I don't know that you NEED to deadhead--but the garden and the plant will look a lot better if you do.

Deadhead can mean just snapping off the wilted bloom at its base. However, the remaining stem may then die back to the closest leaflet--so then you have to go back and do a second pruning to get rid of that brown stem. I've done that--but with hybrid teas I find it easier to just prune back to the first strong, healthy leaflet the first time and save myself the trouble of having to go back a second time.

You might experiment and see what the rose wants. Just snap off the wilted bloom and then wait and observe where the rose wants to put out a good strong bud. You can then trim back to just above that point, and then you will have some idea how far back to go for good leaflets you can trim to.

But keep in mind that some people are also pruning to control growth --some claim their HTs grow 8 ft tall (I wouldnt' know--mine never do). If that is the problem, then when you "deadhead," prune a foot or two down the stem, depending how much shorter you want it to be.

Even then, I'd probably prune back to a likely looking leaflet so that I don't have to watch part of the stem turn brown and die back.

Hope that helps.

Kate

I left my HT one year and didn't prune at all. Thought it might grow really big but it only went to about 6 or 6.5 feet. Not pruning it made it tall and lanky, and roses didn't look big and healthy. They looked rather poor.

I get better growth and roses when I prune in early spring. I also did not dead head as much. Easier to do when there are a few but as the season goes, there will be many more roses that you can't keep up with. So while I don't dead head each spent rose, I do prune and trim in mid-season to get a more compact look. That will, in effect, take out some of the roses that are still blooming or that have bloomed, and allow the plant to make more after a few weeks.