22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses

That will probably take care of it. You may still see some leaves spotting at first. Those are leaves that were already infected but not showing symptoms yet. Those will still spot and fall off but you've protected any more leaves from being infected. Follow all the directions carefully and spray again, when it says, to prevent it from coming back.

The product shown is neem oil with the azadirachtin removed. It will burn leaves in hot weather, as will baking soda--or even in moderate weather if the plants were not well hydrated before spraying. The large purple smears could be spray damage. Neither of these products gives very good control of spot diseases.
The bad foliage has several problems, not altogether clear what. As suggested above, the definite white spots are where rose slugs have peeled off the undersurface, leaving a translucent window. You have a very mild case so far. Just wipe the worms off the underside, or ignore it. I don't know what to make of the fine white speckling and abraded look in images 2 and 3. I suspect rose mosaic virus, which is incurable but not usually a crippling problem.
While some of the spots could be downy mildew symptoms, you can be sure that leaves with active DM will drop off the stems within a week or so. If spotted leaves do not drop, it isn't DM. Also DM usually attacks the newest foliage first.
I don't see any spots that look like blackspot (fringy or notched). Anyway, KO is virtually immune. However, KO commonly gets cercospora spot disease in my area. Some of the spots are probably that. It won't likely be a significant problem.
Finally, brown discs lining the leaf margin are a reliable sign of fertilizer burn.
Your rose may be suffering from too much TLC.

As buford said, "organic" doesn't mean non-toxic. Since all things are made up of chemicals even organic solutions are chemicals. You still need to be careful and use proper precautions to use them.
I have used Green Cure and Serenade with varying degrees of success. The sooner you catch it and use them the better. Maybe preemptive spraying would be even better. In either case use the formula for "cure" and not the prevention one, which is weaker. I have tried that one and it didn't seem to do much at all.
Also, an observational warning, right after you spray don't be surprised if it seems like it got worse. The spray does not cure already infected leaves and what you are seeing are leaves that had already been infected, but were not showing symptoms yet, showing the spots. The spray will only prevent leaves that are not already infected from getting it.

When I first started with roses, I remember getting quite upset about any disease or bug issues, concerned that my new roses would die. After a few years, I saw a pattern develop here in rainy Oregon. After the roses leaf out , it is still raining quite a bit and bs runs rampant. If the bs reaches the top leaves of a plant -- that rose does not have sufficient disease resistancy for my garden. I don't generally spray, but "proof" roses to determine which are most disease resistant. Once it gets the end of June, warmer, drier weather arrives and the only thing I do is pick off the bottom leaves with bs. Rust is another matter. If a rose is prone to that, it's gone. Haven't sprayed for years -- determining which roses are more disease resistant and enduring a month of bs is all that I do.



It also depends on how hot it is. For example, we are heading into winter now in Australia so blooms like Jude the Obscure will last 3 days. In summer it will blow in one day! Thank goodness it is always in flower.

Jude the Obscure
On the opposite end Yves Piaget have flowers that open so slowly on the bush it takes a week for a bud to open to that high centered HT shape, and then the flower lasts well for another week or two.

Yves Piaget


Graham Thomas should get between 5-6 hours of sun there. Watering him should't be a problem but thanks for letting me know. My baby Abraham Darby (or Darling as my son calls it) throws a fit if I go more than a couple of days without watering him. Hopefully when the roots are better developed he'll toughen up a bit.
Yes, all four spots should have plenty of room for them to grow.



I share your detest for the red color of knockout. I don't grow Miracle on the Hudson. If you haven't checked HMF yet, it might be another good source.

MOTH was bullet proof in Encino and I've raised a few seedlings from it. The rose has performed admirably in Europe as well as here in the US. Robert Rippetoe has done well with it. He is obsessive about disease issues and as they are raised in the California low desert, his roses tend to be quite heat tolerant. No plant is perfect, but if it's one of his, you should find it heat, cold and disease tolerant. Kim

nancylee2, helpmefind doesn't list a US vendor; apparently some people have gotten it as a cut rose from a florist (it is a florist rose) and rooted it themselves. or grafted it onto rootstock, to get themselves a plant. This may not be legal to do if the rose is still under patent.


I have only had my roses 3 years, and my memory isn't that great so I was waiting to see which roses were cane hardy..now that they are leafing out I will start trimming them back to the ground (the dead canes that is. I hadn' seen the roses you mentioned so I looked them up. Very pretty. Which one (s) do you have? Would love to see pictures. Hoping they are all alive! What zone are they suppose to be hardy to?


One of the roses I lost was Duchesse de Brabant, a bit of zone pushing and now, dead. However, Cramoisi Superieur is alive and well although it never gets large. I think with DD planted at the soil level and then soil erodes over years...busy life without realizing it, live and learn.


Andrea, I will have to admit that my Dick Clark is own root and I planted it last year. It started out this spring with three decent blooms and is now forming several more, not sure how many yet. It's not very big yet though. I don't mind it taking until the third season, but waiting until the fifth, that's a long time Kentucky. I do think it probably does depend on the variety. It looks like the experts could compile a list of those roses that do especially well own root. My Big Momma bush is own root, in its' third season and is very vigorous, but I think it was more mature when I got it. Also Our Lady of Guadalupe, which I planted last year is own root and doing well. I had Marijke Koopman and it did good the first year, but died last year. I love that rose. I ordered another own root and a grafted one, so maybe I can do a comparison. Maybe being in a pot vs. being in the ground makes a difference too. I am glad there are own root sources available, because a few of the companies like Roses Unlimited and Heirloom do have a good selection of the hybrid teas, etc.

A lot of varieties, particularly older moderns, were never tested as own root plants from the start. Own root wasn't an option. Everything that came out was grafted so marketers could produce big plants faster for sale. So breeders didn't test them for how they would grow on their own roots. Now days people are more interested in the own root plants so more of them are tested that way before they're even released. So the wimpy ones never make it to market in the first place. Roses like Love and Mr. Lincoln are older varieties that probably have never been tested as own root plants. Dick Clark, on the other hand, is newer and maybe was tested that way.
In my opinion it's six of one, a half dozen of the other. Grafted roses grow bigger faster, no doubt about it. Own roots, if they're a stronger growing variety, will in time catch up to the grafted ones and may have a better survival rate in cold climates. But if you plant the grafts below ground a few inches they seem to winter pretty well too.
And then there are some varieties that are just wimpy no matter how you grow them! Don't ever expect Just Joey or Summer Fashion to grow well on any roots! Whether they're own root or grafted on either root stocks they're just not vigorous growers or bloomers. It's just the nature of the variety. IF fortuniana were winter hardy I'd go with that in a heart beat because it can really push a variety to grow and bloom, but it's not, so there you have it.






Sheet mulch Lasagna Gardening
Thanks SO much everyone. I posted this and then promptly went out of town, so I'm sorry for the delay getting back over here. What great advice.
Searching locally is a great idea. There is a rose garden in downtown Raleigh that I used to walk through when I was in college. Beautiful place and you all have reminded me to go again to see if there are identifying tags for the roses!
We are building in New Hill NC, which is about 30 minutes southwest of Raleigh down US 1. Looks like Roses Unlimited is about 4 hours away (have to get through Charlotte), so it could be a nice day trip without the kids!
You all have given me a great starting point and just the type of direction I was hoping for.
Thanks again. I'll check back in with my progress in a couple of months! :)