I don't know what your climate is like. Stripping leaves won't make your roses go dormant, but it will allow you to use dormant strength sprays that could damage leaves.

Here in the bay area we rarely have enough cold to make my roses truly grow dormant. I have a lot of roses so it takes me a couple of months to get them all pruned and dormant sprayed. This year I have enough still blooming that I am waiting until after Christmas to do most of them. I prune first, then strip the leaves that remain, then spray with a dormant season spray. I prefer to use Bordeaux which is copper based, though if I had a problem with rust I will follow that a week later with a second spray of sulfur. At the time of pruning, I weed and clean up that area. When I'm all done with my roses, the garden is ready to be fertilized and mulched for spring.

I usually wait until mid January to prune and then strip the leaves and spray. I stop deadheading in early December. And use horticultural oil for the spray. Then pick up as many dead rose leaves as possible, fertilize, and mulch with compost. The roses seem to love it, even though it's the only time I fertilize or spray all year.

Both responses are excellent. So much good information is available here I hope it is put to good use. Al

May I ask what stripping the leaves means? This year has been my first year at the roses without my grandmother's wonderful touch. So, I have been trying to learn what all to do and when.
Thank you
Terra

Terra: IF you don't take off every last leaf after pruning in January the leaves will get strange fungii growing on them... if you spray a lot it may not matter. I don't like anything beyond the oil spray after pruning, so I always remove every leaf.

A friend's longtime gardener (25+ years), and then his son, used to remove the leaves in December, then prune in Jan-Feb, then spray. They were paid a set amount per week, not by the hour, so I used to wonder if they were wasting their time, picking leaves off branches that would be pruned a month later. But now the friend has a different garden crew (that doesn't know much about roses), and she's having them pick the leaves off this month. Then she'll pay someone else to prune them in January. It's a big garden -- around 250 mostly hybrid teas, plus lawn, shrubs, etc. -- so it's not as if they need to find something to do.

Does anyone else pick the leaves off a month before pruning, or is there any reason to do it this way?

The major reason would be to prevent diseased leaves from spreading their spores around. Other than that, it is a major time waster. There really isn't a compelling reason to strip leaves off before pruning the branches. Some times it makes it easier to visualize the branch structure but it is labor intensive. As everyone knows, Labor means higher costs. At one time, I removed all the leaves of some roses that had Rust, but it hardly put a dent in subsequent infestations, so now I remove whole branches whenever I first see rust on the leaves, no matter the time of year.

You take off diseased leaves; like with rust or blackspot. That is the only time you have to. Otherwise, you can leave them alone.

My winter gardening ritual is similar to Rosefolly's. First prune, than strip which takes less time. I defoliate almost all of my roses except for the large climbers which are just impossible to reach.

I look at the leaf stripping as a time for the plant to rest, time for me to clean up and allows me to get mulch down onto the clean ground.

I do not spray or fertilize throughout the growing season, and the roses do fine.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I am zone 8/9 depending on how the wind blows that day :-) I will take your advice and will wait till beginning of January, prune and then strip the leaves based on how the plant looks and how much time I have.

Thanks again.