 | | Tall cane with many small canes on the top. |
 | | Cane with many small canes removed |
 | | Bush prior to pruning |
 | | Bush after pruning for fall bloom and the removal of damaged leaves |
Fewer stems make larger blooms
Many of your rose bushes probably look like the one above. The canes have the appearance of a candelabras. If you leave them like that and only cut the bloom off the many individual stems you will have a lot of small blooms on those canes this fall. If on the other hand you prune below these many stems to a single large stem supporting these groups you will have large blooms on the bush. Don't be bashful about cutting them off if you want big roses. The stems will grow back quickly and bloom beautifully in 4 to six weeks.
While you are removing the excess spent blooms from the end of the canes it is a good time to remove any hips and thin the entire bush. Remember the 3 D's. If the cane is dead, damaged, diseases or dinky you should remove it. If the cane is large and you can cut below the damage it is ok to do that. Cutting off the defective canes and the hips that have set you have stimulated the bush to grow and grow it will.
Now that you have the 3 D's taken care of it is time to remove any Sun burnt and damaged leaves from the bush. These damaged leaves will eventually fall off but they will not continue their job of photosynthesizing in the condition they are in and since they look bad you mite as well remove them. It is not necessary to remove the entire leaf set if only one of the leaves is damaged. You can use your pruners or a pair of floral scissors to remove just the affected leaves. New healthy leaves will replace them soon. We are almost done.
Fertilize the bush now with 1 gallon of water with 1 tablespoon of Roses inc. Special Rose Food added to it. The high nitrogen and full load of Micro nutrients will put the bush into overdrive.
Now that the bush is clean of any "junk" and you have poured your fertilizer on it, it is a good time to spray. Use the Roses inc. Black Spot formula and Malathion or Acephate. This will protect the new growth from insects and disease as the weather cools and humidity is higher.
A word of Caution. If you have been using any systemic pesticide since your roses have been allowed to set hips the hips are not safe for Human consumption. The use of Magnesium and Malathion as disease and insect control alone will leave your hips fit for use in the many teas and treats that they cane be used for. Rose hips have twice the vitamin C of Oranges. | 
