Roses need a lot of attention and careful care so that you can enjoy the magnificent flowers for a long time. One of the most important care measures is pruning the rose, which - depending on whether it is a one-flowering or a repeat-flowering variety - is carried out either in spring or after flowering in summer. Also very important is the autumn or winter cut, which should help prevent infection with fungal diseases.
In frost, roses should be left alone
Winter is rest time
This fall or winter pruning is done very late in the year, ideally after the growing season but before the first frost. This pruning measure, which is not quite as drastic as the spring pruning, 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 sticks. But be careful: the piling up should be done with compost or soil, never with bark mulch. This mulch material impedes air exchange in the soil and ensures that the soil is poorly aerated.
Last care cut before the winter break
The last cut before winter is not actually a pruning; 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 this plant material must then be carefully removed so that fungi and other undesirable germs cannot settle in the first place - this is also the reason why the cut is carried out at all. Proceed as follows:
- Remove flower heads and foliage.
- Thoroughly cut weak side shoots
- and longer to about two-thirds back.
- It is cut back to just above one eye,
- however, more than just the famous "five eyes" should remain.
Make sure that only clean and sharp cutting tools are used. Also, any fallen (or removed by you) foliage should be collected and disposed of. These piles of leaves are veritable gathering places for a wide variety of fungi and bacteria.
Cut back before sprouting in spring
The most important pruning of roses takes place around the time the forsythia blooms in early spring - at least in the case of roses that bloom more often. Once-blooming roses are generally only cut in summer, as these varieties bloom on two-year-old wood.
tips
To harden off your roses, you should lime them between mid and late August. This measure helps the existing shoots to mature in time before the winter break.