Pegging Roses - What it is and Why it Works

[Ron]

Always one to try new things (new to me, at least) and to do a bit of research, I have been looking into the pegging of roses. Thanks to Geranium who inspired me to do this after our conversation about shrub roses and climbers. It seems that roses are not, in fact, truly climbers. From an article in 'Fine Gardening' (http://www.finegardening.com/train-roses-produce-more-flowers), 'Truly climbing plants have runners or viny structures that reach out to latch onto anything around them... roses that climb simply take advantage of their thorns’ natural propensity to hook onto anything around them... climbers are really just large shrubs.' 
¦
When shrub roses grow as climbers they tend to produce flowers at the end of the cane leaving long bare stems below. This is a natural process caused by a growth inhibiter at the end of the cane which travels back down it suppressing further bloom development. Pegging is a technique where canes are bent so that the end is brought down to the ground forming an arch which may then be pegged to the soil or simply tied to the base of the cane. As the inhibitor relies on gravity to travel down the cane, it cannot then do so when it is pegged. It remains at the tip of the cane. This results in blooms being produced along the whole length of the cane.
¦
The end result is a plant which not only has more flowers but is confined to produce a neater, more compact bush than it would otherwise do, fitting more easily into a smaller garden. This is something that I will be trying out in the coming year.

[Ron]

I have ordered a couple of roses particularly for this. Both are highly scented shrubs which can be pruned to grow as climbers.  Jude the Obscure is shown as a short growing climber but it still grows to 8 feet. That will produce a framework when pegged 3 feet plus high which will be more like 4 feet when the flowering shoots have developed.

Supplied by www.styleroses.co.uk/

[Amber]

I have used this procedure before Ron, I have a very small garden and a few years ago had roses in a bed measuring roughly 10ft long by 4ft wide. I used this method to 1) restrict the space used by each plant and 2) to get more flowers. It worked very well on Jude the Obscure, which happens to be my favourite rose. Unfortunately I don't have that "rose garden" now......

[Ron]

Dec 21, 2015 20:36:42 GMT Amber said:

I have used this procedure before Ron , I have a very small garden and a few years ago had roses in a bed measuring roughly 10ft long by 4ft wide. I used this method to 1) restrict the space used by each plant and 2) to get more flowers. It worked very well on Jude the Obscure, which happens to be my favourite rose. Unfortunately I don't have that "rose garden" now......

Shame you haven't got it now, Amber, would have loved to have seen photos. Glad to hear it worked though and that the claims about space and flowers are true. Bodes well for the future.

[Geranium]

How lovely to have that 'experiment' to look forward to, Ron, and good luck. Keep us posted.

[Ron]

Dec 22, 2015 6:33:32 GMT Geranium said:

How lovely to have that 'experiment' to look forward to, Ron , and good luck. Keep us posted.

Thanks, Geranium, I will. 

[Ron]

The roses arrived this morning and are now in pots, 50cm (43.5cm internal) diameter by 41cm tall. At 60 litres volume I'm hoping they'll be okay. I'll be encouraging long canes by cutting most side shoots which probably means fewer flowers this coming season, but I want to get them pegged as soon as possible. In fact I may stop it flowering altogether for the first year as it conseves the plant's energy and encourages root growth. I was also concerned that there were only two canes on one of the roses so did some more research. It seems that alfalfa pellets used as rabbit food are useful, applied with plenty of water. There is a fatty acid in the alfalfa that stimulates the production of basals.

[Ron]

Just had a though about those alfalfa pellets. We don't have problems with rabbits here but it might not be a good idea using them where you did. Putting rabbit food on your roses might be asking for trouble!