Pruning roses for the winter: how to prune roses correctly and in what month

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Most modern garden rose varieties cannot stand too cold temperatures. Therefore, with the approach of frost, the florist must think about how to cut the roses for the winter and build a shelter for them. Practical advice from experienced gardeners and videos will help you understand all the intricacies of the process, avoid gross mistakes that lead to the death of even the most hardy varieties.

You should not do a complete pruning of shoots in the fall.

Why crop

We will find out for what purpose the autumn pruning of roses is carried out.

Giving a neat look

Over time, the rose bush grows, sometimes significantly. Shoots branch, start to stick out chaotically, in different directions. Without pruning, the shrub will take on an unkempt, sloppy look. Old branches dry up, which also does not add beauty to the plant. Competent pruning allows you to give the rose the correct shape, make the shrub compact, neat.

Getting rid of pests and diseased shoots

In the shoots of roses that begin to dry, pests often start, they lay their larvae in the tissues of the plant. If you do not get rid of dry branches, the larvae will overwinter safely and hit the rose next spring. The same situation is with diseased shoots - by cutting them off in time, you will protect the plant from further spread of infection.

Extending the life of a shrub and preserving its decorative effect

If the rose is already aged, the question arises of anti-aging pruning. This radical procedure allows you to fill the plant with new strength, activate its vitality, make it more beautiful and luxuriantly blooming.

Stimulation of the regrowth of new shoots

Having pruned the rose before winter, by the spring you will get a plant ready for the formation of new numerous shoots. Thus, you can make the rose bush more lush, branched, decorative.

Preservation of nutrients

Removing some of the shoots will preserve nutrients and moisture for the main plant. Thus, in the next growing season, larger rose buds and an active, continuous flowering of the plant can be obtained. Without reducing the number of flowering shoots, large buds cannot be seen.

Preparing for shelter

If the rose is not cut in the fall, it will be quite difficult to hide it under cover. Especially if the bush has grown significantly. In addition, a too dense crown with many branches creates favorable conditions for waterlogging under cover and the development of a fungal infection. Cropping will help avoid this problem.

Proper preparation of roses for winter in the Moscow region

Before taking shelter, rose bushes must be properly prepared. This process includes several stages:

Pruning.
Stop watering.
Cleaning a bush from leaves.
Fertilizing and spraying.
Hilling.

IMPORTANT ADVICE!
All these procedures must be performed before the shelter, then the plant will not get sick and calmly endure the winter.

Pruning roses in the suburbs, before winter

In autumn, roses need pruning for:

health improvement bush;
rejuvenation, occurs by removing old, superfluous and young shoots;
formation the correct shape of the bush;
thinning strongly thickened bush. This is important for better air circulation and penetration of the sun's rays.

When to prune

If we are talking about pruning in the autumn, then it is important to carry out this procedure before the onset of frost. Thus, in each climatic zone of our country, the terms will be different. Try to shorten the shoots before the average daily temperature drops below -2 degrees.

It's too early, however, you can't cut it either. The fact is that with early pruning, shoots can begin to give out new buds, which will freeze and rot during the winter. The optimal timing, therefore, is mid-October-early November.

Optimal timing

To prevent such a development of events, each grower needs to clarify how and when to cover roses in the Moscow region. Regardless of the variety, the rose is considered a very strong and cold-resistant plant, capable of surviving a serious drop in temperature (up to minus 15 degrees Celsius). If the bush has been exposed to frost for a long time, it will die. Short-term frosts are not terrible for culture.

A more dangerous phenomenon for roses is the debate, which happens when they are sheltered too early for the winter, when the ambient temperature is high enough, and the grower has already rushed to cover the bush with insulating material. And if it was not fabric, but synthetics, that was used in its quality, the death of the culture is inevitable. It is almost impossible to avoid such an outcome in case of untimely insulation, so there is no need to rush and start sheltering roses for the winter in the Moscow region at the first lowering of the thermometer marks below zero. Short and not very intense frosts in September do not pose a danger to roses.

Advice!

When choosing a time for shelter, it is important to be guided by the climatic conditions of the region in which the crop is grown. Naturally, flower growers from the south of Primorye can start the procedure at the end of November, while Siberians need to cover the bushes in September.

Is pruning required for the winter?

