How to Prune Bush Roses

Bush roses are plants that can adorn any yard or garden without requiring much care. However, they also need seasonal pruning to grow healthy and beautiful. Bush roses need a large pruning in early spring and trim the rest of the year as needed. Give your plants a final light pruning before they go into dormancy, and they’ll be ready to come back to life next year.

Table of Contents

Pruning roses properly

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Look for sharp beaked pruners. Curved beak pruners act like scissors, so they are preferred over straight beaks that often break branches. Clean and neat cuts are essential to keeping the plant healthy. ^{[1] X Research Source}

If you don’t have pruners, you can use large hedge shears. The umbrella cutting tool of any kind needs to be sharp for the cut to be neat and clean.
If you need to cut branches larger than 1.3 cm in diameter, change to a larger size plier. ^{[2] X Research Source}
Disinfect the plier with rubbing alcohol or bleach diluted with water.

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Wear gloves to protect hands and arms. For safe and effective pruning of bush roses, you need a pair of elbow-length gardening gloves. Gloves should be thick enough to protect the skin from the thorns of the rosebush. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Don’t try to prune roses without protection – it’s better to wear a pair of regular wrist-length gloves than bare hands.

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Disinfect pruning pliers before starting pruning. While pruning, you should stop from time to time to dip the pruners into the cleaning solution. Any household cleaning product will work. Properly disinfected pruning shears will help reduce the risk of spreading pathogens from one tree to another. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Get in the habit of disinfecting tools regularly, no matter how much or how little you trim.
You can also use a disinfecting solution that includes 70% rubbing alcohol diluted with water.

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Cut branches at a 45-degree angle. You should cut about 0.6 cm above the point where the leaf buds emerge and diagonally away from the bud. This will encourage new shoots to grow outward instead of inward. You need to apply this technique regardless of the time of year or the size of the branches that need pruning. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

An angled cut will prevent water from getting into the branch, thereby reducing the risk of fungal rot.
Leaf buds can be shocked if you cut too close, but if you cut too far from the bud, the plant will be forced to expend energy on old branches that are no longer able to sprout new shoots.

Do a large pruning in early spring

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Wait until the plant’s second or third growing season. Bush roses that are close to full-grown size will be more resilient when you prune the entire bush. Your flower bush needs to be about 1.2m high and 1.2m wide before you start pruning.

Fully mature rose bushes will need a large pruning around mid-February to early March. In contrast, young rosebushes only need to be pruned during the growing season to remove dead or dying branches. ^{[6] X Research Source}
Bush roses may need a large pruning every two to three years, depending on the growth rate of the plant and the size of the rose bush you want to maintain.

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Prune the plant as soon as the shoots emerge after the dormant period. Notice how little buds begin to form along the branches. If the buds are puffy but the leaf buds have not appeared, you can prune the plant. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

The main pruning time for bush roses is in late winter or early spring, just before the plant prepares for a new growing season. ^{[8] X Research Sources}
You can still prune the tree even after it has sprouted. Buds can begin to form early if winters are mild. In this case, cut those shoots close to the first dormant bud.

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Start by cutting off any overlapping branches. Cut off one or both branches as needed to keep the tree upright and in vertical structure. The branches won’t slam against each other when you create gaps inside. This also helps the tree to be stronger, live longer, and also create a neat shape for the tree. ^{[9] X Research Source}

By pruning your rosebush less dense, you can rest assured that the plant will continue to grow beautiful new shoots all year long.
Pruning away branches or overgrown branches also helps increase air circulation through the rose bush, making it less susceptible to fungal infections. ^{[10] X Research Source}

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Cut off a third or half of the flower bush’s total branches. You can cut off a significant number of healthy shoots without worrying about damage to the plant. This way, the plant will not have to put too much nutrients into maintaining the overgrown canopy and will flower more. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Note that bush roses will thrive after pruning. As a general rule, you need to cut the plant 30-60 cm below its final height to your liking. ^{[12] X Research Source}
Be careful not to over-prun. If you cut more than half of the healthy mature branches, the tree will have to concentrate on regrowing the lost branches and resulting in stunted growth.

