How to Prune Long Stem Roses

In nature, roses bloom and then die. But if you're growing long-stemmed roses, you can extend their flowering season by keeping them fertilized and pruning, deadheading or trimming them.Pruning long-stemmed roses is an easy skill to learn. Once you know how, you can have a vase full of long-stemmed roses as your centerpiece for much of the growing season.

Things You'll Need

• Long-stemmed roses
• Pruning scissors or pruning shears
• Protective gardening gloves

Instructions

1. Be sure that your long-stemmed roses are fertilized well throughout the season, especially if your soil is lacking in nutrients. Healthy soil will help your plants survive pruning and re-flower frequently.

2. Put on your protective gloves. Gardening gloves can be made from a variety of sturdy materials. In order to protect your hands from the danger of being stabbed by a thorny rose bush, rubberized gardening gloves seem to be the most resistant to wayward thorns from your long-stemmed roses.

3. Follow each dead flower down to the base of the long stem. Cut the stem in one motion (make sure the scissors or shears are very sharp) about 1/4 inch away from the main trunk. Be mindful of any new budding stems.

4. Watch your roses carefully throughout the season. The sooner you prune away the spent branches, the sooner they can be replaced with more long-stemmed roses.

5. Prune all of the new growth down completely at the end of the growing season, leaving the woody base of the plant.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your cutting tools are sharp. Jagged cuts can harbor bacterial growth and cause your plant to harbor disease.

• It's highly unlikely that you'll kill your rosebush by cutting it wrong. No matter how poorly you do, you'll usually always end up with more flowers. Don't be scared of pruning your long-stemmed roses.