SHOP PRODUCTS
Houzz Logo Print
rosefolly_gw

Crown gall on the roots of roses grown in pots

rosefolly
10 years ago

I have just discovered crown gall on several of my potted roses.

I had been preparing my potted roses to go into the ground in the interests of water efficiency. The first was Gloire de Hollande, a favorite of mine and fortunately fine. Then as I de-potted I began to encounter these strange root masses. My brain did not immediately leap into action. It was not until I started to untangle the roots that I realized that the strange masses I was seeing were actually crown gall. It was on several plants.

I discarded the plants, discarded the soil and will scrub out the pots with disinfectant.

I just think it is very odd to find long-established plants with crown gall, growing in pots and separated from each other. I do wonder if my habit of adding mulch and compost to the top of the pots allowed the introduction of the bacteria. Could also have been transferred by me when pruning, though that still leaves the problem of where it came in the first place. BTW, I have never found it on any plant growing in the ground that I have shovel pruned, so it is not running rampant through my garden. (For which I am profoundly grateful.) In my rose reduction campaign I have now removed 36 roses, 7 of which were in pots, and have 6 still to go. You can see that I have looked at a lot of rose roots over the past few weeks. Except for the ones in pots, none of them had this problem.

Any thoughts?

Rosefolly

Comments (13)