22,153 Garden Web Discussions | Roses
Agree with 'kentucky_rose' as a preliminary diagnosis based on photo (I'd much rather be doing it in person)
Curling of the leaf edges is one of the early signs of powdery mildew infection.
What variety is this? Some varieties are more resistant than others.
Are you using a fungicide? Which one? Also some information on your cultural practices like watering and mulching would be helpful
If you are already using a fungicide labeled for PM, it may be that you have encountered a resistant strain of the fungus. PMs are notorious for developing strains that are resistant to certain fungicides.
I know I raised more issues for you than I settled, but I'd be hesitant to go further without knowing these.
I wonder if that's why my bands are doing so well. I never heard of this approach before, but my potting mix was equal parts peat moss, dehydrated cow manure ("Bovung" at Home Depot), and shredded hardwood mulch, all mixed together in a wheelbarrow. I layered Jobe's Organic Knockout Rose Food into the pots as I filled them, and this fertilizer contains active "bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi plus a unique species of Archaea" which I'm guessing helped activate the composting process. And everything got a soaking with diluted fish/seaweed emulsion. The mulch must be working much like the buried "woody debris" and the manure, rose food and fish/seaweed emulsion must be working like the high-nitrogen "green material" added to compensate for all the high-carbon "brown material" of the mulch. I'll have to look into this "hugelkultur" more....
:-)
~Christopher
Jeri:
A good water spray - best with a water wand so you don't get soaked yourself - is the preferred control for aphids even for a small infestation. It's important to cover the top and bottom surfaces on the plant, hence the water wand.
The water spray will knock the aphids off the plant but still make live prey available as a meal for their predators, so the predator population can continue to build without having your roses subject to damage.
Not only do insecticides reduce the predator population directly, but they leave no live prey, so the prey-predator cycle has to start all over again.
And here comes a big negative on waiting. I'm pulling out a hedge of about 30 KOs a section at a time and replacing them with hollies. I KNEW BETTER than to create a monoculture like that, but i inherited more than half of them with the house, polka-dotted around the yard. I added to them to finish out the hedge when i lined up the ones we transplanted. Here's what i know for certain:
1. KOs are the most susceptible roses, but they do infect close neighbors.
2. If you think it's infected, it almost certainly IS. Several that i pulled out just to be cautious had unmistakable horrid growth concealed at the bottom.
3. Since the bigboxes are still selling KOs by the truckload, your neighbors will be stunned and horrified when they stop to ask you why
No. Dependence on that list may do harm.
"Instantaneously recognizable" can't depend on those symptoms because roses react differently to RRv and symptoms change with time and exposure to (having the disesase in, and presumed titre increase) the disease.
The stems and leaves are not always bright red, nor do they stay red/purple in all cultivars if they start out red.
Growth may be extremely fast.
Excessive thorns are not present on all infected cultivars, nor are they present on all stems.
And on and on. It's a darned shame that the state extension people don't go to gardens in their own states and report what is IN their states.
At one time, the extension people all reported that RRD wasn't a problem for cultivated roses.
Then there was a comment unsupported by any published, juried paper, that RRD was also in the fruit trees. That, too, dropped after a year or two.
Thank you Ann. It is probably hard for those not in science to realize that in a sense scientists often are like blind men trying to describle an elephant from where they are standing. This is why I was glad to see the two meetings this spring of the "experts" to compare notes.
Also wanted to add, I just looked up what zone I live in. It's 6 (I think?! I live in north eastern Oklahoma.) I need to look for plants that fit this zone number, right? I had no idea there was so much more to taking care of a rose bush than just planting it and watering it. Diseases, Dr. Huey, and zone preferences, it's a whole new world to me!
Welcome to the forum, tbaron. I'm about 30 miles north of you, in southeast Kansas. You might want to go back and edit your registration to include your zone. Note my "z6 KS" right after my user name. Or at least always include your zone in the first sentence or so of your post.
By the way--good gardening zone. That means you can grow almost any rose, especially since, with climate change, zone 6 is transitioning in places into zone 7. I think mine might actually be zone 7, or very close to it, by now. The zone number means that the rose should be cold hardy to zone 6 or higher numbered zone.
Try to get all the roots out if you dig up Dr. Huey--or he will return--kinda of like Dracula always returns in the next movie! (Actually, Dr. Huey is rather attractive--if he just didn't have those other irritating habits!). Dig a hole about two feet wide and a foot deep--I'd think you'd find most of the roots that way. Perhaps in the center, directly under the rose, you might have to dig deeper if it has had time to established a strong centralized stabilizing root.
And have a bag of humus/compost (from Home Depot or Wal-Mart or such place) ready and dump 1/3 or more of it in the hole and loose soil leftover. That way you will be all ready to plant a new rose when it arrives since you will have already amended the soil. At that point, all you will need to do is dig a hole, plant, and water! : )
You might want to browse some rose pictures over on the Rose Gallery--get some ideas of alternate choices. Plenty of pics posted often on this forum also. And see also the Antique Roses Forum, especially if you like the David Austin shrubs (like Munstead Wood). And feel free to ask about any roses you find appealing.
