Rose Rosette Disease...Need Advice

12 years ago

Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for some advice...and wanted to ask people who I know love roses, but also have way more experience than I do, and are more level-headed than I am. A little background...

Some of you may remember me posting about my run in with the rose rosette disease in my community. I must say, my HOA was awesome...after the initial convincing, they pulled out all the infected roses out, and I felt I had bought my roses and myself some time.

Now...the disease rears it's head again...5 miles down the road at a shopping plaza. I went to the local (Big M) nursery down the road to see if they could pull some strings and take care of the issue, but they essentially told me they couldn't care less and directed me to the VA county cooperative extension. I actually went there and was told that the Master Gardener had informed the management company about the issue. I called the management company, and spoke to the woman who handles the shopping plaza and was told that they had sprayed the roses, and felt that some of them did get better, so they have no plans of doing anything else.

I asked for her contact information, and that of the company and wanted to start an e-mail and letter campaign, but then wondered if I was over reacting. Both the "Big Nursery" folks and the woman from the management company made me feel like a lunatic panicking over nothing.

So here I am....I know you folks have gazillions of experience...is this not worth the battle? Is it really not much of an issue? You see I have fallen in LOVE with roses...I'm sorry I am not here as often as I would like because of very small kids, but you folks inspire me...and I would love to be able to grow old with roses...so please give me advice...is this really a storm in a teacup? What would you do?

Thanks in advance...all of you are so awesome with advice always.

P.S. I am in Manassas, VA if that helps.

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Comments (11)

silverkelt
12 years ago
Do not stop, you are doing the right thing.

They are under informed and uneducated apparantly on the subject..

Keep going.
seil zone 6b MI
12 years ago
Keep pushing the issue! Those roses need to go or it will continue to spread. Arm yourself with as much literature as you can get your hands on and send it to them. Repeatedly if necessary. I can't believe the extension group isn't pushing them to remove those roses. They should know better!
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About your other question, I think Chamblee, Roses Unlimited or David Austin are all first-rate nurseries and I would not hesitate to order from any of them. My personal preference is for Roses Unlimited, but I don't know if I have a good reason for that preference. I just love opening their boxes and seeing the roses already in bloom. On the other hand, I have to wait until after mid-May to get them--which is 3-4 weeks later than I usually plant, at the latest, my other roses. It is very upsetting to discover RRD in your garden--it's happened three different times in a three year period in my gardens, but fortunately only one plant per year--but still, that is upsetting. I'm no RRD expert, but I don't think you need to worry very much about plants close by "catching" the disease. If the wind blew the mites off of the roses that got RRD, it probably blew those tiny, tiny critters half-way into the next county, not a couple feet away to the next rose. At least in my garden, the roses near by the infected rose never exhibited RRD symptoms. The next year when another rose came down with RRD, it was way on the other side of the back yard. Same thing with the third year when a third rose broke out in symptoms--way far away from the two previous ones. I don't know where my disease-causing mites are blowing in from since I live in the middle of a small town, but I'm assuming it is from the wild stuff growing outside of town, not from other roses in my garden--since I immediately get rid of any infected rose in my garden. As the other posters noted, spraying will not help the problem. As upsetting as RRD is, I think you should just go ahead with your garden plans, assuming everything will be all right--since there is not much you can do about RRD other than destroying the infected plants. Good luck. Kate
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Aprille, Welcome to Texas! I am not in the Dallas area, but live close enough to the metroplex to follow what's going on with the roses there. I just think the timing right now is not the best for rose lovers in the Dallas area. RRV has become quite a problem in Dallas over the last several years. Word was, it was an epidemic last year. I know one woman in Dallas that had over 100 roses in her back yard and lost every one of them last year. Her neighbors lost all their roses last year, too. I went to a seminar this spring with Dr. Steve George and he said they were even battling RRV at the Earthkind Trial Garden in Farmers Branch. He also stated to be very careful to purchase your roses from reputable dealers because he had seen roses for sale that had RRV. I could never imagine a garden without roses, but for now, I would start small and stay vigilant. I don't know if this happens, but I am hoping that RRV will reach its peak, and that the number of outbreaks will then start to fall. I would also look around your new neighborhood and educate the neighbors that have infected roses before I planted new rose bushes. The problem is that most of the people that have just a few roses don't know anything about RRV. One woman told me she drove around several Dallas neighborhoods last year and saw bush after bush showing signs of infection, but that no one she talked to had ever heard of RRV. Good luck. I hope the number of cases of RRV in the Dallas area begins to go down, and that you will be able to have the rose garden of your dreams without very many losses to RRV.
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Thanks for the answer. The person in charge of the rose part is not well educated on the disease. I have tried to explain and help but they are still thinking that if they cut the roses back that will be the cure. I don't even walk near the rose garden because it is so sad. I know it has been in our area for 2 years,maybe longer. Brooks23
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I did live in the burbs in Houston for almost a decade, and if I see your gardening area correctly, the rose is planted right next to a cement slab. (And the weepholes in the brick wall in back of the rose?) The problem is, or at least may be, that the slab may be affecting the pH of the soil. And that pH may be affecting nutrient uptake by your roses. (Also there may be some chemical treatments done to the perimeter of your house before you moved in. First, call the Texas County extension agent and ask him or her about getting a soil test for that specific soil (forget about any suggestions that you should take samples from all over your yard, that's for grass growers). Also ask that the test check for nutrients in the soil.
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oddy
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you silverkelt and seil...I was doubting if this was worth doing. But your responses have made me feel I'd better give it a shot. I can't believe that the extension is not more aggressive about it!
zepherinedrouhin
12 years ago
I'm a Master Gardener in the Shenandoah Valley. Contact your Cooperative Extension Office. See if the Master Gardeners or Extension Agents can help.
hartwood
12 years ago
oddy, you have mail.
oddy
Original Author
12 years ago
Again...thank you so much for your time.

