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What to do with rose clippings after pruning?

shopshops
9 years ago

Hello all
I am gearing up for some major pruning in February, so planning ahead. I was unable to prune last year so some of my roses are huge. With over 100 roses you know that's a lot of left over material. I cannot chip and mulch for fear of RRD. Any suggestions?

Comments (15)

  • fduk_gw UK zone 3 (US zone 8)
    9 years ago

    I burn mine and add the ash to the compost heap in dribs snd drabs.

  • AquaEyes 7a NJ
    9 years ago

    Use it to smoke food in the BBQ.

    :-)

    ~Christopher

  • buford
    9 years ago

    I never thought of using it in a smoker. Does it add flavor? I have some really large canes that I have removed that I have removed the thorns from and keep them as decorative wood.

    Mostly I do chip them, or I used to until I had RRS so now I burn them. You do have to let them age a bit before they will burn well.

  • AquaEyes 7a NJ
    9 years ago

    Mike Shoup of the Antique Rose Emporium does it....see link below.

    :-)

    ~Christopher

    Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Cuttings -- December 2011

  • shopshops
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    Great ideas guys. However, I'm vegetarian so I might resort to the bonfire idea. Hopefully I can get rid of some more Bermuda grass this way to make room for another rose bed!!

  • roseseek
    9 years ago

    Shopshops, don't you roast vegetables? Perhaps the rose clippings could be used to help provide smoke flavor to roasted potatoes, squash, asparagus, green beans, any number of possible vegetables? Roasting is my favorite method of preparing many vegetables. Kim

  • mariannese
    9 years ago

    I take rose clippings to the local recycling station. They are burnt with other waste including household waste at the central incinerator plant for the district heating network. Our house is connected to the network by underground hot water pipelines. A bonus is that the ground above the pipeline is always warmer than the rest of the garden.

    I compost all soft material in larch wood bins.

  • rosefolly
    9 years ago

    I send my rose prunings to be recycled in the community yard waste compost. They do hot composting which destroys most disease organisms, unlike the cool composting most of us do in our back yards. (It is possible to do hot composing in the back yard, but most people do not.) I don't know specifically about the effectiveness with RRD, though.

    Rosefolly

  • rosefolly
    9 years ago

    I just checked. It is advised not to compost roses infected with RRD. Very likely you already knew that. What I read did not distinguish between cool and hot composting, but it is always best to be on the safe side.

    R

  • Kachana
    9 years ago

    Hi,

    I'm in Carrollton, and if you don't mind, I would love to pick up some healthy cuttings to propagate.

    Thanks,

    Kachana

  • buford
    9 years ago

    Any cuttings from an RRD rose should be bagged and thrown in the garbage, unless you are going to burn it.

  • rosefolly
    9 years ago

    Lots of areas do not permit burning, especially areas with high population. So bagging it must be in those places.

  • lori_elf z6b MD
    9 years ago

    Here we are lucky because we have weekly curbside pickup of compostable material in paper lawn and leaf bags. I put all my rose clippings in there instead of my own comopost pile because the roses break down slowly and they do hot composting for us. If you have over 100 healthy roses, why not bag the clipping? If you have individual roses that are infected with RRD, remove and trash the infected ones only.

  • Glenburn
    9 years ago

    Posted by Kachana DFW Texas (My Page) on Sun, Dec 21, 14 at 16:14
    Hi,
    I'm in Carrollton, and if you don't mind, I would love to pick up some healthy cuttings to propagate.

    Thanks,

    Kachana

    This is exactly what I was about to post, you could do this using 'roseseek" method, here is a link to it, also you could sell any that strike. Kim's method works.

    Here is a link that might be useful: pushingtheroseenvelope

  • idixierose
    9 years ago

    I toss all my rose trimmings out on the lawn, then run over them a couple of times with the mower.