Often inexperienced gardeners ask themselves this question. And this is logical - after all, in the spring, in any case, pruning is carried out, so is it necessary to disturb the rose in the fall. However, not all so simple. The fact is that spring and autumn pruning has different purposes.

In the spring, roses are cut in order to form a neat shrub, first of all, in the fall, the primary goal of the procedure is to prepare the rose for wintering, shelter.

Advice

Firstly, the shoots that are not fully matured need to be shortened. They usually have a characteristic red tint. It will be difficult for them to survive the winter, so it is better to get rid of them in advance. If the shoot has lost its red tint, but is still immature, this fact can be understood by the flexible thorns. In adults, ripe shoots, the thorns are hard, do not bend, but break.

Those bushes that have bloomed not for the first time may not be pruned. In such plants, as a rule, the wood has time to fully mature to the cold.

All flowers, dried buds and leaves before the shelter should be removed from the shrub. Even if you are pruning and decide not to carry out.

In general, you should not be zealous with pruning in the fall. It would be most correct to carry out the minimum shortening of the shoots - no radical interventions. The fact is that often under cover the upper parts of the branches are cut out, so in the spring they have to be removed. And if you shorten the shoots greatly in the fall, then in the spring there will be no room for "maneuvers". Thus, in the next season, you can get a weakly flowering, insufficiently beautiful and lush plant.

How to properly cover roses for the winter

Regardless of which shelter will be used, there are important points that must be observed:

The covering material should not come into contact with the branches of the roses. To circulate air, you need to leave free space.If this condition is not met, by the spring the rose will begin to sing.

The shelter should not touch the shoots

In regions where the winter is frosty, the covering material is laid in several layers. This will give you maximum protection.
The height of the cap should be significantly higher than the bush itself. Usually, the area of the shelter is made at least a square meter.

Shelter in multiple layers

At what air temperature do you need to start covering roses?

The rose tolerates minor cold snaps. It is important to follow one rule: it is absolutely impossible to cover them too early. Any variety of roses (even the most capricious one) tolerates temperatures down to -5 ° C. But there is no need to wait for the onset of a severe frost, with the freezing of the ground. It is simply impossible to tilt the roses to the ground and fix them.

We must not forget that the Moscow region is famous for sudden frosts.

Features of the shelter of roses for the winter, in the suburbs

All preparatory work before hiding for the winter in the Moscow region begins to be done a little earlier than in other regions.

Land, sawdust, spruce branches and peat are harvested in advance. Air dry shelters have shown good results in this region. This method does not consist in hilling with earth, but covering the bush with sawdust and peat. In the Moscow region they also use:

dry leaves;
spruce branches of coniferous trees;
burlap and rags;
make coverings from slate, plywood and boards.

Pruning rules

Let's get acquainted with the main rules for the autumn pruning of rose bushes.

Choice of tools

Of the cutting tools, the following may come in handy:

a sharply sharpened garden pruner is the best solution;
garden saw - for removing thick branches;
special long-handled scissors - indispensable for shortening the shoots of bush and climbing roses.

In addition to cutting tools, you will also need sturdy garden gloves to protect your hands from thorns. A rubber mat or waterproof knee pads will also come in handy: these simple devices will help you get close to the bush, and perform the procedure more efficiently.

Important: cutting tools must be disinfected with alcohol, another antiseptic or potassium permanganate. This way, you can prevent infection from entering the plant tissue through the slices.

Preparation

Before pruning the rose bush, remove all leaves and dried buds. Not all foliage falls off on its own, and it is absolutely impossible to leave it on the bush for the winter. Leaves can rot under cover, which will lead to the loss of a large number of flowering shoots. You should also remove a layer of mulch from the plant and, if necessary, remove the supports.

What structures are used to shelter plants?

Using a wooden frame to shelter roses Usually, various types of frames are used to cover these perennial shrubs - from iron rods, large plastic vases, wicker baskets, boards, wooden pallets. From above, such structures are covered with non-woven fabric, film, spruce branches, straw or dry leaves.

Types of trimming

Let's get acquainted with the types of pruning roses used in autumn.

Traditional

This option is best suited for beginner gardeners. Traditional pruning is time-tested and in the vast majority of cases leads to excellent results. The harm from it is minimal. The traditional option is more suitable for shortening standard and bush roses.

