Rose not growing well - should I cut it right back now?

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I have a rose that did very well in its first two years in the garden, producing lots of flowers. Being a very inexperienced gardener, I never really touched it at all (other than removing the dead flowers themselves) and this year it's not produced so many flowers. It's a climbing rose (I think) and has grown very long stems that have no leaves on them except at the tips!

What would you recommend - should I give it a vigorous pruning now and if so, how far down should I chop it? The longest stems are currently around six foot tall. I don't want to kill it!

I fed my rose for the first time this year and I suddenly got lots of new growth and new buds.

As its a climbing rose are you encouraging it to flower by training as many branches as possible horizontally as this makes it send up more flowering shoots? Also it has been very dry - have you been watering it, especially if it is growing up a wall?

Climbing roses flower when their long stems are bent horizontally, it encourages vertical stems that carry the flower buds. Many of them flower on old stems so don’t prune.Do give it a feed with specific rise fertiliser.

X post with bilbodog, nice that were on the same track!

Thanks everyone. I don't have the space to train it horizontally, as some of the stems are about six foot long and there are plants either side of it! Hmm, what to do...

I'm not even sure that it is a climbing rose - I just assumed it was as the stems are so very long!

I think i would prune the stems back to see if this encourages new shoots and feed it.

I'm sorry for hijacking here, but if any rose experts could tell me what's going on with my climbing patio rose? The blooms
have been beautiful but have suddenly started snapping off at exactly the same position on each flower. 🤷‍♀️

3cats you probably have a squirrel. I have one who viciously comes along and bites off all the rose buds just as they are about to bloom and leaves them tauntingly on the path.

This. Our local squirrels did this to my tulip buds. Bastards!

Agree with this. I would not do a massive prune now - the usual time is a tidy up late summer/autumn and then proper pruning in late winter/early spring.

Have a look at the David Austin site - some good videos by them on YouTube too.

Ah, we do have a squirrel! Ones of my cats likes chasing it! Thing is, I was looking underneath one of the rose beads to see if there was any disease and it broke off to my hand. It's always in the exact same place on the stem, to the cm almost!

heads - not beads!

It’s instinct is to grow till it bursts out of the shrub canopy into the sunlight, and then flowers. It knows it has reached the top because its stems are no longer supported and arch over. It then produces side shoots with flower buds. You need to replicate this. Or remove it and replace with-a shrub rose

If you haven’t got the space/means to train the stems then you’d be better off replacing it with a shrub rose.

If you can install some wires along a fence, then wait until late Feb/early March to cut back (fairly rigorously) and then start training the main stems on the supports - check out the David Austin website, lots of great care info and videos.

But, again, if you have no means of doing this then it’s best to say goodbye to the climber (which has nothing to climb!) and replace with either a shrub rose or a standard (tree) rose.

If you do decide to replace it, Id dig it out mid-autumn (if you’re still getting flowers, might as well enjoy them for now). Dig out as much of the root system as possible. Also, remove a good foot of soil - refill with a good mix of well-rotted manure and new top soil mixed together. Then, next year, choose and plant your new shrub/tree rose. If possible, also add some granular fungi to the hi,e you dig for your new rose (again, check out the David Austin site for this). It aids good root development.

David Austin site also details a handy calendar of what to do, and when, throughout the year. I learnt a lot from that (including that I’d probably been overwatering).

Roses can make an amazing garden, but there’s no point having one if the conditions for it aren’t possible (ie a climber that has nowhere to climb or be trained to climb).