Roses

[Freckles]

Two of my tea roses have too many canes coming from the middle of the root stock.

Would now be a good time to prune those canes out, or should I wait until late winter?

Thanks

Freckles

[David E. Ross]

If the new canes are coming from below the bud union or from the root stock itself, remove them now. They will divert nutrients away from the desired growth, which will eventually die.

If the new canes are coming from the bud union (the knob that forms where the desired variety was budded onto the root stock) or from above it, keep them. When you do your dormant pruning, keep them; and remove an older cane for each kept new one. This is how you renew your plant.

In any case, if the new canes are poorly placed (e.g., crossing each other, growing towards the center of the plant instead of outward), remove them now. In this case however, if they are from the bud union or above it, you might head them to a bud that will produce growth in the desired direction instead of removing them entirely.

[Higgs Boson]

One assumes that he knows that "heading" means pruning diagonally just above a bud facing in the desired direction.

[songbird]

i'm not sure of what you are saying here if the growth is coming from above or below the graft union.

if it is from below the graft union trim it off as soon as it appears.

from above, follow the advice Mr Ross and Mr Boson have posted.

if you want to do some grafting of your own, read up on it and give it a try. it's fun. :) free root stock if you get those shoots to root themselves after trimming them off. and usually some free grafting shoots when pruning later.

not all efforts succeed, but those that do are very satisfying in the primal sense of having created something like Dr. Frankenstein but improved since it looks and smells better.

songbird (ok, ok, i have an odd sense of humor :)