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Climbing rose mme alfred carriere pruning question

ClimberissueClimberissue Posts: 6
in Plants


hi all,

I pillared my 2 year old climbing rose in June, removing several canes and angling the remaining ones at 45 degrees round the pillar. As expected, the buds all opened and loads of laterals have appeared. 

I’ve seen lots of warnings about water sprouts on roses and can’t work out whether these are desirable laterals or undesirable water sprouts.

Should I be cutting these new shoots back to shorter lengths or should I just leave them and work on them in winter? 

Posts

  • MarlorenaMarlorena Posts: 8,705
    ..sorry you've not had a reply so far, but I would keep all those shoots and train them to form the framework.. should they produce buds and flower this autumn, I can't see any sign of that right now, then I would be pruning them back by half in the winter..
    ... presumably you want the rose to grow taller and across those beams but old roses like these are best left alone in the early years to form themselves without too much interference from the gardener, as they don't always flower well when young.. experiences vary from garden to garden though..

    ...there's no right or wrong, just according to what you are trying to achieve, and if I'm honest it's not the best rose for a pergola due to that habit of growth, so you will always be wondering just what to do with it, but best of luck..
    East Anglia, England
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    The long shoots grown up from the main cane you have pillared (second photo) are flowering laterals, so definitely desirable, even if they are quite long, maybe reaching for the light or perhaps just typical of this rose’s growth habit.

    I must admit I have never heard the term ‘water sprouts’ applied to roses. A bit of googling and it seems some other countries use the term water sprouts/water shoots to mean new basal growth from the selected rose variety, in this case Mme. A.C. (desirable) or suckers from the different rose used as the rootstock (undesirable). One site seemed to think water sprouts were laterals (again, desirable). So I think that term is extremely confusing, unhelpful and probably best forgotten!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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