I am very sorry about your roses, Daun.
Isn't Dr. Huey permanently virused, regardless of the company or year? If I buy a grafted HT I assume I am getting a virused plant. Or no? In my yard, some older neglected HT were showing clear signs of RMV and I got rid of them. One of my old climbers' rootstock (presumably Dr. Huey) is very virused, but I have never seen the signs of RMV on the climber itself. None of my HTs show any signs so far (thank goodness!!), the only one that may be showing signs is Gruss an Aachen which is a Star rose. There is a faint pattern on the leaf between the blooms that looks like it:-(.

{{gwi:269615}}

To answer your question, the very few HT I bought in 2006 from JP are pretty clean so far.

Masha

I had Electric Blanket with RMV, I went crazy dealing with them, but I was on a mission to have them make it right! I finally got the plants replaced. If you want to email me I will give you the # for the person who finally got them replaced. He knew that my particular rose had RMV, and claims the replacements have been heat treat.
Diana

I have talked to the Horticulture man Bob at J&P. He made it sound like I was an idiot and clueless as to what RMV is.
Dianna,
Yes, I would like to speak to someone else. Give me an e-mail. Most of my roses are now Mature and will be a major project to dig them out..

Oh shoot, I have only one rose that has RMV that I know of and it's from Nelson's Roses (fortuniana) in FL. I have 10 roses from JP, none of them are showing RMV, so far.

Does anyone remember if JP sold Julia Child on it's own root? I know that my Tuscan Sun is ownroot as well as Honey Perfume.

I sure do . Voluptuous was horrible last year.Same with Ronald Reagan. They are both looking for shovel. Since J&P sent me own root roses in November instead of early September, I'm not even arguing with them any more. Just throw away their catalogs :)Maria

A couple of things to remember:

1. OWN ROOT DOESN'T MATTER!!!!!
The fact that a rose is growing on its own roots DOES NOT MEAN IT IS FREE OF VIRUS.
If the mother plant was virused, its offspring are virused, whether budded or own root.

2. Just because you haven't seen the signs of RMV, that doesn't mean it's not there.
I have had a rose in my garden for 20 years before conditions stressed it enough that it showed. I knew it had to be there though.
DON'T FOOL YOURSELF.

3. If virus-free matters to you, ASK THE VENDOR if the rose has been TESTED, and found free of virus.
That is the only real assurance that it is not virused.

4. IGNORE ADVERTISING HYPE.
If a company advertises that their roses are own-root and therefore not virused, call 'em on it. Ask them if their roses are tested. I HAVE BOUGHT VIRUSED ROSES FROM PEOPLE WHO CLAIMED THAT THEIR ROSES WERE VIRUS-FREE.
I understand this. My career was in advertising. I can write advertising hype -- and I usually recognize it when I read it. Pin 'em down. Ask 'em point-blank.

Jeri

We've tested all of our understock and scion from Motherblocks and all are proven to be clean of RMV. This done annually by JPW Research department with samples sent to Agdia. Kern County Ag inspector(s) also walks the fields yearly to inspect for annual symptoms.
Lyne Cody - Customer Service J&P.

This is the e-mail she sent me today.

I thought J&P sold their production fields in Wasco. The same time they sold their company to the folks who own part of Park Wayside.
JPW has a research department? I wonder who is growing their grafted roses nowadays?

Daun, My goodness -- that's a pretty UN-nuanced response! I would have expected something just a bit more noncommittal from J&P's Customer Service czarina!

If roses you ordered from J&P 4/5 yrs ago are exhibiting signs of RMV, they did NOT contract the virus via osmosis from your garden -- they had it from the get-go . . . ie, either the scion was virused or J&P was then budding onto virused rootstock. It would be interesting to know if your RMV-pos roses were older varieties, or if they were varieties that were newly released when you ordered them.

As for that annual stroll thru the rosefields with the county ag inspector. Wow! How impressive is that?!?

>I thought J&P sold their production fields in Wasco.
JPW has a research department?

*** Keith Zary.
The Research Facility is in Somis, CA, about 2.5 miles from where I sit at this moment.

*** I don't KNOW this, but I sort of suspect that any grafted roses coming out now are "left-overs."
If I owned that block of land, I sure wouldn't start developing it in this economic climate. If I could lease it back to the current incarnation of J&P, I would do that, until all of the roses there are gone.

>As for that annual stroll thru the rosefields with the county ag inspector. Wow! How impressive is that?!?

*** Not one whit.

Jeri

Hi Daun,
I spoke with someone other than Bob. I can't email you because there isn't a email selection on your My Page.
Diana

What I ordered was the cheaper by the dozen bareroot roses
Cherry Parfait
Mr Lincoln
Purple Passion
Ronald Reagan
Bella Roma
Whisper
Gemini
Love & Peace
Scentimental
Angel Face
Iceburg
Nancy Reagan
All grafted on Dr Huey rootstock...

Isn't "who doesn't have" the better question? My impression was that J&P roses were pretty near universally RMV-infected.

The Austin own roots I got from J&P in the early to mid-2000s remained squeaky clean and performed very well (ok, I haven't looked at them in the last year since I've moved to England) Very good customer service also back then . I hear that this has now changed.

Now, I do think that there is a difference in the chance that a plant is infected by RMV by the following factors: own root vs. grafted, and new vs. old variety. Dr Huey is often, but not always, infected, and older/classic/high selling varieties, especially HTs (e.g. Elina) have a very high RMV rate (I think pretty much all Elinas in the US are infected unless virus indexed). A new variety on its own roots has a much better chance of being clean, especially if sold by a reputable vendor. Usually you'll see RMV appear within 3 years if it is present, in most cases immediately or in year 2. I've never seen it appear later than after 3 years. And if your plant grows and blooms well and doesn't show any signs of RMV after several years, you can assume that it is not infected - not guilty unless proven.

Andrea

Usually you'll see RMV appear within 3 years if it is present, in most cases immediately or in year 2. I've never seen it appear later than after 3 years.

*** But I have seen it wait 20 years.
And it's not like we weren't paying attention, because we were.
But we are in a very mild climate zone, so the plants experience little stress.

Jeri