Take a look at this youtube video......

Here is a link that might be useful: climber training

2nd yuotube video to look at.....

Here is a link that might be useful: climber pruning

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thank you so much! This is exactly what I was looking for.

It seems in my first post I had my terminology mixed up a bit. I thought main canes were laterals!

I think what I did was train a few main canes vertically, and now there are lateral shoots that have grown so strong, that they think they are main canes as well. If you mess up a climber very badly, can you cut it down really short to the base and start again?

Hoovb, your main canes seem to have no laterals at all. Are you pruning them off? Were those new canes?

One last thing, I noticed in the video that he was crossing canes. This defies all gardening wisdom. It's ok to cross the canes of climbing roses? What about disease and injury?

Thanks again!!

I have a pair of New Dawn climbers on trellises that I have before and after pictures of--in February right after they were pruned and then again in May when they bloomed. I watched the Ashdown YouTube videos a couple times and tried to follow Paul Zimmerman's advice the best I could: "Main canes back and forth between horizontal and 45ð, then trim the laterals to 6-8"."

They are young plants that I put in the Fall of 2011.

Here are both of them together:

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The one on the right before and after:

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The one on the left before and after:

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Hope this helps!

Holy catfish, subk3, that is incredibly fine growth on that New Dawn in just two years! I know it's supposed to be a robust climber, but you've just entered the "leap" year with that kind of magnificent bloom. Mine is a year older and nowhere near as nice as that (although in more shade). It's testament to your success in putting Paul Z's principles into play extremely well in your climber!

Cynthia

Anything you can do to wiggle the big canes around at an angle will greatly improve the blooming. Actually I don't mind most of the flowers at the top of the support but for those of you who work hard winding the canes around lower down to get the extra flowers it really looks spectacular.

Andrea, you can see a lot of climbers including a dozen on the fence in the Sacramento cemetery. I wrote about training and pruning climbers in our Dec 07 newsletter, too. All climbers are not equal - ramblers have really flexible canes and large-flowered climbers are more rigid. You need to train main canes at an angle or growth and bloom is all at the top.

I disagree with Paul Z on one thing - I never ever wrap canes around or weave them through. I tie everything on one side so that it's easier to remove canes.

At Mottisfont, they take their roses off their structures every year, remove old less productive canes, and tie in new ones. They curve the canes as shown for New Dawn or arch them as Hoovb shows. During the growing season, they protect the new vigorous canes that will be the replacement main canes.
Anita

Here is a link that might be useful: training and pruning climbers

Thank you everyone. I feel that I have a much clearer picture on what to do with these climbers.

I went out today to tame my rose a little and chuckled a bit because it really HAD taken over a piece of lawn furniture (as was described in the video.) I guess this can be a common occurrence!

Thanks again!!

Those are mostly new canes--the canes that grew big in the previous summer and that will (and did) sprout a lot of laterals come spring. There are a few lateral here and there.

After quite a few years of climbing roses, I've decided more canes isn't necessarily better. If there are too many, a lot of the flowers are hidden. Fewer canes neatly arranged and spaced looks a lot better.