The first things I would do is give each rose a good watering. Then cut off all those hips (round knobs at the end of the canes). The next day (let the water do its thing for a while there) LIGHTLY feed it with a balanced fertilizer, such as 10-10-10.

Then exhibit a lot of patience, but keep an eye out for the soil starting to dry out so you can water it good again. But please in your concern for the rose, don't drown it or waterlog it.

Now, wait a month and get back to us with a report on how it is perking up and beginning to put out some new growth.

There is hope yet!

Kate

HI Kate, thanks for the advice!

Are you saying then that the leaves are ok, and that i should just leave them there to allow the plant to grow? As they look in an awful state. Wouldn't any new growth catch the same disease?

I would leave them for now - the plant needs them to make food, as it is not dormant. When it has made new healthy leaves is plenty of time to take off the old ones.

Jackie

That rose doesn't look all that bad. I don't see any obvious diseases. There are some insect holes in the leaves but even with those holes those leaves are still green and feeding the plant. For one thing all those hips set on there have told that rose to stop blooming and concentrate on those maturing hips. Do what Kate suggested and it should come back and bloom.

I don't disagree with anything above, but it looks like your roses have lost a lot of lower leaves. This was most likely caused by black-spot disease, which you can learn about online. Traditionally, people have sprayed roses regularly with fungicide to control diseases. I understand that not many chemicals are available to home gardeners in the UK nowadays, so the emphasis is on starting with disease resistant varieties. If leaves develop spots or other signs of disease, you could bring a sharp picture to the forum.

Sorry I didn't get back quicker, anxious, but I agree with what everyone else said here.

When the rose starts to recover in about a month, we can do another assessment if it is needed. Let us know.

Kate

Thanks for all the informative messages everyone! I've cut the hips off and will fertilise tomorrow (i only have a 7-7-7, but i assume the balance is the important thing?)

Sorry for such a sensational headline in the end then - i'd thought that with all of the leaves seemingly having a mildew or spotty texture that it was a big problem.

Incidentally, there are some leaflets that would appear to have black spot - michaelg or anyone, could you confirm? It's just these and a couple others i think, so it'll be best for the plant to cut them off, right?

{{gwi:314973}}

Very happy that there's life in this rose yet! And yes, fungicides would appear to be difficult to come by over here as i've been keeping an eye out due to mildew on some indoor plants. Strange that.

This post was edited by anxiousrose on Tue, Aug 27, 13 at 18:24

7-7-7 is fine. Sprinkle LIGHTLY. Water it in.

As long as the leaves are green, I wouldn't cut them off. They need the green to feed the plant.

Kate

These roses will be just fine. Next year will be a whole new group of fresh leaves and flowers and it will look like a whole new plant. It's going to look a little bare for a while but keep up the steady care and watch for new strong shoots from the base. I would spread some mulch around the base if you haven't done it already after raking up old fallen leaves. Cut off anything that's obviously dead and dry.

The tan spots that evolve into holes might be spot anthracnose disease. It is usually not too destructive. Blackspot spots are dark with fringed or notched margins. Blackspotted leaves will yellow and drop after, typically, two or three weeks. It is good practice to pick blackspotted leaves.