pruning Knockout roses

14 years ago

I was very busy early spring and I forgot to prune back my knockouts. They are now so overgrown and thin looking- Is it too late to prune them back (metro-Atlanta area)?

I think the answer is yes but I am hoping that someone has some experience w/ this.

Thanks!

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Comments (6)

satellitehead
14 years ago
we pruned ours two weeks ago and all is/was fine. Those things grow like weeds, so I have never been worried about them.
buford
14 years ago
You can prune roses anytime. I don't have knockouts, but I've heard you can just use a hedge trimmer on them. I'd wait for the latest bloom to end and then cut them to where you want them. Dont' worry, they will grow back and you'll get even more flowers. Most roses love being cut back and will put out more growth than before. You may want to add some fertilizer when you prune. Rose Tone is an excellent organic fertilizer that will encourage new blooms.
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pruning knockout roses
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Perhaps the advice you read was to remove a fraction (1/3 or 1/4) of the oldest canes at the base every year beginning in year 4 or 5, to encourage new basal canes. With some roses, canes that are 1-3 years old are the most productive. I don't think this treatment is necessary with KO. Your plant looks plenty bushy to me, but if you want to experiment with various pruning regimes, just do it and see what happens. The plant won't mind.
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They'll be fine and bloom normally. I have several close to a road that gets lots of plowed snow. Being on top of a slope they're also exposed to winter's cold drying winds. I pruned them today and several were pruned to 4-6 inches, a few less. I still expect bloom at my natural time, late May/early June. Relax!
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Comments (25)
Samson picture looks nice, very nice. Bet alabamaicole can ID every plant there. I enlarged the picture and could not. Scratched my head. You really got me worried about the roses getting rose rosette. I am planting a LARGE amount of roses and after reading here and other sources I will prune some for sure. I will start to space out the roses from each other. Just can not pass up a sale on anything. Cascade Rose 1974 (?) is by far my favorite. The start was given to me by a dear woman -Hazel- . She brought it to me in a hanging basket. Little did she know what a grand plant it was. She wanted to know if I wanted to do anything with it and boy did I. Sold and gave away countless ' rooted babies'. Enjoy taking one plant and multiplying it hundreds of times. Garlic is great anywhere and everywhere if snakes seem to be a problem. It is a great picturesque plant if given enough sunshine. There is lots of garlic here to dig to place around thru the roses..... In my head it looks just right. Thanks. It is difficult for me to connect the dots and then remember that I did, much less mix and match plants.
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Comments (8)
I'm probably not the one to advise on how best to prune roses. My strategy was dictated primarily by the fact that we need to get over them with a ladder to clean the gutters this spring. That said, I cut the knock out back from >5 feet to ~3 feet, all canes included, but the oldest ones that were getting woody got pruned back farther to open up the shrub. I don't think I pruned it anywhere near that hard the first year or two, though.
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natalie4b
14 years ago
From my experience - you can trim them short, have them in a part shade, and they bloom with joy and reckless abandon! They are life savers for me.
And if you feed them - they would thank you with gorgeous blooms and beautiful healthy foliage.
~Natalie
satellitehead
14 years ago
I second buford's suggestion of Rose Tone, this is a must for rose growers/
jerryngeorgia31557
14 years ago
If anyone is pruning their Knockout roses, I would love to have the cuttings for trade. Check out my list. Thanks in advance.
ladywindsurfer
14 years ago
All of the Knock OutÂ® Roses are patented. Asexual Propagation is prohibited without permission from the Conard-Pyle Co.

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pruning Knockout roses

Comments (6)

satellitehead

buford

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satellitehead

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