How to Prune Old Wood Roses

Prune Old Wood Roses

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Roses are a beautiful part of your garden. They give you a wonderful sense of satisfaction when they are full of blooms but , to be full of blooms, they need to be pruned correctly. Old wood roses require special pruning techniques in order to ensure a profusion of blooms year after year.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

sharp bypass pruners
long handled pruners (loppers)
a pair of heavy gloves
rubbing alcohol
a long sleeved shirt

Step1

Old wood roses are very easy to grow and prune. They just require pruning in a little different manner than your new wood, or standard, rose bushes. New wood roses bloom on wood produced in the current growing season. These roses are cut back in the late winter or early spring in order to promote new growth. Old wood roses bloom on wood grown the previous season and have to be pruned in a little different manner in order to promote blooming.

Step2

Do you have an old wood rose? Most old garden or antique roses are old wood roses and need to be treated as such. If you are unsure, prune the rose in the spring. If it fails to produce flowers that year, then you know that the rose is an old wood rose.

Step3

45-degree cut Old wood roses need to be pruned in a manner in which ensures OLD wood for the season's blooms. The best way to ensure this is to do all of your pruning as soon as the rose is finished flowering. This gives the bush time to put out growth this season for next season's blooms. Old wood roses are usually slow growers and do not require intense pruning, but all pruning needs to be done as soon as the flowering season is complete. Be sure to cut at a 45-degree angle 1/4 inch above an outward facing leaflet in order to direct the new growth away from the center of the plant.

Step4

The black marks idicate extensive pruning. If your old wood rose needs expensive pruning, follow the steps in HOW TO PRUNE ROSES, just perform these steps at the end of the blooming season rather than in the spring.

Tips & Warnings

Be sure to wear heavy gloves and long sleeves in order to protect yourself from thorns.
New wood roses are pruned differently, see HOW TO PRUNE ROSES, for more details.
Climbing roses require a different treatment. See HOW TO PRUNE CLIMBING ROSES.