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| I have several roses that threw out crazy fall canes.
I thought I recall someone mentioning waiting until late fall to cut them back about 1/3 and closer to porportion to the rest of the plant. Someone else mentioned that unless you have ice storms that you should wait until late winter/early spring. Thoughts? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by wirosarian z4b WI (My Page) on Sat, Nov 3, 12 at 11:45
| I do NO pruning on shrub roses in the fall. I wait until spring to prune & wait to see what mother nature & the critters have left me to start anew with. I do some late pruning (early Dec.) on the tender roses (HT's, Grandifloras) that get taller than 4' by the end of the growing season. I will trim off some of the upper cane of these tall roses to keep them from rocking in the wind. The theory behind not pruning in the fall in cold climates is that open canes from pruning allows cold to penetrate & kill the rose easier. Plus there are nutrients in the cane that the roots draw on as long as the cane is alive & we never know how much cane will make it thru the winter as winters vary so much from year to year. In cold climates +90% of your pruning should occur in the spring. |
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| Wait for spring for all the reasons Steve noted. If they are really tall and will whip severely in the wind over the winter stake and tie them up. Otherwise leave them alone. In the spring they'll tell you where they need to be pruned back to by where they start to grow from. I think a lot of the reason people in cold climates say they can't grow climbers is because they've been taught to prune in the fall. I have 12 foot climbers all over my yard and only once in a while do I have to cut much off because of winter die back. But I NEVER prune in the fall! You'll see you don't lose as much cane as you think but you'll never know that if you've already cut it off in the fall. |
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| Thanks! I'll leave them be until spring. They just look so unkempt so I wanted to get out there and trim em. |
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