Happy rosing!
Kate
I grew roses in central Fl. (Winter Haven 1980-1998) and S.E. Fl. (Hollywood 1973-1980 and Port St Lucie 1998-2008). I learned the hard way that you needed foliage on you're roses while you were trying to get flowers. Every time I lost my foliage from black spot or spider mites while I was feeding them, I ended up with small blooms while they were trying to put new foliage back on the bush's. A lot of times even a month or so after the folige was back. If you have a bush that spends several months during it's growing season just fighting to keep foliage on it, you aren't going to get good blooms. I exhibited my roses (all class') so I needed big blooms. A healthy, happy bush will produce good size blooms, sometimes even during the hot humid summer. A top notch exhibitor in Lakeland told me something a long time ago. Stems produce foliage. Foliage keeps the bush healthy during the natural hot, humid summers. Think about this. You buy a water oak about 8' tall with a lot of foliage and new growth. Plant it and let it get settled in for a couple of months (May/June). Go out and strip all the foliage off of it and then throw down a bunch of fertilizer. If it doesn't die, it will put on little, deformed foliage and the tree will probably be stunted for a long time. Just think about what happens to your rose bush every time it looses foliage while it is actively growing and trying to flower. During the first two yrs after I bought a rose, I just took the flower off until the bush was 7'/8'. Then only brought it down to neck high. I also stopped feeding the first part of Nov. and watered the bush's real good Nov., Dec., Jan., & Feb. Usually having good size blooms during this time. The middle of Feb. I would prune the bush's down to waist high and stripped off all the foliage. If I had any basil breaks or new strong lower canes when I pruned, I left them alone. I would start feeding again the first of March and would generally have good big blooms for two bloom cycles before the summer heat kicked in real good. You still have mostly young bush's that are trying to do everything at once. Keep them healthy and happy and give them time to grow up :)
Yes, for Heaven's sake, quit chopping them back.
You are creating stressed plants.
Allow them to grow to the stature they're genetically-predetermined to reach. Then, they can quit putting energy into a doomed attempt to grow, and put it into blooms.
Jeri
The bottom three roses look like thrips damage to me. I get this on my Evelyn roses and maybe a few others in the spring. I use a granular insecticide just one time around the base of the plants, and it drastically reduces the occurrence of the damage. Diane
I think the "gritty mix" was more meant for potted roses than planted-in-the-ground roses.
I can tell you what worked for me when I started new beds. First, section off the area you intend to plant with whatever edging you'll be using. Then spread some composted manure, mushroom compost, garden compost, or whatever rich organic matter you have, about 2" thick (or more, if you have enough). Grass or no grass on the ground, doesn't matter -- ignore it. If you have very heavy soil, you can also add peat moss or gypsum.
Cover the bed with cardboard -- this will keep any germinating weed seeds in the compost from being able to reach the light, and they'll die off. This will also kill any grass or weeds already growing in the area. Then top the cardboard with 2"-3" of some kind of organic mulch (the cheapest I found at Home Depot was mixed hardwood mulch). Soak it well when finished, and leave the area for two months or more before planting in it.
The best is to do this in the Autumn and leave it until Spring. If you are in an area that doesn't get a lot of rain/snow, you'll have to water the area to help the cardboard break down. You want it to last long enough to kill any plants or weeds underneath, but break apart enough to dig through at planting time.
When it's time to replenish mulch, first put an inch or more of compost or manure on top of the old mulch (plus any organic granular fertilizer or other amendments you may use) before adding new. If you continue this yearly, you'll be feeding the critters in the soil, and they'll break it down and mix it around for you.
:-)
~Christopher
This post was edited by AquaEyes on Tue, Jul 9, 13 at 21:16
thanks guys, I'm glad to hear,
I didn't use manure as I was worrying about burns etc., but I'm relieved to hear my mix is adequate as I worried it'll wasn't draining well enough. All the pots, mainly at the nurseries , was crazy gritty, almost akin to succulent mixes..
I'm a very basic gardener, I tend to water needs and basic pruning but use strictly manure and mushroom compost for fertilizing.
Last time I had a look at the new Stormy Weather she had been mowed down by the guy cutting the lawn. Since it's a mailorder plant and still young I figured it's not that big of a deal.
Any advice on how to proceed? The planting site is intact but most above ground growth is gone, I saw a few leaves at the bottom but that's it.
I'm going to make a chicken wire cage to cover her up for the rest of the summer
Thanks!
RRD is specific to roses so you don't have to worry about other plants getting it. Of course, there are lots of other diseases around, so whatever you plant, become familiar with its pests and diseases, if any.
Sorry your roses got RRD. Good luck with your new plantings.
Congrats on a vibrant and gorgeous looking rose. And yes, this humidity is an absolute misery. My roses seem fine, I just hate it though:)
Maude
Nice! :)