Valcine: Watering and Pruning Rose Bushes

Rose bushes are best watered by soaking their roots and not by spraying sprinklers. In my rose bed my roses are watered by bubblers. When rose bush leaves are constantly exposed to moisture, especially in the evening and not allowed to dry before sunset, it increases the risk of mold forming on the leaves and rotting them. When temperatures are in the 70 -85 degrees I typically water my rose bushes with a thorough soaking every 3 - 4 days. When temperatures increase about 86 degrees I run the sprinkler system three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The best watering practices are to water the roses deeply and thoroughly a few times a week instead of giving them a shallow watering daily.

As for pruning, don't ever be afraid to dead head your rose bushes (remove spent roses, roses that are faded and whose petals are falling off). Spent roses use up the rose bushes energy which would be better used in putting forth new blooms. However, there is a proper way to dead head your roses. You should cut the bloom right above the node (bump) that is pushing forth on the stem right at the closest five leaf section. Roses bloom on new growth so trimming off spent blooms encourages the rose to put forth new blooms.

Being the busy woman that I am, I try to dead head my rose bushes at least once a week but occasionally I get busy and stretch it to two weeks. Here are some pictures taken before and after pruning spent roses. The last pruning session was done two weeks prior.

Before