Are you willing to spray fungicide?

Rust won't kill them, it just makes them look awful. You can strip the foliage and start afresh, hoping we don't get any more rain until fall, and carefully timed fungicide once or twice a year can keep them fairly clean. Rain and rust go together. The late rain made a lot of roses rust in my garden as well. Some years are better than others.

If your drainage is good, it's hard to over water roses in southern California.

Yes, Hoov's right. THIS spring, rust is making an appearance in unusual places. But you had this last year. And this is a plant I've never seen rust on ... so, how much water are they getting? Because they sound unhappy.

Jeri

I am willing to spray. What do you recommend?

It is good to know they can be saved. Anything else I can think to put on the arbors would be flowering vines that attract too many bees.

Should I strip the foliage now? Should I just wait until after they bloom? They have a few blooms on them now. They bloomed in spite of the rust last year, but they look worse this year.

The thing about spraying is: it is preventative, not a cure. Once the foliage has rust, spraying doesn't help at all. So you would have to strip, clean up under the foliage, lay down fresh mulch, and spray fungicide as the new foliage emerges to keep it clean.

Now, if we don't get any more rain until fall, the new foliage will more than likely stay clean without spraying. More rain = more rust. No rain = no rust until the rain starts again in fall.

If you think you want to spray, use the Bayer Advanced Rose & Flower fungicide spray, NOT the 3-in-1 stuff you pour around the roots. The 3-in-1 stuff isn't effective. You do not need the insecticide. Just the fungicide. Follow ALL package directions and wear protective clothing (long sleeves, goggles, gloves).

What you could do if more rain is predicted is spray the day before it rains (so the spray dries) and then the foliage will be protected. If you really want clean foliage every year, you start spraying right as new foliage emerges in spring, and the day before every rain storm. Then spray once in fall around Labor Day, just as the nights start to cool down below 60F. Then you will have clean foliage until around late November or December, when the plant starts to abandon support for its foliage, and disease moves in anyway. You can have pretty immaculate foliage in So Cal spraying about 3 or 4 times a year.

I prefer to get rid of the roses that rust badly, and tolerate a little disease, though sometimes I will follow the spray regimen if I want a really immaculate garden that year. "Banner Maxx" works even better than Bayer Advanced, lasts for Rust about a month, but it is expensive and an irritant, requires a respirator and staying out of the garden for 24 hrs following spraying.

It has been a bad year for disease, some of my roses have black spot, not just Rust. However the plants generally have liked the periodic rain alternated with warm spells. Lots of basals this year.

If your roses have survived more than a couple of years, drainage is likely not a problem at all. If drainage was a problem you would have standing water puddles that last for a week or more.

On the infected plants I removed the infected leaves, we sprayed with fungicide (Daconil was recommended by the nursery before I found these forums to ask for advice) and I was wondering why the rust was still appearing on the plants a week later- hearing that it's a preventative rather than a cure on already infected plants now makes everything "click". I also used the Bayer 3 in one and now am horrified to learn about what it does to bees, so I guess we just have to wait it out and not reapply.

So many thanks for the information. I know I didn't ask the question originally, (I hope the original poster doesn't mind me commenting as well) but the regime above sounds very good and I'll give it a try.

Do you have any suggestions on what to use for mulch?

Thanks!

Jeri