Prune knock out roses in CNY (growing, fertilizer, spring, south)

[Callie2015]

My knock out roses are still blooming. I have dead headed all summer...but soon the snow will cover them. So when should I prune them down in CNY -Syracuse NY area?

[17thAndK]

Knock-outs are very hardy plants, but pruning now might encourage late-season growth that would not harden up before the dead of winter sets in. Spring, Summer, and the first half of Fall would be good choices for pruning.

[gentlearts]

I would do it in early spring, just before your first fertilizer treatment. Here, that would be St Patrick’s Day, but in NY, it would be Memorial Day.

[Normashirley]

I'm in southern Middle Tennessee where "hard frost" often means 31F

We are still in the 70's F and our Knockout bushes have also bloomed like crazy again.

In this temperate climate, DH prunes them back in the winter months. He doesn't have a set schedule --- just whenever farm work is fairly caught up and he thinks about pruning the flowering bushes.

He cuts stuff back to where I think I should hold services but the plants always come back magnificently. If I just look at them, they start to wilt, so I leave them alone-----

[nuts2uiam]

When I lived on Long Island I would cut them down to about 12 inches every year right around St. Patricks day.

[AZgarden]

Mine keep on blooming even though I have cut them twice and told them to quit it ! I was about to go out there again, but maybe I will just leave them alone. Zone 7b Prescott AZ.

[luv4horses]

The rule of thumb for pruning in your case would be to prune when the plant is dormant, that is when it is not growing for a fe weeks. This is usually the hottest part of the summer and the dead of winter.

[Clayton white guy]

I, too prune mine after New Year's Day. (My wife uses them for her Christmas light displays) True I am in the Deep South, but even here in Metro Atlanta, we have mostly sub freezing temperatures at night by Thanksgiving time. You don't have too worry about "blooms in the snow" mine ALWAYS stop blooming when the temperatures fall below freezing. If you are worried about it, simply stop "dead heading"; you WILL have FAR fewer blooms, regardless of temperatures. Good luck! ;0)

[17thAndK]

Knock-out and Drift roses have different needs and preferences from standard roses. The latter are picky. The former are not.

[DougStark]

What ever you do, don't prune them hard (all the way to stubs now.) The stems have valuable carbohydrates in them that helps the plants.

Just do some minor tip-pruning in preparation for winter. In your cold climate, you wouldn't do any harm to heavily mulch them with pine bark/ loose soil mix, covering the crown and many of the canes.

By the way, try out some of the hardy "Buck Roses". These plants were specially bred to withstand cold Iowa winters with no winter protection. I've planted several here in Denver, and they do great!