Good Lord, what nonsense: "sanitation--picking up dropped rose petals and foliage --can help prevent it."

Also, there is no reason to think water and fertilizer will "keep up immunities."

This post was edited by michaelg on Fri, May 10, 13 at 17:13

The April 15-16, 2013 conference on rose rosette virus recommends: "Current control strategies include keeping roses in good vigor, pruning, mite control, and cultural controls such as reducing water on leaves."
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I assume "water and fertilizer" come under the "keeping roses in good vigor" statement.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

OK, I'll back down on that, but I'm curious as to how growing faster can protect a rose against mite attack or virus infection. It seems that fewer mites would land on smaller plants than on larger plants, and tissue of semi-dormant plants would be harder for the tiny mites to penetrate than tissues of soft new growth. And we don't know of any immune response to RRV except maybe in certain species, do we?

This post was edited by michaelg on Fri, May 10, 13 at 17:15

R. multiflora, which Allen Lacey called "that vile weed" can be seen growing wild, or escaped, in thickets along the Hudson River. Huge loops of it hang from trees. Very pretty in flower, but it was only a matter of time till the RRD showed up in force.

The following comment was made: "And we don't know of any immune response to RRV except maybe in certain species, do we?"
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I would definitely expect an immune response to mite attack.

I also would expect an immune response (from very weak to complete immunity) to rose rosette virus which would vary in effectiveness depending on which variety, possibly temperature, possibly general health of the plant, possibly time in growing season, and other still unknown factors.

We do know of three examples of unexpected behavior. One is that graft transfers of the virus in multiflora are not successful after a certain date. A second is for one species of rose the virus can go down one cane but does not go up other canes. A third is that 20% or in some cases more of infected roses appear to cure themselve (go into remission) but then the disease returns (have a relapse).

"Q: Is the virus present in non-symptomatic tissue [on plants known to have been symptomatic]?
It can be. We have seen about 20 percent of newly symptomatic roses, lose all trace of symptoms. However, the symptoms always return and usually cover most of the plant. The plant then usually dies a few months later."
http://www.rosebreeders.org/forum/read.php?2,50305,50308#msg-50308

If the hydrogen peroxide treatment does work, it would be expected to word by enhancing the immune response.

The 2012 review article for which I have included the quote below may be of interest.

"Plants, however, lack specialized mobile immune cells. Instead, every plant cell is thought to be capable of launching an effective immune response. So how do plants achieve specific, self-tolerant immunity and establish immune memory? Recent developments point towards a multilayered plant innate immune system comprised of self-surveillance, systemic signalling and chromosomal changes that together establish effective immunity."

Here is a link that might be useful: link for plant immune system 2012 review

This post was edited by henry_kuska on Fri, May 10, 13 at 21:42