In this case, you should delete:

all dead, withered shoots to the ground;
sick, rotted to healthy tissue;
root shoots are cut off completely;
unripe shoots are removed to the base.

After the procedure, the rose bush remains only with strong, healthy and fully matured quality shoots. The next step is to simply shorten them according to one of the schemes below.

Easy

The shoots are shortened quite a bit - by about one third of the length. Easy pruning allows for early flowering of the bush in the next season. However, this option cannot be used for several seasons in a row, since the shoots will eventually stretch out strongly and begin to give a small number of buds.

Attention: if roses are grown on city streets or in other places with muddy pollution, exceptionally light pruning is used for them.

Moderate

In this case, all strong shoots are shortened by half, and weak ones by about two-thirds. This option works well for all spray roses. If we are talking about the Floribunda rose, then its moderate pruning implies shortening the old shoots to the base and only lightly pinching the top of the one-year-old shoots.

Strong

This pruning is the most radical, it involves shortening all shoots by 3-4 buds. After the procedure, the branches become approximately 15 centimeters long. Thus, all young roses and hybrid tea varieties used for exhibitions, cutting are cut.

Strong pruning is not at all applicable to Floribunda roses, scrubs and climbing plants. If a hybrid tea or park variety is grown to decorate landscaping, heavy pruning is not used either. The exceptions are cases of plant diseases, the need for rejuvenation.

Description of the procedure

Let's go through all the stages of autumn pruning in its standard version step by step.

The first step is to remove all unripe shoots. They are easily identified by their red tint.
Broken, diseased, damaged shoots are then shortened to the required length or completely cut off.
Weak and thickening branches are also recommended to be cut. Go to leave this stage in the spring if the rosebush is young or weak.
In an adult plant, all shoots older than five years of age are cut out.

Important: make the cuts oblique so that moisture does not accumulate on their surface. The location of the cutting site is half a centimeter or 1 cm above the kidney.

Pruning roses of different types

Let's get acquainted with the features of pruning rose bushes of various varieties.

Climbing

It is important to consider the type of plant when pruning these roses. So, large-flowered varieties should be shortened by one third, and small-flowered varieties most often do not need pruning at all. However, it is recommended to pinch the tops of the shoots in small-flowered varieties for their further bushiness.

Tea-hybrid

Roses of this category are cut either in half or to the height of the shelter (about half a meter from ground level).

Polyanthus

Polyanthus roses are shortened, like hybrid tea varieties: either half of the entire length, or to the height of the shelter frame.

Groundcover

These roses are usually not pruned at all, but only dried buds and foliage are removed.

When to start hiding roses?

After you have decided on frost resistance and came to the conclusion that your roses still require shelter in winter, you need to understand when to start work. Many types of roses perfectly tolerate light frosts and can withstand sub-zero temperatures. We advise you to start preparing and sheltering roses when a stable temperature of -5, -7 C. is established on the street. Do not worry about your seedlings, if temperature drops outside (from + to -), the seedlings need some hardening and preparation for frost - this is for them won't hurt.

Care after pruning

The most important thing after the autumn pruning is to treat the bushes from pests, diseases and prepare for a winter shelter. Roses should be treated with copper-containing preparations, which perfectly protect against fungal and putrefactive infections. However, be careful: it is possible to use funds with grit only at temperatures of +6 degrees and above.

If you did not have time with the "copper" treatment, and the air temperature dropped already below +6 degrees, spray with preparations with iron.

We learned why, when and how to carry out autumn pruning of roses. As you can see, the procedure has a very specific goal - preparation for winter, so you should not neglect it. Performing simple actions, adhering to the algorithm given in the article, you can easily perform the procedure and get a healthy, lush blooming shrub next season.

Why, when and how it is necessary to cover roses for the winter in the Moscow region

Roses begin to prepare for the dormant period in the summer. A very important point is not only the right hiding place, but also the right time. Basically, this procedure is carried out in the last days of October. It is not recommended to do this earlier, because at elevated air temperatures, the process of development of roots and stems can begin. And also due to the fact that the ground at the beginning of autumn is gaining moisture, which can lead to rotting of the root system

Blooming roses - what could be more beautiful?