I am not in a humid area but in dry hot 9b. During mid-August, we chop off 1/3 of the top growth for "modern roses", supplement our soil, to get ready for our Fall blooms, but that is about it. I am still learning about the OGR"s, but I believe that I would still clean out dead wood and supplement the soil?

Lynn

I have some limited, early experience with roses in Florida. I never tried what you suggest, but I think it makes sense. Roses are blooming happily in winter, and you probably won't have a damaging freeze of 27 degrees, so why prune then? You can prune any time of the year. Malcolm Manners at Florida Southern College prunes in March in order to time a flush for commencement in May. Pruning defoliated HTs now sounds sensible to me--although the rainy/blackspot season is not over. Another possible strategy would be to prune them just before the onset of the dry season.

However, severe pruning of teas and chinas at any time is not a great idea. Better would be to give them more room if that is possible.

Thanks for your responses. Yes, I need to weed and clean out the beds, dead wood, etc. too. I am thinking that it will take about 8 weeks for these roses to come back and be blooming by the end of Oct. and again in time for Christmas party. By mid-Oct, we'll have nights in the 60s and days in the high 80s. (That's my hope :))
Now we are having nights in the mid to upper 70s and days in the low 90s. Our rain level is way higher than usual with rains almost every day. I wish I could give more room to the chinas and teas but I am maxed out.
If anyone is local would they like a Crepuscule in 1 gal?,
Buff Beauty? :)

If you don't spray, you have another reason to prune now---chili thrips.... they are terrible, and the buds and new growth is devastated, as in my garden....this morning I got out there and really whacked off abt. 1/2 off the top of the knock-outs, they are a thrips magnet. then I cut Cl. Devoniensis way back, that one is a monster... the few moderns I have are almost bare anyway so they will be next... like you said, the Chinas are singing their merry song, Ducher, Spice,Louis Philippe, the Noisettes are fine but do need a good trim, also the Drift roses are OK...also the old Teas are fine....but I plan on trimming them anyway, do a limited dead-heading....the problem is getting the gumption to just get out there, this humidity-heat is a monster this year....LOL, sally

Ha! That's so true, Sally.This heat almost takes the passion of rose growing away from me. July though August are unbearable past 7 am to do anything but quickly deadhead, water a few potted roses and go back inside. And yes Chili thrips!
Leigh

I have always heard that roses should not be pruned during hot summers as they need all their resources just to survive. Pruning encourages growth and at high temperatures roses don't have the energy for that.

Thank you, porkpal! You may be right! I will will read this again if/ when my experiment goes bad :) I appreciate all opinions and wisdom as I will revisit this in October/ November to report my results, good bad or otherwise. I am approaching this as a learning experience!

My plan for the OGRs is to cut back by half and see what happens. According to Zimmerman, this heat actually causes the rose to shut down and become semi-dormant. This wet season may cause my roses to defy that. My plan also is to leave my roses that climb ( noisettes and hybrid musks) alone and just shape them.

When I lived in humid coastal TX zone 9 I frequently did light to medium pruning in the miserable end of summer.

I cleaned out dead wood, lightly tipped teas & Chinas, added mulch & old manure on top & kept watered. Around Sept. I'd lightly feed. Sometimes I'd cut totally bare plants back a third.

It seemed to work very well. I didn't prune every rose radically every year & I didn't prune plants under 3 years old more than the lightest tip pruning. But for that climate, major pruning at the end of summer seemed to work better than the traditional Valentine's day pruning of cutting all HTs back a third.

By Feb 15 most all of the roses had fresh new growth & it seemed counterproductive to prune then. At the end of summer they seemed more dormant & in need of grooming, mulch & a light feed. I gave them a good dose of fertilizer Oct. 1 to take advantage of the best rose weather of the year that was typically mid Sept through late Dec.

Thanks bluegirl! I hope you are right. I just pruned back the GFs by 2/3! Yikes! :0 - I am having fun with this though! Yes, after last years cutting off the best blooms of the season in Feb., I have been dying to revisit this!

Summer temperatures in Phoenix and Las Vegas are very hard on roses, but it doesn't get that hot in Florida. Most roses are happy with highs of 88-95 F and daily showers. Unfortunately the mild Florida nights (70s) allow blackspot to spread there worse that it does in the hotter inland South. Disease rather than heat is the main stressor in August.

Michaelg, what is interesting to me is the fact that disease is not a factor at all on the chinas and teas and the noisettes here in Tpa. Disease IS a factor on the GTs, HTs and almost all modern shrubs, except for Drifts, Knockouts, (Buck's) Quietness, and about half of Kordes roses. Here Kordes Roses become so leggy that they are climbers, not shrubs. I have had to remove most of them from my garden because of thorns that are just unbelievable and the fact that I use my roses as landscape plants, not specimens for the most part. You are right about disease and mild nights. We will see how this affects my plants as they come back in October.

Leigh, your experience is typical. Most teas, chinas and noisettes are resistant to blackspot in the South and Texas. Oddly, here in the mountains and up in the mid-Atlantic, they are less resistant.

Job partway done!