ITS A GOOD TIME TO PRUNE YOUR ROSES

Thankyou very much, @wiseowl . I am wondering if it is safe to keep cut back foliage in, say, double-bagged strong rubbish sacks, tightly knitted, in order to compost down in a corner of the garden, mainly in order to save space when disposing.

Or, could potential spores infect the garden somehow in this situation, assuming the bag doesn't become punctured.

Thanks in advance!

 

I put rose prunings in the garden bin but if it's full I put them in garden rubbish bags in the small shed (big shed for tools, small shed for rubbish) until the next bin collection.

 

Yes as mentioned above, these are not hard and fast rules. When I did the RHS level 11 course at Capel Manor, our lecturer (who also taught level 111 at two other sites) said he noted at Regent's park they began pruning in November and went right through to the end of March. Speaking to the head gardener there he said that they had so many to do they didn't have time for the traditional "cut one third in Autumn to avoid wind rock, then again in winter." Even with the floribunda Roses if it was a frost free day, they cut them right down in one go. Anyone who has seen the rose beds at Regent's Park will tell you how magnificent they are.

 

I always chop up the prunings and put them straight on the compost. I gave up worrying about blackspot, rust etc some years ago after spending several years been ultra careful and tidying up any dropped, infected leaves and so on. It didn’t seem to make much difference. I did get rid of a couple of inherited roses which seemed to be particularly susceptible.
In my experience since then, blackspot comes and go from one year to the next, sometimes there’s a lot, sometimes hardly any

 

@wiseowl , yes I believe they tried a similar thing at the garden of the Rose in Hertfordshire ( closed some time ago now). I'm not certain but I think there was a decline after two or three seasons though. Did you repeat your experiment or was it just a one off?

 

Thankyou @wiseowl, for your reply. Yes, I do my main rose pruning in late winter, but I have now got into a regime of cutting back older, leaves in early autumn, once all the flowers have finished - which they have. I have also cut back any dead canes at this time, but not healthy canes, leaving that for late winter.

I have previously composted the leaves and canes in an open heap, but I became a bit concerned about spores, especially with the rainy year most of us have had. There is a damp sense to my garden this year, which has built up quite a bit.

I don't seem to bother worrying about other leaves, but a lot of my shrub roses died off over last winter, and I feel a bit cautious.


My older climbing rose seems ok without much intervention, but the shrub roses give me more worry.

Thankyou for your guidance on composting times too.

 

Interesting replies, thankyou all. Has anyone had a bad blackspot year recently? Or should that be another thread?!

 

We have had hardly any blackspot this year

 

we've had blackspot on nearly all our roses this year.

 

Hi @wiseowl, thank you for your interesting information on pruning roses. May I just clarify, that the information regarding starting pruning next month, included Floribundas? (which I tend to have most of) thank you.

 

Hello @Meomye, I am pruning off old leaves and buds and diseased canes, in order to reduce fungal foliage infections through the damp autumn. I do my main pruning in February or March. Hope that helps?