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Pruning Very old climbing roses
marinatyu
Posts: 1
Hello from a regular visitor!
Looks like the time has come to seek a specific advice as my looking through the threads doesn't help! 
Could I please have your advice on what to do with mega-old climbing roses in my new orchard - they are huge, the trunks are as thick as my legs! All the new growth is now on the ends and from the lawn they look like huge rose bushes, but they are climbers...just very old climbers 
literally any advice is appreciated, as I can't figure out what to do!
Thanking you in advance for your input!
0
Posts
Goodness me they are old and overgrow. The best advice I've come across about the pruning and caring of roses has come from a guy called Paul Zimmerman. He has videos on YouTube which although a bit old and the quality isn't great, the advice is absolutely Superb. He also has a website called paulzimmermanroses.com. If he can't help you perhaps someone on the forum can.
As with any pruning, start with cutting out dead or diseased wood. Then cut out any branches that rub against another. Then stand well back and have a look at it. Take off any flowered shoots to about a foot from the branch they start at, leaving a new shoot to flower next year. If it is still congested , I would take out a third of older wood back to around six foot. I suspect if you cut too hard back into the trunks, you may lose it.
Last edited: 26 January 2017 23:17:34
And when you've cut them back - however hard you choose to do it - don't forget to feed with Fish, Blood & Bone and mulch with well rotted farmyard manure. Roses that age will have emptied the soil of most nutrition and you want them to have enough energy to make lots of new growth.
Maybe take some cuttings too?
Let us know how you get on.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
looking at the tree that looks like it might have seen better days too, remember to take out any dead wood, if anything it'll help with getting the tangle of rose out of the way!
I would get a qualified tree surgeon to have a look before I did anything drastic. They will at least know if the tree is worth saving and can clear away all the resulting crud from pruning, should you accept his or her quote for the work.
If you choose to do it yourself then the advice above for taking out all the obviously dead wood and then reducing the length of viable stems and then feeding generously is good.