Should I trim the top of the branches of my new rosebush plants?

I picked up a couple inexpensive rosebush plants at the wholesale club a few wks ago; they were actually planted last Saturday. The instructions on the box were vauge. The ends of the "branches" appear to have been dipped into some wax by the manufacturer. Should I trim these now that I've transplanted or just let them be? These are just rootballs w/ branches, no actual foliage yet. I live in the southeast, so I'm sure we're past the last frost by now. Sorry, can't tell you the variety.. but I'd call them your "garden variety" rose bushes. 2 yellow, 1 red, %26amp; 1 is a pale lavender hue.. they should produce full size flowers.

Should I trim the top of the branches of my new rosebush plants?
These packaged roses were dipped in wax to delay drying out.





You do not need to prune new roses very drastically. If you see anything dead, diseased, or damaged; trim it. Otherwise, leave your new rose intact. Prune roses in the dormant season, which is winter. You don't really have to do it the first year, either.





Cut those waxed parts off, but not a lot; just trim them once planted, and leave them alone. Do not fertilize now either; give them a month or so in the ground and when they leaf out, you may give a bit of half-strength rose food after watering well. Actually the wax usually falls off; but if you have hot weather it can melt and cause some smothering to new, tender growth.
Reply:Pruning roses is not as complicated as some like to make out. Roses are very tough and a bit of hard pruning only makes them better. The idea is to keep the plant 'open' ie remove branches that are touching each other, or even very close together. If you look at your branches you will see small bumps/nodes. Cut just above the nodes, angling the cut AWAY from it (this makes water run off the other side preventing rot) If your entering your spring - don't prune too much now - but definately take off the wax. Water well before and after. Prune again in winter when the rose is dormant.
Reply:yes
Reply:No, it is too late to trim roses. They should be already starting to produce foliage. The wax will fall off as the growth begins. Next February trim them back so that only 3 stalks remain. Trim them into a v-shape. Good luck with them.
Reply:trim the branches so that the individual branches are about 6" long,


make sure that you trim them so that the topmost buds are pointing out from the center, trim any branches that have damage or cracks. remove branches that cross each other.


removing excess branches now will make for a stronger plant. what you are trying to achieve is a rose bush that branches relatively close to the ground . you want to end up with a relatively open center because this will make it possible to have some air flow through the inner part of the plant when it is fully leafed out----you will have less disease issues in the long run.





I have a rose bush with a 3" diameter trunk so believe me it may look sparse now but in the long run you don't need anything that looks weak.








if you didn't trim it at all -----a lot of the growth would not be beefy enough to support a healthy crop of roses.