to the central portion of the plant. Also by doing this additionally reduces the likelihood of fungus or mildew buildup, which can further damage the plant.

Leggy Out of Form Bush Pruning:

This situation presents one of the more serious pruning issues, and repeatedly requires the most extreme pruning measures of pruning roses, in that a large portion of the plant may necessitate removal. More often than not, these bushes are very thin and lack the full appearance of a healthy bush.

How You Do Your Rose Pruning:

Analyze the overall bush shape and make a decision how you would like the final shape of the bush to look.

Start with dead canes. Identify them and cut them down to the ground level. Identify healthy canes by their green or slightly cream-colored appearance. Dead and dying canes will appear dark to black and have a shriveled looking appearance.

Look around the perimeter of the plant and cut off any suckers that are sprouting from the roots of the host plant. This will give additional energy to the plant and prevent the suckers from robbing vital nutrients from the parent plant. To remove them, dig around the sucker to find where they are sprouting from the roots. After you have cut them off as close as you can to the root, thoroughly cover the roots with soil.

As for healthy canes: Determine the desired height for your rose bush and trim the canes to that height. This cut is critical and it ought to be just above a healthy growth shoot that is on the cane. This pruning cut shall be as close to the new sprout on the canes as you can make it, and the cut ought to be angled slightly downward. This is key for a correct cut as any “stub” left on the top of the cane can have diseased. Even stubs as short as 1/4″ can eventually cause problems as well.

For a more aggressive pruning job, you may not find a growth sprout further down on the canes. In this example you want to search for a bud “union”, which has the appearance of a small swelling of the cane. This in fact has the appearance of a seam where the cane is jointed together.

To encourage additional flowers and new growth, you will want to remove spent blossoms from the plant on a regular basis. As a outcome you will see a flush of new blooms as energy is directed to new flower output, The technical term for this in the gardening community is referred to as the procedure of “dead-heading”.

If your rose bush has partially dead canes that are diseased or are dying above an otherwise healthy colored cane, prune away the entire dead or dying area from the dead area down to the first bud union, or if available a healthy shoot.

With a little pruning maintenance, along with correct feeding and watering, you will soon have beautiful roses that are the talk of the town!

Having problems with your rose bushes? Be sure to read our complete article on Pruning Roses to get the instructions for doing this. Also for many more gardening and green living tips, be sure to visit our site Green Living Made Easy.