Sorry to hear about your non rose virus problems. Wisconsin had a bulletin similar to Alabama's. See the table on page 109 in the link below for the large list of oranamental virused plants that Wisconsin found were being sold during the most recent inspection period, March 2 - June 21, 2012. Of particular interest to this forum is that they found Rose Mosaic Virus in: Coral Cove, Knock Out, Coral Drift, Miss All American, and Garden Party. What do they do if the plants tests positive? Here is a quote from the article: "To limit the spread of these destructive plant diseases to garden plants and crops, DATCP requires all virus-infected nursery stock to be removed from sale and destroyed." Wow, imagine if you were a cash starved small nursery, and the state sized your inventory of say, Knock Out. I cannot envision a better argument for dealers buying virus indexed stock. Here is a link that might be useful: Wisconsin Bulletin

Buford stated: "RRD does cause excessive red growth that last longer than normal along with soft thorny canes." H.Kuska comment: I suggest that the above be modified to: "RRD may cause excessive red growth that last longer than normal along with soft thorny canes." The reason for the modification is that both Ann Peck and others show RRD infected roses without the red color. In the Pathologist's article linked to here see the growth on the left side of the picture labeled: Leaf and flower deformation (L); Red coloration, shoot elongation and hyperthorniness (R). (note there are 2 sick branches or roses, the (L) stands for the symptoms of the branch or rose on the left, the (R) stands for the branch or rose on the right Now, with that modification there is still a problem with the "last longer than normal" part of the statement as the point is to remove the cane with symptoms or bush early before the "possibility infected" bush becomes a source of further infection in one's rose garden. --------------------------------------------- Regarding "Hyper thorniness" Ann Peck's book states: "Hyper thorniness is not a dependable indication of RRD, it does alert rosarians to be vigilant. It appears on some HTs, but sick OGRs and roses related to 'R. multiflora' may have thorns no denser than ususal. Further confusing diagnoses, many classes of old garden roses are extremely thorny and no one could look at a sick rugosa, damask, or spinossissima and declare it�s hyper thorniness to be aberrant. Likewise basal breaks on some healthy HTs appear thornier closer to the bud union, but become less thorny with increasing healthy growth. This year, I have also seen a characteristic of some roses from cold hardy breeding programs to have denser thorns near the base; these roses have a built in rodent deterrent that I had not noticed until a question from New Brunswick about the possibility of RRD in that part of Canada."

I'm a volunteer dealing with RRD in a zoo here in SE Virginia. Roses have been removed everywhere but the formal rose garden, and yet losses continue. The garden is on a point, so the infection may be coming from homes on the other side of the river. The KnockOut hedge that enclosed the garden has been replaced by hollies, and lantana has replaced the border of Flower Carpet roses in front. But within the garden it's all roses. For now. The hort department has mentioned that they are planning to replace some of the roses with gardenias but this growing season has gone by without any changes. This garden is close to my heart as the roses are modern shrubs and antiques mixed, not just rows of stiff hybrid teas. It's an organic garden; chemicals are not used anywhere in the zoo. (Sorry, no miticide!)

Point 1) "Sometimes you can use glyphosate near the plant and it may have some of the same symptoms if accidently sprayed or the chemical spray blows on the plant.)" H. Kuska comment: A herbicide can reach a rose through the root system. ---------------------------------------------------- Point 2) "This means you CANNOT TRIM OUT THE DISEASED parts of the rose." H.Kuska comment: "Viruses are not immediately systemic. If the infection is caught early, some recommend (including me) trying cutting the can off as close to the ground as possible. ---------------------------------------------------- Point 3) "Because RRD is a systemic through the entire plant and root system, do not plant another rose in the same place for two (2) years. The root pieces can still harbor RRD and infect your new rose." H.Kuska comment: Same comment as in Point 2. ------------------------------------------------------- Point 4) "They have committed millions of dollars in research to develop resistant varieties. H. Kuska comment: What the millions of dollars of research is going to attempt to do is given in more detail at the following link: https://portal.nifa.usda.gov/web/crisprojectpages/1004350-combatting-rose-rosette-disease-short-and-long-term-approaches.html ------------------------------------------------- The following recent thread (last post November 12) may be of interest to those who are attempting to stay on top of what is happening: https://www.facebook.com/CombatingRoseRosette/