How to Prune Climbing Roses
Climbing roses do not have the ability to climb a support system or a trellis on their own and therefore require training. The roses have several canes and a shoot growing laterally from the main canes. These shoots are the ones that produce the flowers. The climbing roses come in two different types, one of them blooms a single time each season and the other one that blooms in flashes repeatedly all season long.
Materials
- Climbing Roses
- Garden Shears
- Gardening Gloves
Procedure
- Identify the type of rose you have, either the single bloomer or the one that blooms many times during the season.
For Single Bloomers
- Water them properly before the day you have planned to prune them. Carefully observe the rose plant to identify and damaged or dead stems and remove them. Make sure not to damage the healthy ones in the process.
- Remove all the growth that appears away from the support system, together with any of the canes that have protruded from any part of the plant.
- Cut down the lateral shoots that grow from the main cane and only remain with four. Make sure not to damage the climbing rose’s main cane, unless if they appear to be overgrown. Reduce the size of the lateral shoots to three inches after pruning the canes.
For Repeat Bloomers
- Prune these roses either in the late stages of winter or in early spring. Make sure that your pruning cuts are a quarter of an inch from the top of the bud that is facing outwards.
- Ensure that you water the rose before the day of pruning to give it the required amount of water to handle the pruning effectively.
- Prune all the dead and damaged stems to the point of reaching the stem. In addition, remove any growth that does not look healthy and is attached to the plant.
- Carefully prune the main cranes if you see as if they are overgrown, to about three inches.