Maintenance of rose bushes in late spring and summer

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Prune the tree during the growing season. Occasionally trim the rose bushes as they grow outward to stimulate the plant to gather energy and grow beautiful new shoots. With just a little bit of attention, you’ll get a fuller bloom before entering a season with shorter days.

Avoid pruning heavily during the hot summer weather. Your rose bush is already under stress from the summer heat, so it’s weaker when it loses too many healthy branches.

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Remove diseased and damaged branches. Any part of the plant showing signs of disease should be treated immediately to prevent the disease from spreading. Similarly, old and brittle branches also create conditions for insects, mold and bacteria to attack the tree and should be removed as soon as possible. ^{[15] X Research Source}

During a tree’s growing season, the main purpose of pruning is to keep the tree healthy and growing. You can do this by removing unhealthy parts of the plant that can cause problems if left untreated.

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Remove dead or faded flowers to prolong the blooming season. You should cut off dead or fallen flowers to make room for new flowers to bloom. Cut the flower stalks close to the cluster of 5 leaflets below the inflorescence. You will see a new batch of flowers appear in place of the cut flowers in just a few weeks. ^{[16] X Research Source}

Usually, you will cut the branch about 15-20 cm below the flower.
When the weather is extremely hot, you should only cut off the first cluster of leaves instead of cutting a long branch.
Pruning dead flowers is a necessary step to keep the rose bush healthy and beautiful.

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Try to maintain an even shape of the tree. If there are a few fast-growing shoots that are taller than the surrounding ones, trim the longer ones to give the branches an even height. Repeat this operation on all sides of the tree. If not pruned, the plant will grow around and begin to grow. ^{[17] X Research Source}

In addition to the upward direction, new branches extend outward and grow underneath the tree in spring and summer. These “stubborn” low-growing shoots need to be cut short.

Prune trees before winter

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Prune the tree one last time before the first frost of the year, if you wish. Ideally, you should prune your tree in late summer or during the first few weeks of fall, when the weather is still warm. When it gets cold, the new shoots will begin to shrink as the plant prepares to enter a dormant period. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

Stop pruning bush roses as late as early fall. Any new shoots that grow after this time may not be strong enough to survive the winter. ^{[19] X Research Source}
It may be good for your rose bush if it gets a little rest before it starts a new growing season.

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Remove dead branches. Similar to the procedure during the summer, you should carefully inspect the tree again to identify weak, diseased, or dying branches. Otherwise, the disease can spread throughout the rose bush left unchecked and kill the plant when winter arrives. ^{[20] X Research Sources}

At this point, you should only remove as few branches as possible.
Avoid disturbing the young branches. You should avoid accidentally stimulating new shoots, causing them to die and weaken the plant. ^{[21] X Research Source}

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Reduce the overall height of the rose bush. Just before the tree enters dormancy, you can trim about a third of its overall height. Focus on the branches that grow tall and don’t follow the general shape of the bush. You also need to pay attention to non-flowering branches that extend beyond the top of the tree and the side edges of the tree. ^{[22] X Research Source}

If the tree has barely reached its ideal height during the growing season, it’s best to prune a little.
You don’t have to challenge the tree by pruning in the fall; Many gardeners even skip this pruning.

Advice

Bush roses can grow three times in size during the growing season. Keep this in mind when deciding on the height and shape of the rosebush.
Instead of throwing away the cut branches that have beautiful flowers, you can put the flower stems in a vase to display in the house.
Have a wheelbarrow ready to transport freshly cut branches.

Things you need

Curved beak plier
Hedge pruning shears, pruning plier (optional)
Elbow-length gardening gloves
Cleaning solution (to disinfect pruners)

Steps