I had a similar situation with Lady of Megginch which was left with one cane. I dug it up, put it in a pot & put it in a location that was not as sunny as the rest of my deck. I also fed it some banana peels (baked 1st to discourage the wildlife from sniffing around). I'm not sure if I can attribute pretty good reblooming from all my potted roses this year to the banana peels, but it sure didn't hurt.

Fast forward 3 months. It's doing much better in a pot than it ever did in the ground. It has 3 new canes growing off the single cane left alive. I've had a few blooms & the plant looks a lot healthier now. It was just not happy in its former location.

I'm planning on repotting it today in a larger pot where the graft can be under the soil line & am hoping that my Lady of M has a complete recovery. Or at least doesn't die on me.

I wish I could help but never seen anything like
that in my life... I'll think about it though...

In my experience, defoliation from waterlogging starts at the bottom of the cane. Likewise for verticilium wilt disease, a fairly common cause of selective cane death.

Any black streaking of young stems? I would try to inspect the crown of the plant for insect or fungal damage.

Sometimes dieback of rose canes can be diagnosed only by a plant pathologist, if then.

I agree with Michaelg on the plant pathologist..

This post was edited by jim1961 on Sun, Aug 25, 13 at 11:47

I don't know how pertinent this would be, but we've had the coolest and wettest summer in all my years of gardening here. But "wettest" isn't exactly the right word. We've had day after day, week after week, nearly all July and August grey, overcast skies. True, it would rain fairly often, but not very much--like dust off the leaves but not really penetrate the soil very much. Possibly it rained more than I realize, but it seemed more like periodic sprinkling.

I mention this because for the first time I've had terrible summer problems--every kind of leaf disease imaginable--so I have lots of bare knees now. So I can't really say that this strange fading away Molineux is doing did or didn't start down low. There are no leaves down low. I noticed there was a problem when the leaves at the very top of the bush started turning limp and light yellow-green and then brown.

I have trouble thinking that cooler, wetter summer with its aggravating leaf diseases has anything to do with the strange fading of Molineux's canes, cuz this strange behavior started last summer when we were in the midst of a prolonged drought and the temps were over 100 (only high 80s/low 90s now). No leaf diseases last summer as a result--but the "fading" behavior began then.

Didn't notice any black streaking.

How does one inspect the crown? Do you mean dig up the plant?

Kate

I wish I could offer a neat explanation for your disheartening problem, Kate, for your sake and my own selfish reasons, since I had the very same thing happen to my Heaven on Earth rose several years ago. This rose had lived normally for about three years, and after its third, entirely normal spring flush, began a dieback just as you describe for your Molineux. The process began at the tips of the canes and slowly progressed downward. This continued until about half the bush was gone and cold weather set in. I decided to let it live through the winter, which it did. When spring arrived, I didn't want to watch further deterioration of the rose, so I dug it up. I expected the roots to be abnormal, maybe show gopher damage, but they were perfectly normal. The soil was normal, and there were no signs of bacterial or fungal problems. I was mystified and still am. Perhaps, this is a syndrome that roses randomly experience. I've thought about it many times, and Heaven on Earth is the only rose I've grown that has had this strange dieback problem, or rose suicide--lack of of will to live??? I think I'll do some research on this, but I don't have much hope for a good answer, darn it. Diane

I was going to say Verticillum Wilt until Michael's comment. You'd have to judge that for yourself. I had two Aloha's planted on each side of an arbor years ago. They were both at least a decade old. Suddenly one started dying branch by branch. This went on for a couple of years until I called in an acquaintence of mine to have a look and he surmised from the damage observed that I had Verticillum Wilt. Sure enough other members of the rose family (Potentilla) had also had this sudden die back when I had previously grown them there. So I pulled that one Aloha and left the other which is about 4 feet away. That was years ago, and so far so good on the remaining Aloha.....I hope it's not the problem, because if I remember correctly, there's no easy solution to it and it is limiting as to what you can plant in that spot again.............Maryl

In the case of my Heaven on Earth it wasn't sudden, but very gradual, taking about three months to lose about half the rose. The rose didn't look wilted, and nothing else in my garden had this wilt, either. I have since raised several different perennials in this spot with no problem. Oh, and dear Dr Huey keeps coming up in this same spot now and then. H on E was grafted on Dr Huey. Diane

Well, at least I'm not the only gardener who has experienced this problem. Sounds like Nanadoll and Meryl had something very much like what my rose is experiencing.

Anyone else have any insights into this mystery? I can use all the help I can find. : (

Kate

Symptoms of verticilium on rose can include tip wilting, black streaks on young stems, yellowing leaves (often the left or right half of the leaflet yellows while the other half stays green), foliar yellowing usually moving from the bottom up, and death of the cane. It is systemic but usually affects one or two canes at a time, not the whole plant at once.

Reportedly, it can be treated with a soil drench of copper such as Phyton 27. In my experience, roses seem to have an immune response that can overcome the disease in time. I had two plants with clear symptoms of verticilium. I hesitated to take them out because I didn't want to replant in infected soil. They survived while losing maybe three canes a year for a couple of years, and then the symptoms went away permanently. After eight or ten years, t.hey are both large productive plants.

Kate, it doesn't sound like waterlogging. Even with fairly poor drainage, it would take two weeks of really heavy rain before the fine roots started dying.

Since I just went through having waterlogged soil I would also say it is probably NOT a waterlogging problem...

I have roses planted over a septic area with high water table problems and we recieved almost 10 inches of rain within 2 weeks time...

Michael, did you use the copper Phyton 27 drench on your two roses with verticilium? Or do you mean you just waited it out, letting the bushes naturally fight it out with the wilt?

The more we talk about this, the less inclined am I to attribute this problem to waterlogging, as you both agree, Michael and Jim. However, that 3-in-1 bush does seem to be having a harder time dealing with BS/leaf diseases than normal. Its leaves are still spotting and falling off even though Molineux is supposed to fairly disease-resistant. None of my other roses are having that much trouble. I may spray again tomorrow (it was about 10 days ago when I last sprayed).

Other than that, I guess I just carry on as usual?

Kate

There were no black streaks on my HonE, and the die off was from the top down, not the bottom up. Diane

No, I didn't treat with copper, the roses just got well.

I do not understand what the "3-in-1" in 3-in-1 rose Molineux means. At first I assumed a tree rose with 3 different roses budded on it. Is this it?

Sorry, henry. That's my short-hand for planting 3 roses (in this case, 3 Molineux) close together to create the illusion of one big, full, wide bush. Creates a very lush and impressive effect. As recommended by David Austin, they are planted about 18 inches apart, in a triangle.

Didn't mean to confuse anyone. I've used the short-hand term a number of times here, especially when I've shown pictures of it, usually in the galleries.

Kate

Here is a link that might be useful: See pic: Showing Off Molineux

This post was edited by dublinbay on Mon, Aug 26, 13 at 16:36

I'm just wondering since the rose is already stressed by whatever going on should anything be sprayed on its leaves or should it be left alone?

Just thinking sprays may worsen its condition?
Yes? No?

Good question, jim. I really don't know the answer. What do other posters think?

Kate

I have seen so many goofy things this year. Spring didn't start until the FOURTH OF JULY and I continued to water and feed as usual. Several of mine have the pattern you describe. I am chalking it up to fluctuating temps, turface in my planting holes of the new ones, and using Jacks early in the season. I thought my yellow leaved ones were water logged. I cut back on the water to compensate for the late start OD of water. I am VERY worried about an 8 yr old HoE. Same limp pale yellow leaves u describe.