How to Prune Your Tea Roses

Tea roses may look delicate and fragile, but unknown to most novice rosarians, it is nearly impossible to kill a tea rosebush with a less than perfect pruning.

Hybrid tea roses, the most commonly grown, should be according to what zone they are in, while the plant is dormant, usually in the winter months. Pruning your tea roses not only removes dead branches, but also increases exposure to light, improves air circulation, and encourages heavier flowering.

Before you head out to prune your tea rose, you will need a few gardening supplies. First, long, thorn-resistant gloves are a must. Pruning will not hurt your roses, so there is no reason for you to shed blood in the process. I suggest The Ultimate Rose Glove, for $19.95 at www.yardiac.com. You will also need bypass pruners (makes clean cuts), a pruning saw, (for removal of deadwood), and a pair of long handled loppers like Fiskars Powergear 2 Bypass Lopper (for larger tea rose canes) for $34.99 at www.fiskars.com.

Now that you have everything that you need, it is time to actually begin the pruning of your tea rose. First, survey your tea rose carefully. Examine all the canes and select the ones that are less than healthy that you plan to remove.

With your pruners, pruning saw, and loppers, starting at the outside of your tea rose and working in, remove all of the deadwood. Carefully remove shriveled, diseased, and damaged canes. Take your time in removing any cane that may impede the growth of your tea rose.

Next, you will need to remove any canes that originate below the bud onion of your tea rose. These "suckers" can leach out valuable nutrients that should be spent on healthy, flowering canes.

After you have removed everything dead and substandard from your tea rosebush, it is now time to choose the healthiest of the healthy canes. Leaving the center of your tea rose open, select healthy canes that are evenly spaced around the plant, leaving those, prune away everything else.

When you are left with the healthiest canes on your tea rose, prune these back to about eighteen inches. You can then finish with your choice of products to protect your tea rose while it is in its dormant state.

I hope that this guide has been helpful, but if you still lack the confidence to prune your tea roses, additional tips and tricks are available at www.bayeradvanced.com, and www.plantamnesty.org. www.gardenclub.com also offers a free rose pruning magazine.