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The Fairy has crown gall

16 years ago

I didn't know that it was crown gall when I first saw it back in February, last weekend, I was pruning the front bed and noticed the crown gall. I'm getting rid of this rose this weekend.

I am worried about the rose (Easy Going) planted next to the Fairy, they are about 3 ft away from each other. Also what are the chances of me spreading this disease from using the same pruner as I only own one?

msjam

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Comments (5)

michaelg
16 years ago
Pruners can spread it. Sometimes growers have an outbreak of aerial galls (out on the canes) that were likely spread by pruners.

A dip of Lysol doesn't corrode the pruners as much as some things that people use.

If the gall you have is up on a cane, you can try cutting well below it and disinfecting the cut. A copper product would be good if you have it, otherwise something antiseptic like Lysol. It is a bacterium.

Try to avoid scratching around the roots of neighbor roses or nicking bark that is close to the ground, as the bacteria can move around esp. with watering or heavy rain.
msjam2
Original Author
16 years ago
So far, the gall in only on the base of the rose bush, nothing on the canes.

Thanks for your advise Michael.

Msjam
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Supposed to have become a problem in nursery production areas of the Willamette Valley at one time. Don't know how it was (or is) being dealt with. There are some huge operations down there. Around here (Seattle area) I have seen crown galls on roses, wintercreeper, forsythia and aspen. It seems to be associated with claylike soils. My neighbor to the south "scored" a free, specimen-sized 'Klehm's Improved Bechtel' crabapple a few years ago which now stands in the midst of her hobby garden out in front - probably not more than 30 ft. from our property. Soon after it appeared I examined it and discovered it was sporting a crown gall about the size of a brain or basketball. I pointed the infestation out and suggested she not plant near the tree, clean her footwear and tools, look on the internet to see about painting the galls with something - and also that she pull the tree up and burn it. I saw no signs of sanitation measures being taken at the time and since then various other plants have been inserted right in around the tree.
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But there you are, Kim -- Over the years, I have received FOUR plants with gall. One was a potted Austin rose, bought from Sassafrass at a ridiculous price (remember Sassafrass?). The other THREE galled plants all came from Heirloom. The two virused Dark Ladies were also identically galled. So was the Souv. du Docteur Jamain. None of them actually got roots into the ground, fortunately, but it's possible I may have spread it, pruning. So, treating things with gall and then selling plants from their infected mother stock doesn't seem to work well, IMHO. So, unless it was the ONLY one in the world, I'd STILL dump it. Because it is a FAR worse thing to have in the garden than RMV. We found a remarkably beautiful Maman (or White Maman) Cochet in the Sierra Foothills. Did not collect from it, because it was so badly galled. And that plant is gone, now. Jeri
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Galltrol and Galltrex were designed to be dips to be used on roots before planting. They are bacteria that are supposed to colonize the roots and to keep Agrobacterium tubefaciens out of the plant. When a plant has had the galls develop, the amount of A. tumefaciens in that soil increases because of the material produced by the gall. There are a huge number of scientific papers out on crown gall now, because it is a serious problem. Rose rootstocks were searched for rootstock that was less susceptible to crown gall. There was no one good answer. One interesting paper talks about injuring rose stems and innoculating them with tumefaciens; it reported that damaged areas closest to the soil were more prone to gall development than areas out on stems. Marti, R et al. 1999 "Evidence of migration and endophytic presence of A. tumefaciens in rose plants" European Journal of Plant Pathology 105:39-50 reports among many other things "systemic and latent infections in rose." And the spiny galls that bettym asks about are insect caused. If the insects aren't removed, the rose will have more galls year after year until the rose is severely damaged. The insects have preferences for certain roses, but as more people look at their roses, we see that the insects are settling for roses not thought to be their first choice.
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You're welcome prickles. I'm not advocating BENEFICIAL companioin plantings for crown gall. I'm suggesting digging in your rose beds to plant other plants (perennials, annuals, ground covers, cultivating or working organics into the soil, transplanting roses or even installing new ones) may actually provide the "wounds" necessary for the bacterium to infect the plant. After all, what really IS the difference between ALL of these "wounds"? They all result in the same potential entry for the opportunistic bacteria. Feeder roots of most plants extend out past the plant's drip zone, where rain drips off the foliage canopy of the plant. You know how under a tree is sometimes fairly dry, with all the rain running off the canopy around its circumference? That is the 'drip zone'. Many, if not most, plants' feeder roots proliferate in that zone and beyond as that is where more moisture is likely to be available and where nutrients are likely to be released from organics in the soil due to the higher moisture and greater warmth. If you dig a hole in that area, you are very likely to damage the feeder roots of the plant. That is going to have some effect on the plant due to the reduction of nutrient and moisture uptake lost from the damaged, chopped off roots. How much will depend upon many factors, but there should be some resulting effect from the removal of the roots. Now, include all the potential "wounds" each shovel slice can produce. Each one potentially the entry point needed by the gall bacteria. No, not every garden is going to experience galls because of it. No, not every rose is going to contract gall from chopped off roots. No, not every rose (or other plant) is going to show its disapproval of having its roots reduced. But, gall infection IS possible from other sources as innocent as wanting pansies around your roses. If galls can occur on potted plants in a soil less mix, even ones which have not been grown IN the soil, imagine how easily they may occur from our usual "cultural" practices. Kim
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michaelg
16 years ago
If it's on the base you need to get rid of it. Don't break the gall. Be sure to clean tools afterward.
stefanb8
16 years ago
When I was dealing with gall issues, I used Lysol, and then when the shears had dried flamed the business end with a barbeque lighter. In fact, I tend to use fire more than anything else when moving between plants (pruning in general) because it's so effective and doesn't hurt the metal. Even with Lysol, you have to ensure the surface doesn't dry too fast in order to get ideal killing action.
anntn6b
16 years ago
I'm not sure the crown gall isn't systemic in a lot of The Fairys sold today. I had it on all the seven I had in NOLA (I had seven because it was one rose that people wouldn't take blooms from). On those roses, it was on both the stems, where they contacted the ground, and to a lesser extent around the 'crown'.
On different Fairies, up here, I've had it on stems. On a related rose, we've had it on the stems.
Our Fairies here are now doing their thing out of the main rose gardens; one is down on Rocky Narrows, the other is at the base of a butternut tree. Both continue to do well, inspite of being galled.

I've been accumulating scientific papers on gall; I've been falling asleep wading through the genejockey parts of the papers.
One thing from reading yesterday: some scientists were damaging healthy roses and found that the galls became major and large infected areas at the crown of the rose; identical innoculations out on the canes/stems often didn't take and when they took, the resulting galls were smaller.
Damages to roses of the same cultivars, sizes,etc. when there was no A. tumefaciens as part of the damage led to NO crown gall.

There's a lot out there on A. tumefaciens because of the part it takes in genetic modification of plants; and crown gall is a real problem in glass house rose production, so it is getting attention all over the globe.

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