Content
Roses are the pride of many gardeners, despite being finicky and difficult to care for. Only compliance with the requirements and rules allows you to get beautiful flowering bushes in the summer. Moreover, some varieties of bush roses bloom several times a season, enveloping the surrounding space with their fragrance if you care for the plants correctly.
The formation of rose bushes is ensured by timely and correct pruning, which is carried out in spring and autumn. They are carried out in different ways and have their own goals. We will tell you how to prune bush roses for the winter in this article.
The importance of autumn pruning
For bush roses to please their owners, the plant must be strong and healthy. Beginner gardeners are most afraid of pruning. This is not surprising, because mistakes are almost impossible to correct. If bush roses in autumn If you don’t trim them, they will go into the winter with unnecessary shoots, which will weaken them in the spring and prevent a large number of buds from forming.
The main thing is not just to trim the shoots on rose bushes, but to decide to what extent the procedure itself is necessary. As a rule, proper pruning ensures the growth of a sufficient number of shoots and green mass on roses in the spring, and spend the winter plants are more successful.
So, what does autumn pruning give:
- bush roses develop and grow better;
- vegetative growth of new shoots increases;
- nutrients are not wasted on highly branched bushes, but end up in those parts of the plant that are preparing for the winter cold;
- during pruning, roses not only rejuvenate, but most importantly, get rid of diseases and pests;
- Bush lighting and air circulation increase.
Thanks to pruning, as one of the stages of caring for rose bushes, the timely formation of flower buds and new strong shoots will occur, which will have time to ripen before sheltering for the winter. This means that next summer your roses will bloom profusely.
How to prune
Pruning rose bushes is carried out with special tools and solutions for disinfecting the cuts. We will need:
- pruner or lopper;
- garden saw or hacksaw;
- rake;
- Bordeaux mixture and garden var.
The work must be carried out with thick gloves, since the spikes can injure your hands.
Before the start of the event, instruments must be treated with potassium permanganate or wiped with alcohol. If the tools become dull, they need to be sharpened. When pruning, blunt tools flatten the shoots and bite them, which leads to deformation and peeling. Such shoots on a bush rose either die off or do not heal for a long time even after treatment.
General pruning rules
Shrub roses for the winter are pruned only in dry weather. This ensures rapid wound healing and a reduction in disease infection. Before pruning shoots and shoots, first remove leaves from all shoots.On a bare rose bush, all the flaws and unripe shoots are visible.
In addition, it is necessary to follow the rules that apply when pruning all types of rose bushes:
- The shoots are not cut straight with pruning shears, but always at an angle of 45 degrees. Why is this so? The answer to this question is simple: water does not stagnate on an oblique cut, which means that the wound will heal faster and disease spores will not have time to penetrate into it.
- First of all, you need to remove thin and dry shoots from the rose, and those that are more than three years old. Then comes the turn of soft and weak shoots that do not have time to ripen to cover. They are so weak that they will certainly freeze in winter, despite shelter.
- Branches on a bush rose that have grown inside the bush, leaves and buds with flowers are also subject to pruning.
- When pruning, you need to pay attention to the buds. You need to step back at least half a centimeter from them. It is best to leave the buds growing outward rather than inward. When in the spring the grown shoots do not cross, which will ensure sufficient air circulation in the middle of the bush.
- There should be at least one centimeter of shoot above the bud. If the cut is too low, the bud will not have enough strength to open in the spring. A greater distance will reduce the plant’s immunity and weaken the shoot.
- When caring for bush roses and preparing them for winter, pay attention so that the apical bud left during pruning does not germinate and is facing outward.
- When cutting stems, pay attention to the color of the wood. The living pith on the shoots of rose bushes is white. This is exactly what you need to get to. If the wood is brown when cut, you will have to perform short pruning. White or bluish-colored shoots must also be removed. They will not be able to survive the winter.But they will certainly become a source of infection.
Security measures
Not only mature bush roses are subject to pruning, but also those that were planted this year. Everything is done exactly the same.
After thinning is carried out, everything that is under the plants, including leaves, must be removed and burned. After all, these plant residues can cause fungal diseases.
Experienced gardeners, having spent pruning garden roses, be sure to treat them with fungicides, copper sulfate or Bordeaux mixture. Along with brilliant green, garden varnish or wood ash, these preparations not only promote the healing of cuts, but also at the same time help get rid of diseases and insects on bush roses and on the soil.
Timing for pruning roses
Gardeners, especially beginners, are often interested in when to start pruning rose bushes in the fall. Even the most experienced person cannot give a definite answer to the question. The whole point is that you need to focus on the weather and climatic conditions of the region. Even in the same garden, such an operation is carried out every year at different times, which can stretch from October 20 to November 10 for gardeners living in central Russia.
Early shortening of shoots will not allow them to ripen before the onset of cold weather and will cause their death.
Proven pruning methods:
Transplanting rose bushes in autumn
Often you have to make room on the site and replant the old rose. This is a serious job that requires certain operations to be followed so as not to cause the plant to die.
How to decide on deadlines
As a rule, planting and replanting of rose bushes is scheduled at the time when pruning is carried out. This is approximately mid-October. After all, the transplanted plant needs to take root and strengthen before the cold weather. This takes at least a month.
Before you dig up the bushes and move them to a new location, you need to do some trimming. It concerns long and dry shoots. There is no need to touch anything else. It is best to correct and shape a bush rose after opening, during spring care.
Proper transplantation is the key to flowering
Before transplanting an adult plant, you need to prepare a hole. It should be deep and wide. The main thing is that after transplanting a bush rose, it does not end up taller than it grew before.
The bush intended for transfer to a new place is dug in half a meter in diameter, notches are made, then the clod of earth is carefully lifted. It is better to lift the rose with helpers.
Since the plant has a limited time for establishment, it is necessary to preserve the root system and earthen ball of the bush rose when transporting it and placing it in a new place of residence.
Having laid the rose bush in place, it is covered with earth, trampled down and spilled well so that the water reaches the bottom of the hole.
Sometimes replanting a rose in another area to which the plants need to be transported. In this case, the rose taken out of the hole is placed on a rag and tied so that the earth does not crumble.You can plant without removing the fabric, you just need to untie the knot. The matter will simply rot in the soil, providing additional nutrition.
Caring for a transplanted bush rose will be the same as for other plants.
Conclusion
At first, during the autumn care and pruning of bush roses, errors will occur. But with experience there will be fewer of them, and your rose bushes will always delight the eye with their neatness and abundant flowering. Do not be afraid of difficulties, because they can always be overcome.
