Prune Out Damaged Rose Stems

Damage Rose Stem

This rose has a damaged stem are that was bent and broken (see #1) by falling debris when the roof was replaced on the house. The stem can be traced to a branched area (see #2).

Farther down the stem is a large region  (#3) that demonstrates some kind of mechanical damage (hail hit the stem, or two stems may have been wind blown against each other). At any rate, both areas (#1 & #3) need to be pruned out of the rose; this can be done with a single diagonal cut (#4).

Once the cut is made, check if the inside of the stem is white; if not, continue cutting on a diagonal until healthy white tissue is observed. If the stem has damage even further down, it may need to be removed with a rose saw (large stem diameters are difficult to cut with pruning shears).