Small claims courts were just made for these types of situations. Figure out your damages (i.e. money spent on rose, money spent on diagnosis and money spent or to be spent on replacing other roses and/or otherwise getting rid of the problem) and file a small claims court complaint. The internet link to the court in your area will have directions on how to do that.

Different states have different rules as to whether you can also collect damages for the value of your time spent dealing with the problem -- do some internet research and then add that in if it's allowed in your state.

Kathy

Sorry for your loss.

Michigan Bulb doesn't have a stellar reputation. Did you know that before you bought?

I am so sorry about all the trouble you've had with your roses! How very sad to spend so much time and work (not to mention money) on your garden and have it come to this.

Have you considered the possibility of residual Round-Up damage? i.e. did you use Round-Up to prepare the planting area? I understand that the state lab confirmed the RRD, but how did they confirm it? What chemical or other test did they use?

Zone5agreenthumb- I'm sure if you'd known of Michigan Bulb's bad reputation, you wouldn't have purchased your rose from them.

I'm sure we all feel for your loss and the emotional toll something like this can take on you. At least there's hope that some of your roses may not be infected.

If you want a more sympathetic response after this terrible experience (no offense meant) try the cottage garden forum. It's easy to point out that someone may have made a mistake with a particular purchase, but I'm guessing a little moral support might be in order, too.

Well I consulted with two attorneys, costing me $150 between the two. In NY, since the company does not reside in this state it would have to go to State court. State court cost cannot be reclaimed in a "settlement" and both independantly informed me the cost of the filing and retainer would be a few thousand. The settlement I would expect wouldnt even cover that.

I had NO idea about the reputation of this company, my goodness. I guess it is my fault for not searching out their reputation. I scanned these forums and hadn't seen any negative things about MB, but I did not Google. I guess my payment for my loss is getting the word out.

As far as the What Penn State told me, their is no test but symptoms and growth patterns of RRD, since it is a mite and not a fungal spore they can smear. They were very sure of the diagnosis. I over nighted carefully wrapped and packaged cuttings, they told me their was not even a wilted leaf when they got the package 3 days later.

Thanks for your sympathies, I cant tell you how nice it is to hear understanding, not pity but understanding of the time and love one can put into their roses. If it was a a "regular" infection, I would be so sad, but that's life when your hobbies include living things. If each of you could just tell one more person not to buy from MB, oh how gratifying it will be to hope to keep another gardener from experiencing this. Also, any suggestions on where to post my story to continue to get the word out would be so appreciated. God Bless, and have a wonderful Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa season.

Well, from what I hear Round-up damage can look like RRD so if there is no test that does a chemical analysis or can id it with something like an electron microscope I don't know how they can be so sure. Not saying they're not right but I don't know how they can be sure.

Did Blue Girl show other symptoms of RRD?
Did the canes that started red turn green? Or did other symptoms arise on that bush?

Transmission within a garden seldom has ever happend in that sort a period of time. The vector mite populations don't spike until September in zone 5 conditions (this from the juried scientific literature.)

When the rose arrived at your home from Michigan Bulb, was it leafed out, or was it bare of leaves, and had it been dipped in wax?

You may not have heard of RRD before this happened. Most people haven't. But you might want to consider that the disease has been to the north of you in Canada, to the south of you in Pennsylvania, in every county in Ohio to the west of you. And so far, I've seen it to the east of you in the BBG in Brooklyn...in the middle of the city.

The vector mites are easily carried by winds and fall infections on hybrid teas show most often in new growth the following spring. This I know from my own garden experiences and it fits what others see, as well.

There is no way to say where the vector mites came from that infected the rose in your garden that is near your new rose. (And there is no lab test to identify the disease; experienced plant pathologists depend on a collection of symptoms for identification.)

There is NO reason to tear up an entire rose bed. As suggested above, remove the sick rose(s). That's what we do when other diseases strike and it works for RRD.

Do look upwind of your home for Rosa multiflora. You may find it along stream beds or even growing up into trees. With the disease pressure on roses to the north west and south of your state, RRD is moving into New York, even though it doesn't get talked about.

Good luck. Don't panic or make yourself ill about this.

I can say this because I've been dealing with RRD in my garden for ten years. I continue to grow roses. I loose a couple of plants each year to RRD. There's RRD in wild roses three miles away. It's become a fact of life, but I can enjoy the ones that live and try to mourn the ones I loose....a lot like life, really. My E-book linked below has twelve chapters about rose rosette as well as a FAQ. It's based on a lot of visiting other gardens with RRD in them as well as a lot of research. The Bibliography at the back is up to date, science wise, if you can stand to read about the intentional spread of RRD to kill multiflora.

If it's RRD, unless the infection occurred in your yard it would have happened wherever the rose had been grown. Based on the very little I know about Michigan Bulb, I doubt they grew the rose themselves. I think they probably purchased it from a wholesale grower, but where that grower is located is anybody's guess, and so it's impossible to know about the RRD pressure faced by the grower, as well as the grower's integrity.

Many plant growers are dependable folks, but there are also shysters out there. Given that Michigan Bulb Co. works the cheap end of the market my guess is that their suppliers are more likely to be shysters than would be the case with a company working the high end.

When I was in my 20's I worked for a small wholesale grower of azaleas and rhododendrons. We used to sell thousands of rooted azalea cuttings to Michigan Bulb Co. every year. I wasn't very involved in that part of the business (I took the cuttings in the summer, and sometimes stuck them in flats, but that was it). However, to the best of my recollection we always shipped them decent rooted cuttings, but I have no idea whether or not Michigan Bulb Co. has any quality control standards when it comes to whom they buy their product from.

Ann is this forum's resident RRD expert, so her info. is very much worth seeking out. Mites come in many shapes & sizes (including lots of species that eat plant pests), but the ones that carry the RRD virus from rose to rose are too small to see without a very good magnifying glass, good light, and a lot of luck. They're a good bit smaller than the apostrophe you see on this forum's font (although that apostrophe is a decent approximation of their body shape). It's because they're so small that they are carried on the wind.

I don't face this problem yet in the Boston area, but I know that sooner or later it will show up here, too.

:(