Climbing roses: if you want flowers covering the whole wall, should old branches be cut off when pruning?

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• This is day 895 of Lanyao's daily original articles
• Rose cultivation series articles: No. 92

When Lanyao previously shared how to quickly create a flower wall with climbing roses, it was mentioned: pay attention to protecting the growth of basal shoots, so that the basal shoots can replace the old branches.

Yesterday a flower friend asked Lanyao this question:

For a climbing rose that has already been trained for 3-4 years, during winter pruning, do the original old branches need to be replaced with current-year branches?

Lanyao thinks this flower friend's question is very good. Today Lanyao will use this as a starting point to briefly introduce the issue of renewing climbing rose plants.

When it comes to climbing rose flower walls, many people admire them greatly. Some flower friends already have their own flower walls. So for a flower wall that has already taken shape, how should we prune in winter?

What kind of old branches should be cut off, and what kind of branches can be kept?

To figure this out, we first need to understand why we should protect the strong basal shoots of climbing roses.

The effect of a climbing rose flower wall depends on pulling branches horizontally, prompting the buds on the same branch to sprout and bloom at the same time, thereby achieving the flower wall effect.

From this technique, we can imagine that if one branch needs to sprout many buds at the same time and also bloom at the same time, then the branch must be very strong, because even if a weak branch can sprout new buds at the same time, it cannot produce flower buds and bloom.

Through this analysis, let us look again at what kind of branches can be kept and what kind of branches cannot be kept?

Generally, after climbing roses bloom, we prune off 1/3 of the plant's height to leave room for growth.

After pruning, some branches will sprout strong buds from lower positions. For this kind of branch that has grown strong buds, during winter pruning, it can be cut back to just above the strong branch.

As for those old branches that have not sprouted strong branches, we can prune them as appropriate.

Generally, old branches older than 3 years should be pruned off,

Next, old branches that grow weakly should also be cut off.

Furthermore, when there are many basal shoots and strong branches sprouting, old branches with average growth vigor and dense branches also need to be cut off to enhance the plant's air circulation.

Rose pruning is a very flexible matter. You can prune according to the condition of the plant and the size of your own space, but one point needs attention:

Do not prune heavily after flowering! Heavy pruning after flowering can easily make the plant grow thin and weak! In winter, first choose strong branches for training, and cut off all the remaining weaker branches, whether new or old, that have no space to be placed.

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