How to properly prune roses for the winter in Siberia?

A luxurious rose garden or just a small flower bed with blooming roses is a magnificent sight and a source of pride for every grower. This is probably why roses are grown in almost all regions, despite the problems with their wintering. Yes, it takes a lot of effort to grow roses in Siberia or other northern regions. But Siberian flower growers successfully cope with this task, because they know how to properly prepare the bushes so that these fragile and thermophilic flowers can overwinter even in the harshest climates.

Content

1 Wintering features
2 Video "Cropping and Covering for the Winter"
3 Pruning
4 Video "Do I need to trim the bushes: an expert opinion"

Wintering features

As you know, the Siberian climate is characterized by long cold winters with a lot of snow, which melts very late. But what can warm plants better than snow? Snow, indeed, perfectly warms the roots and the ground part from freezing. If we compare the temperature of the air and snow in winter, it turns out that at -20 ° C outside, the temperature of the snow cover is only -2-3 ° C, which allows roses to winter under the snow quite comfortably.

But not everything is so simple, and the wintering of roses in Siberia has its own characteristics. Local growers have long noticed that under a thick snow cover, roses are often cut out rather than freeze out. Moreover, mulch (spruce branches, branches, leaves, humus), which is usually used to cover roses, contributes to overheating and waterlogging of plants, which leads to such sad consequences. In this regard, it makes no sense to cover roses with organic matter in these regions, since there is enough snow.

The rose itself is a fairly cold-resistant flower. It safely tolerates autumn frosts, and even frosts down to -10 ° C.But in order for the bushes to become cold-resistant, you need to know how to prepare roses for winter, as well as to carry out all the activities correctly and in advance:

from the middle of summer, stop applying fertilizers containing nitrogen;
in August, stop watering the plants, but then in October, water abundantly once so that the soil is slightly moist throughout the winter period;
at the beginning of autumn, the bushes should be fed with potassium-phosphorus fertilizers (without nitrogen) - this will strengthen the root system and make the bush more resistant to adverse weather factors;
shortly before the onset of the first frost, you need to tear off the remaining leaves with your hands and cut off the tops of the shoots;
so that the stems in a humid environment are not exposed to infection or fungal spores, they can be treated with solutions of Bordeaux liquid, copper sulfate, or simply sprinkled with wood ash;
in a winter with little snow, the roots of roses are sprinkled and sprinkled with a layer of leaves, sawdust or other organic matter, if the winter is snowy, you can do without shelter.

A bush prepared in this way is perfectly preserved under the snow until spring and even in a very harsh winter it remains alive and healthy. But here another problem arises, which is characteristic of the Siberian climate. The fact is that during a long winter the earth freezes deeply, and as soon as the snow begins to melt, and there is a lot of it, the melt water has nowhere to go, and it stagnates on the surface of the soil. This situation leads to illness and death of the bushes due to waterlogging.

If you had to deal with this problem, then you should think about how to preserve roses in the Siberian climate with the help of another shelter, for example, air-dry. An air-dry shelter is an impromptu greenhouse or tunnel - a small frame on which a film, roofing felt or other insulation is stretched.The structure should be arched, then the condensation will drain along the edges without falling on the branches, but if you make several holes in the shelter for air circulation, then the appearance of condensation can be avoided.

One film will not be enough to protect the bushes from frost, therefore, in addition, any materials are used: foam rubber, warm fabric, underlay for laminate, agrofiber. Preparing roses for winter in such a shelter is carried out in the above described way, only there is no need for pruning the shoots. They can simply be bent to the ground and fixed. It is necessary to remove the shelter gradually in the spring so that the shrubs do not experience stress from the sharp temperature drop.

Video "Cropping and Covering for the Winter"

From the video you will learn how to cut and cover bushes for the winter.

Pruning

The opinions of flower growers about when and how to cut roses for the winter in Siberia, and whether it is so necessary, are very contradictory. Most believe that pruning before winter is undesirable for roses, as infection can get through the cuts, which can weaken the plants and even lead to their death. In addition, in the spring, there is a need for pruning again, since during the winter some shoots die or partially freeze. Therefore, in Siberia, it is wiser to prune roses once in the spring.

However, there are growers who consider autumn pruning to be a must for roses, as it helps the bushes survive the winter. But here, too, it all depends on the type of rose.

It makes sense to prune garden hybrids with erect and poorly bending shoots, as well as roses that will be covered only with snow, then the branches should be pruned to the height of the snow cover.

Varieties with long flexible shoots (climbing, standard), as a rule, are bent to the ground or buried. If there are more than 10 lashes in the bush, then it is advisable to cut the weakest ones at the root, since they create an extra load on the bush, and thereby complicate its wintering.

Video "Do I need to trim the bushes: an expert opinion"

From the video you will find out whether you need to cut the bushes before wintering.