By Barbarak
North Yorkshire,
United Kingdom 
standard rose. I have a full standard rose surrounded by HT roses. we were away all of June and on our return I noticed, what I thought was only 1 'sucker' from the bare stem. It was about 5ft long. I cut this sucker close to the stem. I have now seen 2 more suckers from the stem that I must have missed amongst all the other thick rose foliage. I read that suckers from below ground should be pulled off rather than cut. Does this apply to above ground suckers as well?
30 Sep, 2017
Answers
As far as those arising from below ground it is better to dig down to the point where they are coming off the root and cut it off there flush to the root. If you pull, it might tear it off above the root juncture causing it to produce not only one but many additional suckers too.
30 Sep, 2017
The trouble with wrenching them off a standard stem is, you may compromise the stem, so its better to cut those off. Ones that arise straight off the roots below ground can be wrenched without similar risk.
30 Sep, 2017