How to Prune Roses in the High Desert in Nevada

Remove all dead, diseased or broken branches from the rosebush. Make pruning cuts with the bypass pruner on stems less than 3/4-inch in diameter. A loppers is needed on larger branches if needed. The pruning cut is made at a slight angle -- 1/4 inch above a lower branch junction or outward-facing swelling bud farther down on the healthy part of the same branch.

Douse the pruner's cutting blades with a disinfectant such as rubbing alcohol or 20 percent bleach solution. A hand-held spray bottle works nicely. This blade sterilization kills any fungal or other disease or insect traces, so you won't accidentally spread problems between rose shrubs or various branches within the rose shrub. Treat the blades after you switch from removing diseased tissues to cutting healthy but undesirable plant parts.

Clip away all inward-growing twigs and branches in the rosebush. You want to create a plant that looks like your open hand, held upright, with three to five main upward-growing canes. Keep twigs and branches from growing inward across the center of the rosebush, to increase sunlight penetration and airflow throughout the plant once it begins growing again.

Allow pruning cuts on the rosebush to naturally callus. There is little benefit to painting pruning cut wounds, as it blocks the plant from naturally callusing and healing its own tissues.

Apply a lime sulfur-based dormant horticultural spray around the rosebush after pruning maintenance is complete, according to the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. This ensures any lingering insect eggs or dormant adults are killed before spring's warmth returns, when they otherwise would become active again and harm the growing roses.