22,152 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

The follwing was stated by jokewing: "jJust wondering why henry kuska ONLY makes posts having to do with diseases and death? Has anyone else noticed this? Why is he even worried about roses if the thinks they are so disease ridden? "

H.Kuska comment:
Jockewing, perhaps your own post is a good explanation as to why I feel knowledge about what is known/unknown about rose diseases is important.

"Posted by jockewing 9a (My Page) on Thu, Jul 4, 13 at 16:18
Yes Thornton, I hope you are right. With the amazing science we have today, I'm surprised more roses with such qualities have not been released. It just baffles me that the most beautiful flower we are able to grow is plagued with so many problems. Why must that be? There are so many beautiful plants that are such a breeze, but in my opinion nothing is so special as a classic hybrid tea rose. Why must they be plagued with so many diseases and pests? I admire the Knockouts, but I just don't think they are beautiful except perhaps in mass plantings from a distance, say at a commercial building or along the highway. We want giant flowered hybrid teas with the same vigor!!!
It really makes me sad that virtually NO ONE I know in my area grows any classic hybrid teas at all, with may the exception of a few here or there, usually in an older neighborhood."
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0715030426702.html
-----------------------------------------------

Additional H.Kuska comment: If you are interested in my other contributions to rose growing why not do a Google search with the search terms:

"Henry Kuska" and roses

or you could get a partial view at the following thread:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg0411322117173.html

Here is a link that might be useful: link to earlier thread

This post was edited by henry_kuska on Sun, Oct 20, 13 at 16:33

Jockewing, Henry is a scientist.

If you were going to have surgery, would you make such a comment about a surgeon? Would it bother you if he/she were totally absorbed in his specialty that he did not seem to have a life?

Many of us are professionals, and we are driven and care much about our professional lives.

Why do you care so much about Henry that you would make such a comment? Before looking at the post you were able to see the title of it.

Sammy

Was just at Chamblees last Tuesday and got Blue for You, Love Song, Lavender Veranda, Plum Perfect and Twilight Zone. I love lavender, so it will be fun to see how all these do. The Pacific Blue that I was lucky enough to get from Vintage is just opening a big fat bud and I cant wait to see what this one look like. Does anyone grow these other lavenders?
Judith

I love love love this rose. I purchased it at a plant sale a huge grower has in Georgia twice a yr. Mine does get blackspot and I do spray but get lazy. It's gorgeous and blooms well all summer. Does great in bouquets also. Can't remember the fragrance! Mine right now is about 5 ft tall but usually stays around 4 ft and about 2 1/2 to 3 ft wide. I say get that baby while you can. Judy

Do a web search for the pest called Chili Thrips. They are a world wide problem with many, many host plants and are especially bad on roses. They destroy foliage and without the foliage, roses suffer badly.

Two of the bits of new growth on your well established rose look good, but the one at center shows damaged leaves. That the buds are coming so low implies that the rose is stressed (that we see so few leaves is another clue.)

The state of Florida in the US has several good websites about these thrips and may help.

I agree with Anntn. It looks like chili thrips damage. We see it often here.
Nancy

Bump

Roses just sometimes pop out different looking blooms, different shades, different forms, etc., it happens. Any kind of change in it's environment during bud set, and that was weeks before it opened, can trigger a change in the ultimate results. If the weather was a little wonky the week it set that bud or if you sprayed something at that time it could have affected it. Mark the cane and watch how it blooms in the future before taking any actions. It's probably just a one time occurrence.

This is so sad and loving and beautiful. We were lucky to find a baby squirrel and raised her until she was old enough to go out on her own. Two years later she came back and brought her children. She left and they stayed. This year she came back again. We also raised a tiny baby wild mouse and she stayed with us for over three years.

When our beloved cat died we buried him with a spray of blooming Souvenir d'un Ami roses against his chest between his paws.

Your tribute is so heart-warming and I'm getting teary. Thank you for caring so much.

Ingrid

I'm glad you don't think this is too odd. I think many of us rose folk use our roses to honor our pets. I love all the animals so I do it for them. Thanks for being wonderful friends.

Thanks Michael...Have a great weekend.

andrea

Hmm. I have sandy soil so thanks for the "dig in 10-15% plain cat litter" tip, Michael.

A Knock Out isn't a rose I'd give "infant slack" time too! They are bred to be high performing right out of the box and if they aren't I can't imagine it would be any reason other than it doesn't like the spot it's planted in or it is a "lemon" specimen. Both reason would have mine gone and/or moved pretty quickly. (Says the woman who yanked one out last week!)

I totally get being patient with a something not bred to be so vigerous, but KO's are not a "1st year sleep, 2nd year creep, 3rd year leap" kind of variety!

Re shade: back when the Chihuly exhibit was at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, some of us got together to see the roses and his glass. In back of my favourite pond with some very subtle glass colors, Jody and I saw a rose blooming not in the rose garden. So, of course, we had to go see.

The rose was taller than either of us (not that hard for most roses) and wasn't heavily leaved out, but it was blooming self supported in dappled sunlight. J sought out the label at the bottom and it was Knock Out. It didn't look like all the other KOs we had seen, but was adapting well to good soil, dappled sunlight and benign neglect.

Hmm. Glad to hear that it hasn't reverted to something else. These are new basals, and I didn't want to have to cut them off. It's been getting plenty of water from a drip hose until about a week ago when it started freezing. So it's not too hot, although I may have let it dry out recently.

A weather thing, not to worry. This will become less likely as the rose becomes more and more established.

We have both Katydids and Grasshoppers. Some years worse then others. For me Grasshoppers are far worse then Katydids, but then our Grasshoppers can get very big and have an enormous appetite. Mostly what I see Katydids doing is sitting on a rose. Mostly what I see Grasshoppers doing is eating a rose. I leave Katydids alone just because they don't do much damage that I can tell.....Maryl

Gee I thought Katydids was just another name for grasshoppers...

I have no doubt this Katydid ate some of the rose bloom.
But I see no other damage anywhere else.
So far they have not been much of a problem here either.
Hope it stays that way...lol

This post was edited by jim1961 on Thu, Oct 17, 13 at 22:11

I never encountered mildew until we moved to Pasadena and then I discovered that it is the biggest problem here. I thought it would go away after June but it didn't and some roses that were particularly susceptible were literally shriveling up they had it so bad. So I decided to spray with potassium bicarbonate and it does work. It wont help destroyed growth but new growth will be protected. As far as I can tell it is organic and hasn't hurt any bees or other insects. The product is GreenCure fungicide and it is available widely but it is expensive.

Some roses are like that -- at some times of the year, they get a touch of mildew. No biggie.

Some roses have NO resistance, and mildew at the drop of a hat. And the problem is far worse in some areas than in others.

Actually, if you are (like Henry) in an area with fairly high mildew pressure, you have two basic choices . . .

1. Spray regularly.

2. Keep roses that don't mildew.

Our option is 2.
Why mess with roses that frustrate you? Prune 'em with a shovel, and discover a rose that doesn't have that problem.

Jeri

Andrea, go over to the rose gallery. I will post more tomorrow.

poorbutroserich,

I accidently clicked on your 'My Page' link. If you will click on my 'My Page', I think you'll see something weird.
Not only same Bday, but we joined this forum 4 days apart. Not incredibly weird, just a little.

andrea