Odd growth - what would you do? Pics.
I have two Knockout roses in a tough spot in my garden. Shaded by the house most of the day, until the west sun hits it in the afternoon - blazing hot. So, I threw these there thinking they might work, and if not, no emotional loss on my part.
Last April, I noticed this rose looked a little odd. Sorry for the bad pic. I really didn't give it much attention, and as far as I remember, everything seemed fine after this. I just happened to take a picture, just in case. This picture is from last April:
Then, as I was going around pruning the roses, I found this odd cane. I cut the entire cane off the rose. These next pictures are from yesterday:
It starts out normal (although thick), and flattens out. It's probably 2 or 3 inches wide where it flattens out. The entire cane is probably 3 ft. long.
I don't think I used round up in this area.
At first, I thought - too much fertilizer got to this root, or just not enough room for the cane to grow correctly, not enough light perhaps, and of course we all dread even thinking of RRD, and although it does look strange, I'm not sure it looks like the pictures of RRD I've pulled up on the internet. Could there be another cause for this type of behavior?
Should I be worried? I kinda am. I don't mine pulling this rose up immediately, but hate to have a knee-jerk reaction. On the other hand, I am not emotionally attached to this rose, and I am to my other 70+ roses in another bed just east of this area, so I don't want to "just wait and see" too long.
What would you do?
A ribbon-shaped stem (probably formed of multiple stems fusing together) is called fasciation. Branches off a fasciated stem will form abnormal patterns. It is just a birth defect that originated in the growth bud for that stem and not a symptom of Rosette disease.
THANK YOU SO MUCH! Oh, I could just reach through this computer and hug you! I have been so depressed this morning, wondering what fate may come to my precious roses (not just this particular plant).
That makes sense, since it doesn't have the red growth that is usually present in the RRD pictures that I've seen, but it was so odd - I've never seen anything like it before.
Thank you again! You have just made my day!
:)
I'm watching several mass plantings of Knockout and the plants with RRD don't have fasciation.
Thank you for showing the blooms at the end of the cane; when I've had roses with fasciation, they didn't manage a bloom. (When I cut the fasciated cane off, that bush never produced another fasciated cane, FWIW.)
Thank you, Ann.
It didn't look like the RRD pictures I've seen, but I have to admit, I was so very worried. I just don't know how people can live through an outbreak of RRD in their gardens. Just this odd growth was so emotionally draining on me.
I'm so thankful I decided to ask the experts here. I learned something new, and if I ever see fasciation again, I'll recognize it.
We just had another thread on the Antiques forum about fasciation. It's doesn't happen a lot but it's definitely not unheard of or cause for concern about the plant. It's just another kind of genetic mutation like a sport or a vegetative center. And some roses are more prone to those kinds of genetic mishaps than others.
I put a link to the other thread here.
Here is a link that might be useful: Odd cane growth
Thanks. I had not read that thread before. Interesting to think that our strange weather may have something to do with it.