Joyce, it all depends upon the vigor of the rose. I garden and live in Zone 10a Southern California. If a rose grows well own root, it will generally be good (or as good as its disease resistance and other genetic abilities will permit) here. Weak growers are just that, weak. Put "weak" on its own roots and it's even worse. I have grown MANY hundreds of various varieties and types in Zones 9b through 10a and that has held true.

As long as it's a decent grower own root, it should be just fine. If you're also 10a alkaline, avoid strongly multiflora types as they suffer chlorosis issues in those conditions. Otherwise, go for it. Kim

Joyce are you in that part of Florida where the nematodes are a problem. Is that the issue?

You could learn to graft onto Fortuniana yourself. It's not that difficult.

IF you're in Florida, that can be a game changer. Nothing in your post nor on your page indicates Florida. Sorry. Kim

Joyce, I know you're in Naples, FL as I read an earlier thread where you told us that ... You might change your zone info to include Naples, FL so other Floridians will notice.

Often people respond more strongly to threads from areas that they are from- Just a thought ...

Joyce, yes, you do need to include that you're in Florida. You need grafted roses. Anyone else in zone 10 can grow own root roses with little trouble. And fortuniana is the way to go.

Well, you could plant Fortuniana himself to start with, I think he even has a couple of sports. I only grow roses in very large pots, to foil the nematodes a best as I can. Had a large NOID red HT, and he's doing fine. Lost a Lavender NOID HT, but not to nematodes - she wasn't a very vigorous scion, and the root stock took over. Now I'm just starting out on own roots in large containers, so I don't have much advice there. Dr. Malcom Manners has been growing roses in Florida for a long time, you can do a google search of his name and come up with some good advice.

Here's a good report

Here is a link that might be useful: Fortuiana root stock for Florida

I grow abt. 150 roses mostly on Fort. here in St. Pete, do have some own-root, but I use a lot of compost and keep it thick, which is said to deter nematodes....be careful where you get grafted roses, some nurseries use virused stock and the roses don't live very long...I've learned this personally........in Lakeland at Fla. Southern College, they have done a lot of work to produce virus-free roses, Dr. Malcolm Manners there is an expert , they have a heat-treat program to treat roses w/virus and send them out to nurseries..... they have large rose gardens showing mostly antiques on Fort. and they are a sight to behold! The Central Fla. Heritage Rose Society meets there every month, and worth joining, we discussed the virus problem at a recent meeting, it is a real problem obtaining virus-free grafted roses, I wonder if asking the nursery if they carry them would work??? sally

Sydney is zone 10 and very humid. I have a tantau rose, Old Fragrance, growing on its own roots and thriving. So far, it's endured steam bath conditions, prolonged drought and relentless rain with clean leaves and frequent flushes of big, fragrant flowers. It's the most reliable rose in my garden.

I grew roses in Central and S.E. FL. for 36ish years before retiring and moving to N.E. GA (late 2008). Grew a bunch of own root. Grew them in 15-20 gal. nursery pots. I found if you put the pots in the ground on a layer of pine bark mulch (nematodes hate the acid from the bark), you're own root roses will grow very well. Most OGR's, Tea's, a good hand full of HT's, florabunda's and shrub's do well own root. Almost all mini's and miniflora's do great own root. You have to do you're homework real good.