The Ultimate Guide To Pruning Roses In Fall

Your roses have given you their best blooms throughout the spring and summer and now it’s your turn to get them ready for next season. One of the tasks is fall pruning. Pruning your roses keeps the plant healthy by removing dead, broken, or diseased canes and can help train climbing roses to a desired shape. Follow this guide to pruning roses in the fall to learn the best tools to use, timing, and tips.

When Should You Prune Roses in Fall? 

Most roses are pruned in the late fall when they are dormant and again after blooming to maintain the proper shape, produce the most blooms for cutting, and help prevent disease. The most dramatic pruning is done in late fall and early spring. 

Fall pruning should be done after the first hard frost and once the rose has dropped most of its leaves. Pruning any earlier can encourage new growth that will be damaged by cold temperatures. Wait until the rose is dormant. 

Tools and Equipment Needed

• Heavy canvas or leather gloves: Thorns are sharp so you need heavy gloves. As an added protection, wear a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, and sturdy shoes.
• Bypass hand pruners: These hand pruners use a scissor action that leaves a sharp cut on a rose cane. Anvil-action hand pruners tend to leave crushed stems that are more susceptible to disease.
• Long-handled loppers: These can help prevent excessive stabs from the thorns and reach deeper into the plant.
• Pruning saw: Large, heavy stems may require a pruning saw to complete a clean cut.
• Waste container: Unless you strip away the thorns, you probably don’t want to compost rose canes. Bag and dispose of them properly

Preparing for Pruning

Before you start to work, mix a solution of 30 percent water and 70 percent rubbing alcohol to clean and sanitize each tool. Dip the tool blades in the solution to help prevent the spread of disease and the eggs of insects. Rake or brush back fallen leaves and mulch so that you can see the base of the rose.

Pruning Techniques for Roses in the Fall

Follow these general guidelines for fall pruning rose bushes:

1. Cut off the top third of the plant growth to better see the structure of the bush. 
2. Prune away small twiggy growth and dead, diseased, or crossing canes.
3. Remove suckers (shoots that grow from the stem below the bud union) by cutting off close to the stem or by digging down to where suckers start and pulling them off with a downward motion.
4. Remove canes in the center of the rose to create a vase shape that allows good airflow in the center of the bush to help prevent disease.
5. Choose 3-6 strong, healthy, outside canes per plant to keep and leave 3-5 buds on each cane. 
6. New shoots will grow in the direction that the top bud points. Try to cut just above an outside bud. Cut on the diagonal about 1/4-inch above the bud.

How to Identify and Remove Dead Canes

When you make the first cuts to reduce the rose bush by one-third, the center of rose canes should be white and plump. Dead canes look brown and withered and should be removed.

Tips for Pruning Different Types of Roses

Hybrid Teas 

Modern reblooming roses are usually pruned in the early spring just as the buds begin to swell. However, fall pruning to remove diseased or dead canes is important. Reducing the height of the rose by one-third will also help prevent damage from winter winds and snow.

Floribundas

While you will have fewer total blooms, prune floribundas hard in the spring if you want large blooms suitable for cut flowers. Old garden rose varieties require very little pruning. Simply remove only the oldest stems that are no longer productive.

Climbing Roses

Climbing roses should not be pruned in the fall except to remove broken branches. Most climbers produce flowers on stems that are at least one year old. Prune in the spring just after they flower to control the shape of the rose.

Landscape Roses (Knock Out): 

These roses can grow up to four feet high. To keep them from looking scraggly, prune them back to around 30 inches after the first hard freeze. New growth will quickly appear in the spring.

Aftercare and Maintenance

When you are finished pruning, clean up the area carefully. Stem and leaf clippings can carry diseases and insect eggs that overwinter and cause problems in the spring. Some gardeners remove every leaf remaining on the newly pruned rose as a precaution.

Consider applying an insecticidal soap or horticultural oil after pruning to smother scale and insect eggs to the dormant roses. Do not fertilize or heavily water fall-pruned roses. You don’t want to encourage new growth as winter begins. Use finely shredded pine bark to mulch the roses to a depth of about six to eight inches. 

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Never pruning roses. Allowing any rose to grow wildly without pruning will leave the plant overgrown and open to damage from winds, heavy snow, insects, and disease.
• Over-pruning in the fall. It is important to know what type of rose you are pruning and avoid cutting it back too much. Over-pruning will reduce the number of spring and summer blooms and can stress the plant so much it cannot survive the winter.
• Dirty tools. Pruners, loppers, and saws should be sanitized with a 70 percent alcohol solution before making the first cut. Clean again before you move to the next rose to prevent the spread of disease.
• Making straight pruning cuts. All pruning cuts should be at an angle to help water run off the rose stem more quickly. Straight cuts allow water to stand and rot the stem.