Tips on cutting roses...?
Question:Can someone please tell me - in absolute laymens terms - a) if it's OK to cut the roses off a bush in my yard; b) If so, how do I go about doing it, ie cut the stem near the thicker branch, near the flower, etc.; c) how tall the bush should be overall; d) am I supposed to be watering or doing something else to care for it?
Sorry for all the dumb questions. I've never had a yard before let alone one with living plants on it.
For background, I'm in NJ, and the bush is about 7 feet tall right now. I'm getting the feeling that it's much taller than it should be (it was just a bunch of sticks a few months ago!) - but I'm afraid to cut too much off and kill the darn thing. No idea what kind of roses they are, pink and white - does that help?
I cut about 10 flowers off already under the assumption that I'd end up killing the plant one way or another, so I might as well bring some flowers inside and enjoy them while they are here.
Answers:
Not a dumb question at all.
If it's 7 feet now, it may be a climbing rose. Most other roses don't get that tall. Is it next to a structure, tree, or something it can climb on?
You won't kill it. You can certainly cut some roses off of it for your enjoyment. I wouldn't try to cut it back right now. You could give it some fertilizer, any general rose fertilizer is good.
If you'd like to prolong the blooming time, you actually should cut off the spent flowers to prevent them from going to seed.
You cut the roses off like this.from the bud...you look at the stem and cut it back to where there is a cluster of 5 leaves.and you cut right above those 5 leaves. That is what I've always done. Some roses will get that tall but if it is too tall for your liking you can cut it back some. Cut down each individual stalk at least to a cluster of 5 leaves.
All I have in the front of my house are bushes of roses. Believe me I didn't know too much about it either. I've been growing them for about a year and half. Rose bushes are fairly easy to grow and keep alive. Yes you can cut the flowers off and it really doesn't matter where on the stem you cut it. See before the last winter since none of the roses were blooming anymore I just cut the bushes pretty much halfway between the top of the plant and the roots. They all grew great when spring came. I probably cut them to about 2 or 3 ft and now most of them are probably over 8 ft tall. You should water them but they don't need a lot of water to grow. Make sure when you do water them try and water them at the very bottom near the roots because water on the leaves can cause a black spot/yellow on the leaves which is a fungus. If you get that just get one of those fungicide spray and spray it on the leaves. Hope that helps.
i was always told in the Marines that there is no such thing as a dumb question..
water ur rose bush once a week if u get no rain! as for u cutting the blooms off.. start at the bloom and follow the stem down to the next set of growth.. be it new leaves or buds and cut right above it! i'll share a good bit of advice with ya too! i've been using a new product out called Bayeradvanced all in one rose and flower care and it's been working wonderfully on my rose bushes! go check it out for urself. and if u like it go get some for urself at ur local walmart or lowes! it's well worth it and it's like magic for ur roses... getting rid of and stopping anything that could go wrong with roses... period! good luck
More Related Questions & Answers...