Roses require a lot of attention and careful care so that you can enjoy the wonderful flowers for a long time. One of the most important care measures is rose pruning, which - depending on whether it is a once-flowering or a repeated-flowering variety - is carried out either in spring or after flowering in summer. Autumn or winter pruning is also very important, as it should help prevent infection with fungal diseases.
When and how should you cut roses in winter?
Pruning roses in winter is ideally done after the growing season but before the first frost. As a precaution, remove weak shoots, flowers and foliage. Cut weak side shoots completely and longer ones by about two thirds. Then pile up the rose well and cover it with fir or spruce branches.
Winter is a time of rest
This autumn or winter pruning is carried out very late in the year, ideally after the growing season but before the first frost. This means that this cutting measure - which is not quite as drastic as the spring cut - is definitely part of the preparations for the winter break. Then pile up the rose well and cover it with plenty of fir or spruce branches. But be careful: piling up should be done with compost or soil, never with bark mulch. This mulching material hinders the exchange of air in the soil and ensures that the soil is less well ventilated.
Last care cut before the winter break
The last cut before winter is not a pruning in the true sense; instead, as a precautionary measure, remove weak, thin shoots, any flowers that may still be present and the rose leaves, if they have not yet been shed. All of this plant material must then be carefully removed so that fungi and other unwanted germs cannot establish themselves in the first place - this is also the reason why the cut is carried out in the first place. Proceed as follows:
- Remove flower heads and foliage.
- Cut weak side shoots completely
- and longer ones about two thirds back.
- This involves cutting back to just above one eye,
- but more than just the famous “five eyes” should remain.
Make sure that only clean and sharp cutting tools are used. In addition, all leaves that have been dropped (or removed by you) should be collected and disposed of. These piles of leaves are real collection points for a wide variety of fungi and bacteria.
Pruning before budding in spring
The most important rose pruning takes place around the time the forsythia is blooming in early spring - at least for the roses that bloom more often. Single-flowering roses are generally only cut in summer, as these varieties bloom on two-year-old wood.
Tip
To harden off your roses, you should lime them between mid and late August. This measure helps the existing shoots to ripen in time before the winter break.
