Rose (Rosa rubiginosa)
Intercultural operations
- The crop requires frequent irrigation during summer months. Also, it is necessary to irrigate it after each pruning.
- Provide drainage channels for ensuring proper drainage.
- Periodical hoeing and weeding is required.
Training
- In the initial growth stages, training has to be done for making an ideal frame work. The plant has to be pruned for the first time during two years after transplanting. It has to be done during the first week of Nov and in the temperate regions during Dec. Cut the plants at 1.5 m height and retains 8-9 branches.
Pruning
- Pruning is an important operation in cultivation of roses. For good flowering in roses a dormant/ rest period is required. In sub-tropical regions heavy pruning ie., cutting at 30- 45 cm from ground level is done during Dec-Jan. Also, soil around the plants were dug and heaped again in Feb. Flowering happens by 70-90 days after pruning.
Objectives of Pruning
- Produce more flower buds and yield
- Desired shape
- Remove injured and diseased parts
- Remove terminal buds
- Change the growth habit
- Encourage bushy habit
- Horizontal expansion
Pruning methods
Annual heavy pruning is essential to insure the prolific bloom and long-life of a rose bush.Pruning of roses is actually done year round. There are two times a year when you prune more seriously, spring and fall.
You will need the following items:
- a good pair of hand pruners (preferably the scissor type, not anvil type)
- a sharp keyhole saw and large loppers
- a heavy pair of leather gloves
- a pruning compound
- a dull knife
Steps to Pruning Roses - Spring
- The first step in spring pruning of Hybrid Teas, Grandifloras, Floribundas and Climbing roses is to remove any canes that are dead or just old and non-productive. These canes are usually gray in color and scaley. To prune hybrid tea and grandiflora roses follow certain principles including:
- High pruning for more flowers earlier or low pruning for fewer, bigger flowers later
- Pruning to remove weak and crisscrossing canes
- Removing growth an inch below a canker
- Removal of damaged, dead, or broken canes back to healthy growth
- Removing sucker growth as close as possible to main root
This pruning will encourage future "basal" breaks which are the life blood of any rose bush. Basal breaks refer to new shoots, soon to be producing canes, which arise from the graft union. These should not be confused with "suckers" which arise from the rootstock below the graft union. Remove all suckers.
- The next step involves taking a good look at the bud union. If you have any old, dry scaley wood on the union, remove it. Use the dull knife to scrape the bud union to remove the scaley wood. By doing this it will again make it possible for new basal breaks to come about.
- Beginning to fine tune the pruning, remove all twiggy growth on the remaining canes. (Note: The fine tune pruning on climbing roses should be done after they bloom in the spring.) Try to clean out the middle of the bush as much as possible. This allows for good air circulation to prevent insects and disease.
- Now you are ready to prune on the good healthy canes. With the early flush of growth on the roses the most important procedure this year is to prune each cane back to a dormant bud. A bud that has already begun growth will continue to grow vigorously and bloom very little. A dormant, non-growing bud will initiate growth after pruning and will produce an abundance of blooms.
One comment always heard is to "prune to an outside bud." The basic technique for most pruning is to cut 1/4 inch above the nearest outward-facing bud with the cut at a 45-degree angle (the higher point above the bud). This means when picking the point on a given cane to cut back to, make sure there is a good bud on the cane facing toward the outside of the plant. This will insure the growth of the new bud is to the outside, therefore keeping the center of the rose bush clear and open for air circulation.
Another guideline in pruning back an individual cane is to cut the cane at the point when the diameter of the cane is the size of a pencil or slightly larger. Because of the need to prune back to a dormant bud, the size of the cane may be larger and the cane length may be shorter. If old and large canes have been removed to the bud union, it is a good practice to seal these large cuts. This helps prevent insects and diseases from infecting the cuts. Smaller canes in many cases don't need to be sealed. Use some sort of sealing compound such as orange shellac or even Elmer's glue.
- When pruning is completed remove any old foliage left on the canes and spray with a mixture of Funginex or Benomyl and Orthene or Diazinon as a clean up spray. Spray the entire bush and the ground around the bush.
