Neurotic, I would think the main concern is the nearly pure, composted horse manure you've planted in. You would be MUCH safer using a traditional potting soil in those pots. The composted horse manure is wonderful stuff for garden use, but it can easily be too moisture retentive for pot use. Consider it an amendment, even mulch, but not a planting soil. It probably doesn't have the right texture to hold the roots and water properly. Soil has to have varying sizes of particles to permit air and water to circulate properly. Otherwise, it can become either too wet or have pockets which are too dry and the roots won't perform their appointed functions properly. If the mixture is too light, it will inhibit root growth because there is too much air and not enough solidity for the roots to hold on to. Trying to transplant the bushes when it's time can easily result in the soil ball disintegrating instead of holding firmly together. If the mix is too heavy and dense, it can hold too much water and insufficient air. That can easily "sour", forming hydrogen sulfide instead of containing oxygen. You might poke a thin bamboo stake into the cans around the perimeters then pull it out and smell it. If you detect a sour smell instead of the expect damp soil scent, the mix is rotting and the plants will fail. If it smells as expected, that hasn't happened. It doesn't mean it can't, just that it hasn't yet. You can also poke a finger into the drainage holes around the pots to check for the sour smell. You've probably smelled that smell when un potting plants which have been over watered, sat in too deep saucers of standing water or others which have stopped draining. I seriously would not begin adding fertilizers to those pots at all. I'm genuinely concerned what you describe as the planting medium is improper and can result in problems. I feel you would be much safer diagnosing whether you detect any soil souring first, carefully watering and continuing to check for souring once or twice a week until you're confident the pots are sufficiently developed to permit planting out in the garden. I'd get them in the ground and settled before adding any fertilizers. That horse manure compost won't move the salts from the fertilizers like decent garden soil will. It can absorb too much which can burn the new roots, which are very likely still too small and young for safe fertilizing. Waiting until there is a more established root ball, then planting them in the ground and settling in before you add fertilizers is a hole lot safer than starting to add salts in that smaller soil ball. I would not use organics in the pots of composted horse manure. I fear what you have could be "too rich", too organic as it is. Organic material is a great thing to make good soil from, but too much of it is not a good thing. I would seriously suggest more of a "wait and see" approach. I doubt you can harm them by watching for souring, permitting them to develop more then planting them out before fertilizing. I know you can easily and quickly over fertilize newer bare roots in pots, particularly if there might be an issue with the medium they are planted in. Good luck. Kim

They are very tiny caterpillar-like creatures that nearly match the color of the leaves, and are sometimes hard to spot until you get an "eye" for them. They are on the underside of the leaves. They squish easy, but all you have to do is sort of brush them off and they die. Your photos are very typical of rose slug damage, i.e. sawfly larvae. We should use them in the faqs.

It certainly seems to point to root damage. You mentioned adding fertilizer and it was a slow release form right? You had little rain and it was hot correct? So did you by any chance try to water it heavily after a prolonged period of drought. I ask because the blackening parts of the leaves appear mostly at the edges rather than within. When a plant is subjected to prolonged drought conditions and is suddenly deluged with water, the cells start to take in too much water and bursting and dying as a result. hence the blackening. That's one suspect. Same thing could result if there has been any root damage disrupting the absorption of water. fertlizers could intensify in effect when the plant does not get a much water. Also did you apply manure recently? Manure does the same thing if the manure wasn't composted properly. Another thing, some years ago and it still continues today, a certain kind of herbicide was used in farmers fields to deal with weeds. What occured was that some animals ate these weeds and herbicides actually appeared in their manure. There was an article about this in Mothers Earth News. It was found that such manure still can kill plants. Also some kinds of fungus can also these problems, especially if the conditions are right earlier in the year and ground fungus had been prolific. Although it is hot now, was there a period of prolonged rain some weeks before? Last did you remove the mulch around the base when spring came along. Mulch often carries such fungus if not remove.

If it is thrips, you will be able to see damage in the white part of the rose. That is where it shows up most clearly. You will see brown streaks or tiny brown spots. In your case I would be tempted to leave it for a few days just to find out for sure which one is causing it. Once you know you can remove any damaged roses promptly. This may reduce (but not eliminate) the spread of the thrips. You'll probably take the proliferating ones off as well but it's not so important in that case. Rosefolly