Return to the Roses Forum | Post a Follow-Up

 o
purple blotches on canes

Posted by canadian_rose zone 3a (My Page) on
Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 2:45

Hi,
My Perfume Delight has had a cane problem since it came out of the garage. I probably should have cut all the canes down to the ground. But I left it.

Every time I think to write about this to you guys, it's night time and I can't get a picture. Here it is night again - and no picture.

So I'll describe it. The cane does not have canker. The splotches are not black or brown. They are purple. So the cane is green with purple blotches all over. The rose is nicely leafing out and the leaves have no problems.

Do you think the blotchy canes could be the result of last year's powdery mildew that this rose got. I didn't prune the rose when it went into the garage - and just a light pruning when it came out.
Any thoughts?
Carol


Follow-Up Postings:

 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

I think it is an innocuous characteristic of some roses. My Champney's Pink Cluster rose gets the purple blotches & it's probably the healthiest rose I've got. Seems like the canes purple more in cool weather. It's never been sprayed & is probably 20+ yrs old.

And I recall some rose catalog (ARE?) commenting in a plant description that a certain variety routinely got the purple blotches, but not to worry about it.


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

  • Posted by elks US5 Can6 (My Page) on
    Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 11:23

Ann from Tennessee had a thread a while ago about ethylene being produced over winter by fungal spores residing on the canes causing the purple splotches--- a reason I never feel too badly about having to prune most of my roses to the ground in spring.

Steve


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

  • Posted by seil z6b MI (My Page) on
    Sun, Jun 8, 14 at 11:31

I see this all the time here in the spring. At our Great Lakes District rose conference they discussed the issue and it was said to be black spot that wintered over on the canes. Most people said they cut it off when they pruned but a few said they left it and didn't notice any other issues from those canes. The canes did not die off and the roses didn't suffer any more BS than the others did. I know I have left some occasionally, because if I'd cut it all off I wouldn't have had ANY rose left, but I've never bothered to keep track of how they did afterwards. You might want to experiment by marking the cane and seeing how it performs!


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

One-year canes are green, old canes are gray and barky, but in between, the canes will change color and may be reddish, brown, or even black. This change may begin with splotches on the green bark.

Small, purplish-red spots could be overwintering blackspot, or several other things, not necessarily harmful. If the plant had a lot of blackspot last fall, I would suspect that.

I have stopped worrying about such things and can recommend that approach :)


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

Okay - I'll leave them. It's not just one cane - it's all of them. But - the bush seems healthy. So I'll ignore it. If it turns out the rose bush is hideous - then I can always get another variety of HT.

But here's hoping for the best. :)
Carol


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

Oh, Carol,
Your Perfume Delight was one of my earlier learning experiences. I had two of them. I loved the bloom color, the bloom form and (most of all) the scent.
And that's where the love stopped.
My two Perfume Delights had BLACK SPOT. The BS they had was the worst of any roses I've ever grown. It became a challenge to find a spray to suppress their BS. This challenge became more serious as they shared their BS with roses in the same bed, and the immediately down wind roses suffered.
Nothing worked to keep leaves on Perfume Delights . Nothing.

When I shovel pruned them in their fourth infected year, I felt a giant relief and the rest of the roses in that bed did much better without a source of problem so near by.

Splotches on the canes ....were worst on my Graham Stuart Thomas hedge of roses and on IIRC Patricia Austin. Those roses kept leaves with spraying fungicides.

Perfume Delight was a learning experience.

Ann (of the ethylene comment)


 o
RE: purple blotches on canes

Okay - good thoughts.
I think I might toss it if it gets bad black spot. I don't tolerate that in my roses - and there's no need to spray here - since very few roses get BS.
Hmmmm....I'll keep an eye on this one.
Bummer. - but thanks!
Carol


 o Post a Follow-Up

Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum.

    If you are a member, please log in.

    If you aren't yet a member, join now!


Return to the Roses Forum

Information about Posting

  • You must be logged in to post a message. Once you are logged in, a posting window will appear at the bottom of the messages. If you are not a member, please register for an account.
  • Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review your post, make changes and upload photos.
  • After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
  • Before posting copyrighted material, please read about Copyright and Fair Use.
  • We have a strict no-advertising policy!
  • If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
  • If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.


Learn more about in-text links on this page here