Prune Your Knock Out Rose for a Fuller Shape

A Knock Out Rose grows to about 4 feet high, and it blooms for most of the spring and summer months. Knock Out Roses also grow fast and are tolerant of most types of soil. The shape they grow in is roughly circular, and can be easily pruned into a fuller, more balanced shape. Pruning for a fuller shape does more than make your plants look better, it makes them stronger and healthier as well.

Knock Out Rose Soil

Before pruning a plant, make sure that it is planted in fertile soil. The soil quality will affect how quickly the plant can put on new growth after trimming, or whether the plant can survive the grooming at all. For best results, treat your Knock Outs every 2 to 4 months with cotton seed meal, an organic fertilizer that contains most of the nutrients required for plants.

Why You Should Prune

Ideal plant health requires pruning to remove dead and damaged leaves and limbs. When dead or damaged leaves and limbs are left on the plant, they continue to draw nutrients away from the plant, and serve as a beacon to insects and plant disease. When pruning, use the 1/3 rule, which says that you can cut back up to one third of the total growth on the plant without causing it serious damage. This is especially true with Knock Outs, which are already resistant to shock.

How to Prune

When pruning, cut branches at a 45-degree angle. Cut to remove straggly or damaged leaves and stems. When cutting back healthy limbs or branches, save the pieces you remove, they can be rooted in potting soil, and will turn into new Knock Outs you can plant later. Always make your cuts above the leaf branches to reduce the risk of plant disease and infection. If there are broken branches, trim them behind the break, at the the nearest leaf or branch branch. Broken branches can be particularly tough on plants as they try to heal damage that is beyond what the plant is capable of healing.

When to Prune

Trim back a rose bush to help it get through colder weather. You can remove most leaves during winter,  and pruning for growth control and enhancement should be made during early spring. Because of the natural shape of a Knock Out Rose, pruning for shape is a fairly simple job. Just follow the curve of the bush, trimming errant branches. You can remove buds that are past their bloom, but it is not necessary with this plant as the old blooms will fall off on their own.

Care and Feeding

Knock out Roses are not demanding. As long as the soil contains sufficient nutrients and is soft enough for the roots to grow, these bushes tend to do very well. Fertilize the soil with compost, and make sure that your plants are getting at least 8 hours of sunlight per day, and they will do well. Fertilize about a week before pruning, to make sure that the plants have the available resources to handle the shock of being cut back.