Help with pruning new tree roses

8 years ago

I received 6 ~36" tree roses from J&P 3 weeks ago, They are planted in 20" planters and have done great so far. I have kept them in a semi shaded location and have only moved them into the sun for a few hours a few days ago. Some of the tips of the new growth were wilting slightly after being in the sun, so after a few hours, I moved them back into the shade.

They all have healthy growth on them, and some of the growth is getting around 12". How shall I go about pruning them so that they are not too top heavy? And, also to get flowers. The variety is April in Paris, if anyone wants to know, or has some experience with that rose. I am terrible at pruning because there is so much I don't know or understand.

My regular rose garden is still in the recovering stages from rose midge last year. I have some new growth, but nothing remarkable, and most still don't even look like rose bushes, because of hardly any new growth. I have treated the ground and put down black plastic poked with holes under the plants. Since that is there, I cannot feed with Garden Tone like I have in the past. I am going to use Montys Premium Growth 6-16-8 on them. Is anyone familiar with this plant food? I am wondering how often to fertilize them, and if I should do a combination of foliar and root feedings.

Sorry for the double questions in this post. The longer I have roses, the more I realize what I don't know. Thanks to anyone who can help.

Featured Answer

oldrosarian

8 years ago

Tree roses require a lot of extra small pruning sessions because you are pruning to keep it under a certain size and shape all the time. So you don't do a regular hard type pruning until the fall for winter. Keep snapping the dead flower heads off with your fingers. The stem will dieback and another rose will come. Basically after the first flush of blooming when most of the flowers are dead in mid summer, cut back the canes that flowered, to about 8 inches from a thicker and older cane. Those will be a greyish brown not green. This will give you a better second flush of blooms.

Try to keep the centre of the tree bush open. Don't let tall or crossover canes grow. Cut those right back to a main cane from where they started from in the center. What you want is sort of a bowl look with the growth mainly coming from around the outside. Keep an eye out for growth starting on the stem and rub it off with your fingers as soon as it starts. When you see a cane shooting up to the sky, just prune it back even with the rest. This type of snip snip pruning doesn't activate the rose like the harder types do. So don't get worried if you think you made a mistake. The rose will cover it up for you. Finally stand where you will be admiring the rose and if a piece looks sticking out, cut it back.

Tree roses require more water than a bush. Also don't give it any high strength fertilizer. You want slow and steady growth or you will get a tree rose hard to keep under control. Slow release 14-14-14 is a good one.

In the fall, that is the time to cut the rose back harder. All new growth down to 6 inches from the main cane it grew from and any dead or diseased looking canes.

If you are taking your trees in good, if not then use bubble wrap around the tops.

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Comments (6)

Rosylady (PNW zone 8)
8 years ago
Thank you oldrosarian! I have 4 standard (tree) roses planted in my rose garden. They are new to me and I have been wondering about pruning. I have also noticed that they seem to need much more water than the roses in the ground.

Donna...are you keeping your rose trees in pots permanently?
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summersrhythm_z6a
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I have 106 rose trees in pots after the JP sale last month. It was such a good deal couldn’t stop from buying more. Lol For the new trees I just let them grow for now without any trimming, there are 2 trees out of 67 purchase are still no growth yet, only have 2 grafted canes on each tree,, poor little things, but I still have some hopes in them. I moved 34 Crush on You trees to the countryside to join the 16 KO trees, since I am only there on the weekends, I put a baking tray (for turkeys) under each rose tree that potted in smaller pots, and fill the tray with some water each weekend, so they won’t dry out during the week in full sun, the ones in bigger pots (25-30 gal), I just water them through on the weekend, they catch the rain during the week, it rains a lot here. Planning to move 20 more rose trees to the country because I am out of room in the suburb. Lol
Donna R zone 6a thanked summersrhythm_z6a
Donna R zone 6a
Original Author
8 years ago
Thank you, oldrosarian. I am wondering how to treat the new growth that sprouted from the dormant, grafted top part that was bare when I received them. The new green growth is now 12"-14" long, with small buds forming at the ends. Should I be cutting that growth back by a half or not? The new growth is smaller than a pencil in width. Thanks to anyone who can help.
oldrosarian
8 years ago
Let it grow and flower so you can enjoy it now but prune it back hard in the fall. Now is the time that your tree rose will make healthy, new growth. If you cut the new growth back now, you will have to wait until it starts to replace what you cut off. It takes over a month for a rose to make a cane and flower. That means you will be waiting into the August heat to sniff your new rose blooms. Roses make much better and stronger growth is the late spring type of weather.
Donna R zone 6a thanked oldrosarian
Donna R zone 6a
Original Author
8 years ago
Rosylady~ yes, I will be keeping the tree roses in the pots permanently. I live in NE Ohio and the winter weather can be sub zero for weeks at a time. I would have to cut the roots on 3 sides and lay them down and heavily mulch for them to live through the winter. I don't want to bother with that. My hubby and I are not spring chickens, and will be moving to a smaller home sometime in the future. If I mange to keep them alive, I would like to take them with us.