How to prune roses for the winter: basic rules for amateur gardeners

Roses are considered the most striking decoration of any garden. To ensure abundant flowering of these flowers, they need to be pruned in the winter. Please note that not all varieties needs to be trimmed. For example, ancient varieties of garden roses bloom only once during the entire summer. Therefore, by winter, flower wood itself has time to ripen well and prepare for winter. But varieties such as Chinese, Bourbon and tea roses require not only pruning, but also shelter.

The winter hardiness of roses can be determined by their color. The most fragile and weakest roses are yellow ones. White flowers have average frost resistance, and pink-red ones are the most cold-resistant roses. Flowers need to be trimmed in late autumn, just before sheltering. It is advisable to do this on a windless and clear day.

Content:

• Basic rules for pruning
• Types of pruning depending on the variety
• Rose pruning procedure
• How to cover roses for the winter

Basic rules for pruning

Pruning is done only with sharp pruning shears, since a blunt instrument can make a ragged cut or even crush the stem. Such stems will take a very long time to heal due to infection. Too tight shoots cut down with a special hacksaw. The cut is made near the bud that has not yet sprouted. The distance between the cut and the bud is about 0.5 cm.

The stem should be cut at a certain angle so that water drains from it.Thus, the cut site will not be affected by various infections. To prevent shoots from crossing, pruning should be done on the outer bud. In this case, the center of the bush will be well lit and ventilated. The stems should be shortened to a white core. Pruning is best done on a clear sunny day.

Pruning roses is necessary for their overall strengthening. Also, carrying out this procedure provides the buds and stems with access to light and ventilation of the crown. Pruning old branches causes new buds to form, which produce large flowers and strong shoots. You can prune not only adult bushes, but also young seedlings. It is very important to remember that immature shoots cannot be left for the winter, otherwise they will rot under cover. This will directly lead to disease and fungal infection.

Types of pruning depending on the variety

To improve your garden every year, during the pruning process you need to pay attention to the type of flowers. There are three types trimmings roses:

1. Long trim. After shortening the stem, fairly long shoots with buds remain at its base. This pruning is used for rose varieties such as Bengal, English and park roses. Thanks to long pruning, roses bloom earlier. But this type of pruning has one drawback. If flowers are cut in this way for several years in a row, their shape is lost and the color becomes less abundant.
2. Medium trim. The shoots are cut to 35 cm, leaving about five buds at the base. This pruning causes active growth of young shoots. Types of roses such as English and park roses cannot be pruned.
3. Short cut.It is done in the most extreme cases, since as a result the frost resistance of the plant is significantly reduced. Short pruning of roses involves cutting off the shoot completely, leaving only one base. This type of pruning is used for varieties prone to tillering.

Rose pruning procedure

First of all, you need to tear off all the leaves on the flowers. You should also remove all small growing shoots that are wild rose sprouts. If you do not remove these shoots, the bush may degenerate over time. You should also eliminate all old and dry, frequently growing shoots. This also applies to immature shoots, which, when rotting, affect fungus the whole bush.

Pruning roses for the winter on video:

Ideally, a pruned plant should have three or four young shoots. The next stage of pruning is to dig up the area under the roses. Shoots of climbing varieties need to be bent to the ground and covered with spruce branches.

How to cover roses for the winter

Air-dry method. Rose bushes are sprinkled with ash and fenced with wooden shields. Next, the rows of flowers are covered with film on top, and with the onset of severe cold, the ends are also sealed with film. The space formed between the shields must be filled with peat or earth. Covering with roofing felt.

Roofing felt roofing felt has a complex, but very reliable design. To create a special frame, you need to install a frame made of reinforcement above the rose bushes. Roofing felt is installed on top of the frame, leaving open ends. When the air temperature cools to -10 degrees, the ends of the structure should be covered with roofing felt.

The structure must be removed gradually starting in March, and its complete removal occurs in the month of May.

Preliminary shelter roses, you need to start in mid-October. This must be done using pine spruce branches. Laying is carried out in dry weather, at temperatures above six degrees. Just before covering the roses, they need to be treated with a solution of copper sulfate. If the flowers are affected by rust, this solution should be more concentrated. After processing, the bushes are covered with peat. After this, all plants are covered with film.