red rose reverted to dog rose years ago, now returning?? How to encourage it.

[redcurrant]

I moved into my house 20 years ago. There was a dog rose as a standard on thick stems. Last year I gave it a really hard prune. This year I notice a shoot with red rose on it! Assume this was original which got overtaken decades ago? I never realised.

What do I do to encourage it?

There are two other new vigorous growths, which I assume are suckers, having dog rose leaves, not like red rose. Do I remove these immediately?

I'm really at a loss after all this time!

 

[EddieM]

Cut the suckers off! Literally.

 

[JohnD]

you have to pare the suckers off with a sharp knife, leaving no stem. Cut upwards so the grain does not deflect the blade too deep. There will be a "bud" for a new sucker just under the one you that is growing. You may be able to see a slight bump in the stem or bark. Pare this off too. it is a "guard" which the plant has put ready to grow if the original branch is damaged, so it will break through as soon as you remove the sucker, if you don't pare it off.

It is also possible to kill suckers with a paraquat-type weedkiller, on their leaves and green stems, that is not translocated like, for example, glyphosate is. You can still get Diquat. I would hesitate to use it on anything that I was treating delicately. but I use it on my Bay trees. You have to read the labels carefully because the same brand name is often used even though the formulation changes.