Pruning old roses and old grapes - help!

 


Hi,

I just joined this forum as there seem to be a lot of smart gardeners
posting
here and I desperately need some advice.

I have taken over a very big garden that was once well planted then
completely
left for several years. I'm currently trying to resurrect any
of the plants that
I can, and need advice on pruning, as I feel a good
pruning this time of year
will leave me with a much better chance of
helping these guys. However, there
are several roses, and two grape
vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses,
back to
just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers,
but it is very
spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I
prune health into it?
Another is a climber with two strong canes coming
from the ground, and I am not
sure how to approach cutting back the
spindly/strong canes coming from the main
stems. Or maybe I should take
it back to the ground? It seems pretty well
established.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive
and
what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up
on a trellis
made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got
some go in it.
Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the
vine, and how to know
where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until
spring when I can see shoots
to guide me?

I'd really appreciate some help with my mammoth project! I have about a
million
other questions, but these will do for now.

x




--
tazmainiandevil

 



For the rose that isn't a climber, you first need to know if it is say a
hybrid tea of a heritage/old fashioned rose.  If it's a hybrid tea you can
effectively chop it hard right back to its shins but if its and old
fashioned about a third off with some judicious canes to the ground in the
first year.

Climbers are pruned after flowering but for the weak spindly stuff you won't
do much harm by chopping them now.  In fact whatever you do with the roses
you should have few problems as roses tend to be as tough as old boots.


No, prune it now, but read up on it first.  If you can have a good look at
it and see how it was trained in the early stages of its life then that will
be a help to you but if you can see no evidence of training then you can
make up your own mind as there are several ways of training.  Vines too are
tough.

Where abouts in the world are you?  You name makes me think perhaps Oz, but
the use of gardenbanter makes me think of the UK.

 



Regarding the grapevine, see:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1428.html

You should prune now while the vine is dormant. The buds are plainly
visible as bumps along the cane. Try to leave 24 buds from last year's
wood to produce fruit. Best if they are on top of the cane instead of
underneath. You may screw up, but it isn't anything that can't be fixed
later.

also see:
<http://video.google.com/videosearch?client=safari&rls=en&q=pruning+grape
vines&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IZKIS5S-HJHCsQPo0bmGAw&sa=X&oi=video_resu
lt_group&ct=title&resnum=4&vedBwQqwQwAw#client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&
um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IZKIS5S-HJHCsQPo0bmGAw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=tit
le&resnum=4&vedBwQqwQwAw&q=pruning+grape+vines>
--
"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the
merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_arresting_activists
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/headlines

 

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:36:42 -0500, tazmainiandevil


Not enough information.  But here's the basics for roses. Wait to
prune until you see little red "buds" on the stems (that already
happened here in TN).  Remove all the dead canes.   Remove any canes
thinner than a pencil.  Next, remove canes that are crowded, out of
place, or anaything to improve the balance and air-circulation of the
plant.  Early spring is the best time to prune, unbury the crown if
needed and apply a half inch layer rotted cow manure and fish
emulsion.  Be careful with climbers, they can leaf out a large canopy
shading the underneath and holding excessive moisture leading to black
spot.  

 

grapes... now is the time.  I use the "curtain" system because it is the
easiest.  
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1305/#prun

also, for pruning in general take a look at youtube.  they often have commercial
type
shorts that show what to do.  I need visuals, words just dont do it.  Ingrid
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somewhere between zone 5 and 6 tucked along the shore of Lake Michigan
on the council grounds of the Fox, Mascouten, Potawatomi, and Winnebago