How to Cut Rosa Rugosa to the Ground

Rosa rugosa is a hardy rose species with a wild woody form that rises from rhizomes. The plant produces prolific spiny haired suckers and flowers continuously throughout the growing season. Rosa rugosa does not need pruning to encourage growth or enhance flower production and it is not susceptible to disease or pests. The bush is easy to care for and nearly impossible to damage. Prune old neglected rugosa, whose suckers have become a tangled thicket of stems, to the ground. As they start over, they develop into a better looking plant.

Things You'll Need

Alcohol
Swab
Sharpening stone
Hand pruners
Long handled Loppers

Hand saw
Mulch
Rose food
Hand rake

Instructions

- 1
  Wipe your pruning tools with alcohol to remove any disease and pathogens from previous projects. Swipe the blade up to 10 times at an angle of 45 degrees over a sharpening stone. Sharp tools produce the cleanest, healthiest cuts.
- 2
  Use a hand pruner to remove some of the bulk of the bush in early spring, so you can get in to the crown or base. Take out as much as you wish so you can work comfortably.
- 3
  Apply the long handled loppers to the slimmer canes at the base and cut them 1 inch from the ground or just above the lowest bud. Angle cuts 45 degrees to sluice water away from the bud.
- 4
  Take out the thicker canes with the saw. The same rules apply where you make a 45-degree cut that deflects water away from the bud. Try to cut 1/4 inch above the bud but no more or you will have little brown stumps on the ends of your canes.
- 5
  Mulch around the plant with a good organic mulch and fertilize with rose food. Apply it at the rate indicated by the packaging for your size plant and work the granules into the soil to a depth of 3 inches. Water well until puddles form to prevent root burn.

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