Margy said:OK - I've looked at the uTube by Paul at Perkins and Roses - very helpful. My problem is that my climbing rose is several years old and I have been cutting it back - ALL of it every fall, even the main stems. I'm concerned how to go from here to revive this established climber.
Thanks for all the helps.
Margy
To generate new canes, in the area at the base of the plant where existing canes have sprouted, firstly remove any dying ones, and those that look sickly, or significantly older than the others.
In the area where they have sprouted from, there will be small growth nodules under the bark, so what I do is use a sharp steel pick (in fact I use a pointed concreting trowel), you could use an old fork or something to pick/flick the flaky bark off. Often you can see the small nodes, which is where new shoots will come from.
(We're not stripping the bark, but just removing the loose stuff)
In addition I use a wire brush from a hardware store to rub around the base of the rose to remove any loose and flaky pieces, as the wire brush seems to activate the nodes into life.
Best time to do this is while the rose is dormant, so when you do your main pruning just before spring.
If you need some photos, let me know and I can post some up (just need to take a few first !)
As for tying, as already mentioned, velcro, old pantyhose, or soft chord, similar to thick T shirt material is best, as it needs some flex. Also potentially tie from two or three directions if you get high winds etc.
