How to prune climbing roses after blooming
Let me share with everyone some small experiences in plant care on how to prune climbing roses after blooming, let's get to know more about it.
How to prune climbing roses after blooming
Quite a few rose enthusiasts have been inquiring about the pruning methods for climbing roses after blooming. Several rose enthusiasts have also asked this question in the iAsk circle. So let's talk about it today.
Pruning climbing roses after blooming
Pruning climbing roses after blooming is actually very simple, just one sentence: prune the spent flowers. The reason many rose enthusiasts have doubts about pruning climbing roses after blooming is that the growth conditions of everyone's plants are different, making it seem more complicated.
Next, let's introduce one by one according to the growth conditions.
1. Bare-rooted climbing roses
What are bare-rooted climbing roses? Please refer to the photo above. These two climbing rose branches look quite numerous, but only the top flowers bloom, while there are no flowers or even leaves on the branches in the middle and bottom, which we call "bare-rooted roses."
This kind of bare-rooted rose will have many blind buds and weak branches, so when pruning, many rose enthusiasts are confused about whether to cut these blind buds and how to cut them.
Actually, it's very simple. Just remember one point: when pruning bare-rooted roses after blooming, try to keep more leaves. Because leaves are the factories for roses to photosynthesize and produce nutrients. Therefore, for this climbing rose, we only cut the spent flowers after blooming, and there's no need to prune the flowering branches.
Although there's no need to prune the flowering branches, the thin and weak branches in the photo, without even leaves, should be cut because keeping them would only result in more consumption, and these branches have no future use.
2. Healthy medium-sized climbing roses
If your climbing rose plant is not very large and has lush branches and leaves, then after flowering, it is recommended to prune the flowering branches moderately. The longer ones can be cut by 1/2, and the shorter ones can be cut by 1/3. After cutting, untie the branches and let them grow naturally downwards.
For the subsequent care, you can follow the maintenance methods for climbing roses in the book "How to Grow Explosive Roses from Scratch."
3. Large, multi-year climbing roses
Climbing roses that have been cultivated for more than three years usually grow very large with many branches, old and new ones intertwining. So how should we prune them? We need to treat them differently.
For example, this large 'Grandiflora' has grown to a height of over 2.5 meters after being trained, and if the branches are standing upright, they can be at least 4 meters tall, far exceeding the height of my fence. So what should we do in this case?
Actually, it's simple. If you can reach the spent flowers, prune them. When pruning spent flowers, also cut off 1/2 of the flowering branches, or you can use hedge shears to cut randomly, which is what I did because there were too many spent flowers, and it would be too tiring to cut each one individually.
For such multi-year large climbing roses, new strong branches will still grow from the upper branches, exceeding the height of the fence. What should we do? My approach is, if it doesn't bother me, I let it grow. So for the branches high up, as long as they don't affect our daily activities, we can leave them alone. When training in winter, we can also hang them down. Last year, 'Grandiflora' climbed over the wall. The photo below is from this year, after pruning, the branches that climbed over the wall are fewer.
However, many rose enthusiasts grow climbing roses with fences, and after blooming, if strong branches grow from the top, they will affect our daily activities. In this case, you can prune more after blooming.
Besides pruning spent flowers, you can also prune some old branches that need to be trained in winter. Cut the long old branches short and completely remove the thin and weak ones. Actually, these pruning methods are all detailed in the book "How to Grow Explosive Roses from Scratch," with illustrations.
Pruning climbing roses after blooming doesn't require too much attention to the method, just make sure not to prune too much, with light pruning being the main approach, and the pruning amplitude should not exceed 1/2 of the whole plant.
After pruning, be sure to apply pesticides promptly to prevent diseases and pests, especially in this season when red spider mites are prevalent. It's necessary to spray miticides regularly. Moreover, to keep climbing roses growing vigorously and lay a solid foundation for the next year's bloom, it's essential to apply top dressing after blooming. Make sure to provide enough long-acting fertilizers, such as fermented manure, controlled-release fertilizers, etc., to give the climbing roses continuous growth power.
The above is the full content on how to prune climbing roses after blooming, hoping it can help you, and I also hope everyone comes to see more green plant and flower experience and common sense!