Dead-heading Tips for Rose Bushes

These are refresher tips are for dead-heading rose bushes at the McKinley Rose Garden. McKinley volunteers maintain the rose garden for social events and how they dead-head may be different than home or other gardens. When dead-heading at McKinley, please follow the instructions from the McKinley Rose Garden trainer and volunteer coordinator.

Dead-heading Rose Bushes

Updated: 2020-01-05

• Come by once a week and complete a bed or two - about 30-60 minutes.
• Always wear gloves and use by-pass clippers.
• Focus on one bed and complete before moving on to another.
• Try to make your cut above a tiny bud head that may be emerging.
• Make cuts straight across (not diagonal) about 1/4" above the node or bud head. This simulates how a rose bush naturally prunes itself.
• Try to shape the rose bush so that the stems and blooms grow out; choose a node or bud head that is facing out from the center of the bush.
• When dead-heading, hold the spent rose(s) and petals with one hand and make the cut with the other. This is to keep the petals from falling on the ground.
• Try to preserve as many buds and still inact blooms when you remove dead blooms. Tea roses often have clusters of flowers. You may need to trim out just the dead blooms one day and then on another day when all the blooms are finished, trim the cane back.
• Pick up all rose petals, clippings, weeds, and trash. Rotting leaves and clippings can cause disease.
• Keep your by-pass clippers sharp to make clean cuts. If instead of cutting, the clip crushes the cane, stop and sharpen the blade edge. (Sharpener like the Corona AC8300 Sharpening Tool).
• Watch out for sprinklers in the middle of the beds. The plastic sprinklers break easily. If you notice a broken sprinkler, let the volunteer coordinator know right away.
• Crown Gall (caused by the bacterium Agrobacterium tumefaciens) is a rose disease that can be easily spread. There is no cure and often the whole bush needs to be dug up and the soil cleansed. If you see a brown tumor like growth near the soil line and sometimes as a bulbous growth on a cane, let the volunteer coordinator know right away and disinfect your clippers before working on another bush. https://pnwhandbooks.org/plantdisease/host-disease/rose-rosa-spp-hybrids-crown-gall http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-1083/EPP-7607web.pdf
• Do not be afraid of reducing the height of the standard bushes as the season progresses. They should be no taller than 5 feet and many can be trimmed to waist high. They grow back quickly!
• Drag a plastic garbage can to your bed and keep it close by - ideally under your bush - to save reaching and time. An alternative, especially if you have a helper is a plastic tarp the gets emptied in the cans. On group workdays when there is a city trailer please empty cans into the trailer/dumpster. Some volunteers bring a bucket for clippings.
• Watch out for little descriptive signs. If one falls over, restake it.
• Each plot should have a small stake with the identifier in the northeast corner if you need the plot number to identify a broken sprinkler, etc.
• Parking on the street is 3 hrs. The parking lot by the volunteer building is restricted.

Please do not leave clippings on the ground. You are the rose gardener; there is no one to clean up after you. Clippings go in the city trash cans located throughout the park. Do not dump clippings into the metal storage boxes.