How to Trim an Old Fashioned Rose Bush
- 1). Choose a time to prune after the roses have stopped blooming. Blooming occurs in the summer. Old-fashioned roses bloom on wood from the previous year, so avoid pruning these roses in the spring as you would with hybrid or modern roses.
- 2). Purchase leather gloves and bypass shears. Anvil shears are popular choices but tend to crush the stem. Bypass shears have a clip at the bottom that cradles the stem to avoid hurting healthy growth.
- 3). Cut any dead wood or black stems at a 45-degree angle. Look for diseased, discolored and week stems to trim. Black spots on leaves, brown buds, powdery mildew or gray-white lesions on stems indicate a diseased rose.
- 4). Dip your pruned stems in a mixture made up of 70 percent alcohol and 30 percent water to avoid spreading diseases when pruning. Remove any severely diseased plant.
- 5). Check if the center of the rose stems that you have cut are white. Brown centers suggest poor health. If they are brown, cut farther down the stem until you find the end of the unhealthy section.
- 6). Open the center of the rose bush by trimming some of the inner stems. An open center promotes air circulation, which reduces the risk of spreading diseases.
- 7). Cut dead flowers. This method is referred to as deadheading. It allows the rose bush to put its energy into making new flowers.
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