Anual favorite job underway again

Or is that the least favorite

2 rose bushes down and about 20 to go[:0][:0][:0].

I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't such trifids. []

I filled the quad trailer up twice with the prunings and most of that was just one rose bush.

I dream of paying someone to come in a do them and taking the waste away.:rolleyes:

Surely your goats can do both the pruning and the disposing of!

Unfortunately they don't do a good enough job with the pruning.[]

And if I take the prunings to them they still leave heaps and then I get to pick it up again when they have finished with it.

I have a hungry sheep out back with access to it all.

Roses arent that hard to prune .. just annoying and take time
Good pair of welding gloves , lol and a chainsaw is best ( but um most dont like that one ... even though they do grow back really well )
My goats and sheep love the leaves .. and them proceed to get all the branches stuck by the thorns in their wool
Bonfire is best

Xartep;376554 wrote: Unfortunately they don't do a good enough job with the pruning.[]

And if I take the prunings to them they still leave heaps and then I get to pick it up again when they have finished with it.

I have a hungry sheep out back with access to it all.

For the past two years we have had our sheep prune our roses - wonderful job. Eat the lot. Roses come away brilliantly the next season. Have to do it myself this year becasue everything is now fenced.

I have a wonderful history with roses. I manage to kill them all! [}]

Stikkibeek;376586 wrote: I have a wonderful history with roses. I manage to kill them all! [}]

Please please please share your secret :rolleyes: I have a couple that I try to kill each year and the buggas just grow back.

We pulled one out with a tractor a few years back and it made a major comeback last year[:0]

Haha, they are my favourite garden plant, but I'm pretty sure they are closely related to blackberry, which explains a lot. I haven't starte pruning my 60 yet, but they're mostly old-fashioned types that just need a bit of a tidy-up and a haircut. I actually enjoy the job. As Stu said, a good pair of welding gloves makes the job a lot easier.

Sod gave me a pair of wielding gloves a couple of years back, and yes they are worth their weight in gold. Once again thank you Sod

But even with them my hands ached this morning. Something about the combo of unaccustomed exercise and the odd scratch from the thorns. I'm sure that Rose venom is the most potent poison known to man, it seems every single little nick gets infected.

eelcat;376583 wrote: For the past two years we have had our sheep prune our roses - wonderful job. Eat the lot. Roses come away brilliantly the next season. Have to do it myself this year becasue everything is now fenced.

I assume you don't mean you have to eat them instead?! LOL

Xartep;376641 wrote: Sod gave me a pair of wielding gloves a couple of years back, and yes they are worth their weight in gold. Once again thank you Sod

But even with them my hands ached this morning. Something about the combo of unaccustomed exercise and the odd scratch from the thorns. I'm sure that Rose venom is the most potent poison known to man, it seems every single little nick gets infected.

I think some roses are more poisonous than others. I may be wrong but I think the older varieties seem to be the worst, and I suspect your roses are older types. I absolutely ripped a finger yesterday doing the one that I've done so far, and touch wood, nothing. However, in a past life, I know that I too get really infected cuts from doing it.

i have found its the older type ones that seem to get infected the most to
The newer hybred models dont seem to infect as easy , they still smart and rip you , but the cuts dont see to infect like those from the older models

yip you guys are right.. the old fashioned will infect and can be very nasty from the tiniest nick.. the hybrids dont so much if at all...

re pruning.. the oldies just need a tidy up generally.. but will tolerate a good hack.. the hybrids, i have seen commercial growers mow them with a tractor.. i havent been brave enough to try that .. i only have around 210 different roses around the place..sooo i have yet to tackle that job myself ..

I wonder whether you could get the goats to eat the prunings by putting them almost out of reach, say just on the other side of the fence? My MIL gets her roses trimmed by the horse next door:rolleyes:
Stock do seem to prefer things they are not allowed.

I put our prunings on a trailer in the paddock with the goats - yup, they got up there and cleaned them up! Could I send them on a pruning course do you think, so that they could be trusted to take off the appropriate branches from the bushes?