how to prune overgrown roses roses should be prune each year to keep the plan healthy and promote the fullest and best blooms if your rosebush has been neglected it may not be too late to return it to a healthy status once you have cut out all of the old dead or diseased Keens the plant gains increased air flow when you gain a healthy Bush with blooms to enjoy throughout the growing season things you will need long-sleeved shirt heavy gloves bypass pruning shears bypass lopper hydrogen peroxide wood glue rose plant food preparation put on a long-sleeved shirt to protect your arms from the thorns on the plant where thorn resistant gloves leather or coated gloves are good choices dip the blades of your pruning equipment into hydrogen peroxide to disinfect the blades before beginning procedures cut an area out of the side of the bush with hand pruners to allow access to the center of the plant reach into the center of the plant to cut out dead or dried-out canes cut out all dead canes at the base of the plant use the loppers for the thicker canes and the hand pruners for the smaller canes select one-third of the remaining strong canes to stay on the plant the canes should be about the diameter of a pencil remove the rest of the canes using the hand pruners cut the remaining canes down by 1/2 to 2/3 of the plant cut the stems about one-quarter inch above an outward facing leaf but at a 45-degree angle the cut should slant away from the bud apply wood glue to the cut stems to seal them and prevent what bores from getting inside the stems trim all leaves from the remaining stems dig down to the root to remove any suckers tear them off where they originated to prevent additional suckers from growing clean up any leaves that drop to the ground around the base of the plant to prevent the spread of fungal disease that may be present in the leaves apply rose plant food around the base of the plant tips warnings the best time of year to prune most roses is in late winter or early spring when there is no longer a threat of hard freezes you