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Secateurs For Roses

VoyagerxpVoyagerxp Posts: 651
edited August 2018 in Tools and techniques
Hey guys recently i've brought 5 David Austin Roses,2 climbers, 1 rambling and 2 shrub roses, first roses i've ever brought. I'm looking for a decent pair of secateurs to use just for roses. Any Suggestions?.

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    edited August 2018
    Felco are the best I've got this Felco model
    You'll also want some good pruning gloves
    These are the best. Had mine 5 yrs now and still impervious to all thorns/prickles.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    I'm not going to recommend any brand make of secateurs as it will depend on how much you want to spend, e.g. I replace mine every year or two, so I buy cheap ones that don't last long... however, I do recommend you get a bypass pruner and not an anvil one... bypass are just so much better for the job in hand, in my opinion... I avoid anvils like the plague I'm afraid..

    As you are new to roses, may I recommend you get yourself a decent pair of gardening gloves, and especially those that offer protection to your arms, they are called 'gauntlet gloves'...  

    Best of luck with your roses....  don't be too disappointed with them in the first season, Austins need time to settle down and show you what they can do... they are water hogs, and until their roots get right down into the soil, they will not show their best..

    East Anglia, England
  • VoyagerxpVoyagerxp Posts: 651
    Thanks Guys
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Felco for me too.  They're not cheap but they'll last a lifetime if cared for and you can buy replacement blades and springs and also send them for servicing if needed.   I did once after Possum left a pair of mine in the compost heap along with all the dead-headed pelargoniums and hostas. A few months in a compost heap did not do them any favours but they're fine now.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    I don't understand the logic of buying cheap secateurs and replacing them every couple of years.  Good secateurs will literally last a lifetime and will save a fortune in the long term.
  • Uncle MortUncle Mort Posts: 77
    I may be stating the obvious here, if you are left handed buy a pair of left handed secateurs. It does make a difference. I would also recommend bypass secateurs.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    I’m with Marlorena on this one, because I’m terrible at looking after tools and always losing them so it makes more sense for me to buy cheap and replace more often. I’m the same with watches, I can manage to scratch the glass in less than 24hrs. 
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • TopbirdTopbird Posts: 8,355
    Felco secateurs are the best out there although I actually have a pair of Wolff Garten ones.
    However, for roses (and most other pruning & snipping jobs) I now use ARS long nosed snips.

    They were recommended to me a few years ago by the head gardener at Peter Beales roses. The team there all have Felco secateurs - but the tool they all use, all day, every day for pruning and dead heading roses are the ARS snips.

    The blade is very sharp (but you do need to keep it sharp) and the snips are light and easy to use. They are also ridiculously cheap at £10 a pair so, if I do lose them in the compost heap, it's not the end of the world.

    Had mine for about 4 years now - have hardly used the regular secateurs since.
    Heaven is ... sitting in the garden with a G&T and a cat while watching the sun go down
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