If what you are talking about are unwanted suckers coming up from the root stock, you can cut the suckers anytime - now is better. However, you need to dig down until you can see exactly where they are coming up from off the main trunk (which will be below the bud union, and sometimes up to many inches below the level of the soil).

Cut them off (some people say to pull them off, but this is not always easy) completely, so that the trunk of the rose looks as if they were never there. Then of course, replace the soil. If you cut them higher up, that will just encourage them to grow more.

Jackie

I think you need to give us a better description or a picture of what you mean by suckers. Root stock suckers generally don't bloom the first season.

No. He has Dr. Huey suckering. He posted a photo, earlier.

Cut them off as Jackie advised. All the way down to the root.

If they start to grow back, do not wait. Remove them immediately you see them.

I have had roses that were, apparently, never de-eyed properly. They suckered and suckered over and over, and the main plant just didn't do much. Those plants were removed and replaced.

This is a different rose. Here is a photo of it.

Here is another photo of it.

What does de-eyed mean?

Honestly I dont see sucker, I see new canes.....what is there that I am not seeing???

particentral I thought a sucker was one with 7 leaves on the stem instead of 5?

Suckers are side shoots or (underground) runners that develop at the base of trees, shrubs or other plants like roses.

FunRose - a rootstock sucker on your rose, which is what you do not want, will have a bloom COMPLETELY different than the top rose that you do want, and that you originally planted. Luis is correct - not all suckers are bad on roses. Just ones that are the wrong rose. So, do these new blooms look like the original rose or not? They look fine to me - just looks like healthy new growth. Do you know the name of the original rose?

Suckers on roses DO NOT have to have 7 leaflets, and some desirable top roses DO have 7 leaflets. That is an "old wives tale" that started because people were only talking about modern hybrid tea top roses (which tend to have 5 leaflets) which had rootstock made of old roses (which tend to have more leaflets). However, this is no longer a good way to tell the top (desirable) rose from the rootstock.

So, for heavens sake do not cut off these new healthy canes unless your original rose had completely different looking flowers on it.

Jackie

Jackie

For clarity's sake:

Grafted roses that have suckers means typically that the suckers are canes sprouting from the rootstock. Canes sprouting from the rootstock should be removed.

Grafted roses that get new canes -- those new canes are from the bud union and are called "basal breaks".

Own-root roses that have suckers are expanding. Those suckers are part of the rose and do not need to be removed.

Grafted roses that have the bud unions below soil level can "go own root". The rootstock fades away and one can be left with a rose on its own roots. Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it does not happen.

Since this thread is active I will ask here. On my other thread I had a huge sucker rose. I cut it off. However, there were stems still sticking out from the root. I did my best to cut the sucker stem as close to the root as possible. Since I am a new gardener can you tell me if I did it right? Do you think it's close enough or should I cut closer? By the way, is there anyway I can click on a button where I can see all of my posts?Thanks for all of your help.

Please STOP cutting off all the new canes on your roses! Not all new canes that come up from the base of a rose are suckers nor are they all root stock shoots.

First you need to know if your rose is an own root rose. A variety of rose growing only on it's own roots. If that is the case then ALL canes coming up from the bottom are your rose and are not suckers or root stock.

A grafted rose is one variety of rose grafted unto the top of another variety of rose for it's root stock only. The purpose of the grafting is to add extra growing vigor to a variety that may not be as strong of a grower on it's own roots. That is why certain varieties of roses are used as root stocks. They are VERY vigorous growers and will add extra umph to the weaker variety.

If you have grafted roses you have to find the where the graft is and then figure out if the new cane is coming from above or below that graft. If the cane is above the graft knot then it is NOT a sucker but a new cane of the variety you want. If the cane is from below or beneath the graft then it is most probably the root stock coming up and should be removed at it's source, destroying the growth node in the process to prevent resprouting. If you live in a cold zone and you plant your grafts below ground for wintering purposes then you need to uncover the graft and find out where that cane is coming from before you remove it.

Funrose, on your first picture I do not see any suckers on that plant at all! They all look like your rose and your rose looks very happy, healthy and growing and blooming well. Leave it alone!

On the second set of pictures it's harder to tell where the graft is but I'm thinking that you may have cut off perfectly healthy new rose growth from your rose and not root stock coming up. Next time let them grow out some. You will easily be able to tell that there is a difference in the appearance of regular new rose canes and the root stock canes which will tend to be sort of spindly and the leaves will look very different. And not all roses have only 3 or 5 leaf sets. There are some roses that will occasionally have 7 leaf sets. So you can't just go by that.

Roses do not grow just from one cane or trunk like a tree. They grow from several points. Most grafted roses will have several points where the wanted variety has been grafted to the root stock variety. So they also grow from more than one point on the graft. I have roses that have 6 to 8 canes coming up from the graft. All of which are the correct variety and not root stock.