Help, my friend is growing an Arthur Bell Climbing rose up and over and along from his front door, it's growing very well the past couple of years and must be 15" long by now.
At the base there are little shoots coming out the soil just an inch or two from the main stem.
Should he remove these - i.e. will it help the main rose stem if he does by removing the plants attemts to start new stems? Or are they better left alone?
My instinct is to tell him to remove them - but I don't know anything about roses. If it is ok to prune it, can it be done now or should it be done in autumn?
many thanks
Bronwen
Most named roses are sold grafted onto rootstocks... check the new shoots aren't suckers...
I'm no expert (I expect there'll be one along soon), but they sound as if they could be suckers, in which case they should be pulled (not cut) away from the main stem. I think Autumn is the best time for pruning climbers. I'm glad to hear it's growing so well. I planted an Arthur Bell on our garage wall last summer, so hope ours romps away like that too!
Thanks saddad and gwynethmary :)
Advice much appreciated.
Hope your roses grow as well as this one seems to have :)
If the shoots are coming from the stem above the 'graft' leave them on.
If they are coming from under the graft or out of the soil remove them.
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Suckers/Suckers.htm (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Suckers/Suckers.htm)
http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Rose%20climbers%20&%20ramblers/Rose%20Climbing%20&%20Scramblimg.htm (http://www.thegardenersalmanac.co.uk/Data/Rose%20climbers%20&%20ramblers/Rose%20Climbing%20&%20Scramblimg.htm)
Most named roses are sold grafted onto rootstocks... check the new shoots aren't suckers...
if there below the graft there suckers
If the leaves look the same as those on the main stem, they're probably fine. If they look different, assume they're suckers and remove them.
thanks for all the advice on this topic - the rose is doing great now - trained over a doorway and garage - has 30+ yellow rose buds on and leaves looking dark and very healthy. a very delighted friend. thank you all :-*
Quote from: gwynnethmary on April 19, 2010, 21:54:01
I'm glad to hear it's growing so well. I planted an Arthur Bell on our garage wall last summer, so hope ours romps away like that too!
Ours is beautiful now- heavenly perfumed with about 20 buds opening new blooms every day- I too have noticed new shoots from near the base!