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Pruning Climbers - More Questions

15 years ago

I watched Paul's video with great interest and found that I've been 'pruning' (or more accurately butchering) climbers wrong for several years. You name it; I've done everything wrong...cut off the tops of the main canes to shorten climbers in a vain attempt to promote flowering and deadhead. But I've seen the light thanks to Paul's wonderful teaching videos!

Now that I have a greater understanding of how to promote flowering, I find that some of the laterals on 'ALOHA' have turned into good-sized, fat canes. They really look like basals. So, here's the question: Do I cut these laterals off where they join at the main cane?

Paul, if you read this, what would you suggest?

Thanks for enlighting the clueless (and learning).

-terry

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Comments (7)

Prettypetals_GA_7-8
15 years ago
Hi TJ, No advice just wanted to say HI!! Aren't all those videos nice that Paul has made! I am going to try to get those all put in one place somehow. I guess they are all on their website so I will go check that out. Hope you get some good responses. See ya, Judy
pfzimmerman
15 years ago
Hi TerryJean. In the video on pruning and controlling climbing roses there is a section where I talk about turning laterals into main canes or promote them to "Sir Main Canes" as I call them. LOL.

So the answer to your question is it is up to you. If you have room on your support to tie those in and make them Sir Main Canes then go ahead and do it.

My goal with these is to provide you with the knowledge so you can then make decisions based on your own gardener's instincts and it sounds like you are all ready well on your way.
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I start pruning and training roses after the first year even though there might not be a lot of growth for the first three years. Most climbers you want to get the main canes trained horizontally or fanned out gracefully and then shorten the laterals to two or three bud-eyes short, or bend the lateral to start their training. Canes are more pliable and easier to train when they are young and not fully hardened up.
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First of all, I don't know this rose. I have recently planted Papa-Gontier-the-shrub, still a baby. I know nothing whatsoever about the climber. But for what it is worth, and that means possibly not anything at all, I am moved to share my experience with 'Sombreuil', the climber that is sometimes called 'Colonial White'. I had it on an arbor for a number of years. For several years it had a few (3? 4?) very, very long canes, much like the ones you describe on Papa Gontier Climbing. The time came to re-stain the arbor with wood preservative, and we simply could not do it with this thorny creature in place. I cut it down to about 18 inches from the ground. I know, brutal. I did not know if the rose would survive or not. But to my happy astonishment, it exploded with a dozen new canes. It looked like an octopus! Far more robust than it had ever been before. Now I have no idea at all if Papa Gontier Climbing would do the same with this treatment, or shrivel up and die, or continue on as usual. I only offer it as an example of blind luck. (So of course the very next year I took Sombreuil out and replaced it with a grapevine. It is a very nice grapevine with very delicious grapes. Yum.) Folly
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How are you growing the climber? Are you letting it grow straight up or are you able to bend the canes horizontally? Some roses labeled climbers are just very tall shrubs. Those can be pruned down to a reasonable height and may still bloom well. True climbers should not be shortened and let to grow straight up because they will then only bloom at the tips of the canes. When the canes are bent horizontally, the cane releases a hormone that causes little shoots to come up from the cane, and that is where the flowers will come from. You can prune the main cane to a length to stop it from getting longer, but if it isn't bent, it probably will only bloom at the top. Do you know the name of the climbing rose?
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Hi Kathy, I'm in the East Bay hills, and still not sure about pruning here. Our weather is so changable, how do you time anything you do? I feed when we expect rain, prune when I see a need, and mostly learn by watching what the plant do good or bad. I'm pruning MAC into a tree, have combos woven and am clueless but having fun, lol. Example, Alchymist, I prune lats back to three buds after flowering. Abraham Darby only dead head, Darlows Enigma shape and thin to please me, etc. I want to learn how to do better, but seasonal rules don't seem to fit our weather, winter is spring, summer is winter, fall can be a heat wave, how do you think this through to act?
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pfzimmerman
15 years ago
Judy,

All the videos are gathered on our You Tube Channel. I'll link to them from our website ASAP but for now just visit the channel on You Tube

Here is a link that might be useful: Ashdown You Tube Channel
Terry Crawford
Original Author
15 years ago
Paul, I viewed the "Sir Main Canes" segment, and the lowly servant lateral cane, who is now about 2" thick in diameter and down low, promoted himself to Sir without my permission, so I guess I will just leave well enough alone. And I will definitely stop giving the main canes 'haircuts'. I used this method to prune my 'Paul Himalyan Musk' and wrap it semi-pillar style around a wild cherry tree last week, and it didn't turn out too bad! And I only came away with minor scratches. All is well! Thank you again for your help and advice.

Hello, Judy! These videos are the best! Paul is a great teacher. I only wish my high school math teacher had been so fun and easy to understand. Maybe I would have passed Algebra II & geometry. Oh, me.
-terry
nickelsmumz8
15 years ago
I love Sir Main Canes! LOL. I wish I had any canes on my climbers that were anywhere big enough to be knighted.

-Greta
kentstar
15 years ago
I just loved the video's! Especially the pruning climbers! I have never seen anyone tell it so simply! I put it in favorites to refer back to this season, as I am putting in two new climbers. Awesome stuff! Sense of humor too!

kentstar
buford
15 years ago
It must be a royalty thing, my QE Climber (I know, it's a dog but I live for her one spring flush) regularly promotes many laterals to Sir Canes. I guess she feels the need to have them around her.

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