On the threshold of advancing cold weather, beginning gardeners are in doubt: should a rose be cut in the fall? Agrotechnists believe that in conditions of a moderate climatic belt, it is necessary to cut roses for the winter, as without this annual procedure one should not wait for abundant flowering. The fact is, pruning rose bushes for the winter increases the cold resistance of a tender plant and stimulates the appearance of new strong shoots.
What roses are cut for the winter?
Not all roses need pruning and shelter for the winter. Old varieties of garden roses bloom once a summer and early finish growth, which allows the wood to mature properly and prepare for wintering. Hybrid types of roses, which were bred not so long ago, as well as individual species (Chinese, tea and Bourbon roses) need pruning and shelter. Experienced gardeners offer to judge the winter hardiness of roses by their color: the most delicate - yellow varieties, white have average frost resistance, pink-red flowers are best tolerated by cold.
When to cut roses?
The timing of cutting roses in the fall varies depending on the geography of the location, but the general recommendation - to carry out this operation is necessary before the shelter of flowers for the winter. In the middle band - this is usually the end of October - the beginning of November. Carry pruning is desirable in a sunny day without wind.
How to cut roses for the winter?
That the autumn pruning has passed with advantage for a flowering plant, it is necessary to know how to cut roses for the winter. In the event that the leaves were not removed in advance, they must be cut off before the shelter. When processing any varieties of roses, you should remove all the sprouts growing below, which are sprouts of wild roses, to which the decorative form of the flower was planted. If these shoots are not removed, the rose bush will gradually degenerate. It is also necessary to eliminate dry, old (stiff, with a lot of lateral processes), weak, too often growing shoots. It is also recommended to clean and unseen shoots, which, being under cover, rot and infect the whole bush with fungus. Ideally, the garden plant should have 3 to 4 developed young shoots. Further, the land under the roses is carefully dug in order not to hurt the roots. Shoots of stiff varieties of roses are bent to the ground, pinned, the rest of the cropped bushes immediately covered with lapnik and dry foliage. The thickness of the shelter should be more than 10 cm. You can install a frame, on top and on the side, covering with a heater of cardboard or hydrothermal insulation paper. In the end, everything is covered with polyethylene.
How to cut roses correctly?
There are certain agrotechnical rules for pruning:
- you need to use a sharp pruner, the use of a blunt instrument is fraught with the fact that it is possible to accidentally crush the stems and make an uneven cut, which will not soon heal, or escape will wither away;
- the thickest shoots are cut by a hacksaw;
- pruning is important to produce clean, disinfected solution of potassium permanganate to prevent infection. The place of the cut can be poured with garden gauze ;
- pink bushes are cut by a third or even half from the size to white (healthy) wood;
- the stalk is cut at an incline so that moisture easily drains from it, and there was no stagnation of water in the damaged area;
- so that the shoots do not cross, the trimming should be done on the external kidney;
- cropped leaves and remote shoots are burned, and flower bushes are treated with a 3% solution of Bordeaux fluid .
Properly conducted pruning, as the main part of preparing roses for the winter, will allow the plant to be refreshed in the best way in the spring.