How to prune roses back in Phoenix. January is the best time to prune your roses in Phoenix and the Desert Southwest.
To start, you will need lopers for larger cuts, small pruners for most of the rose stem cuts, pruning sealant, gloves, a rake, and tarp or trash can. You will want to cut back the rose bushes about 50% so that there is not any leaves left on the bush. You can leave more on newer shrubs until they get more established but do not worry about the shrub since it usually comes back larger within a few short months with beautiful blooms. Make sure that when you are making the cuts to the rose bush that you are cutting at the base of the stem of each branch that you decide to cut. You will not want to leave any bit of the branch from the base of the stem, it will just die and be unhealthy growth for the rose bush. In the video, you can see a quick video on the whole shrub getting cut back and how much debris is left when the pruning is complete.
After the cutting is complete you will want to seal each cut with pruning sealant that you can apply to each cut. You can also use household glue as a home replacement if you do not have sealant. Here is a link to some Bonide 225 Brush Top 16-Ounce Pruning Sealer on Amazon: http://a.co/fA6g2bo
If you do not use sealant at all, the cuts will get holes and not have healthy growth in the future. If you want to know more about roses there is a great organization called the Arizona Rose Society and you can see their year long recommendation for roses here: http://rosegarden.mesacc.edu/document…
Here is also a great blog on rose pruning done by the University of Illinois https://extension.illinois.edu/roses/…
If you have any questions or need help, please contact AMS Landscaping at (602) 944-0421 or check out our website at azlawns.com.
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