zepherinedrouhin,
I did go to the Manassas Cooperative Extension Office...that's where I was told that the Master Gardener had already spoken to the Management company. That's why I called the company directly...to see when they were pulling the roses out.

hartwood,
I just wanted to let you know that somehow your mail did not come through...but I did e-mail you with my personal e-mail. Any help, or ideas would be much appreciated.
jim_castlemarne_com
12 years ago
From the information I have been able to gather on the internet, my rose garden has Rose Rosetta disease. Can you help me better understand this disease? I have read it is fatal, there is no cure or relief, the only thing to do is rip everything out and burn it. Is mine the only rose garden in Denver to experience this disease? I have cut down and trashed 5 climbing roses on the front fence, and now am seeing signs on the roses up by the building. To say the lease, I am VERY concerned. Please respond asap. Either via email or telephone-303-331-0621 or 1-800-92 MARNE.
Thank you so much for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Jim Peiker
1572 Race Street
Denver
michaelg
12 years ago
Jim, before panicking about RRD, you should consider whether the problem might be herbicide exposure. Roses are highly susceptible to Roundup, 2,4D, and 2,4-5T--any of these can produce symptoms that can be confused with Rose Rosette Disease. That disease could occur in Denver but is not particularly likely there. RRD is common in central and eastern areas where there are dense populations of wild roses, mainly Rosa multiflora, that serve as a reservoir for the virus.
anntn6b
12 years ago
Jim
Have European Mountain Ash trees been used in landscaping? Are there redbuds nearby?
The closest recent RRD I know of (to Denver) is in Utah, south of Salt Lake City near Nevada Lake. My reporter was experienced and he could find no local source.

Ann

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Rosette e-book
Tessiess, SoCal Inland, 9b, 1272' elev
12 years ago
Ann, thanks for posting. I haven't read much about RRD up to now, and I obviously need to become better educated about it. It doesn't seem there are very many good options to combat the problem. In addition, there doesn't seem to have been sufficient recognition by plant researchers of the threat to roses in private gardens by RRD.

I looked today in a source I use a lot--Medline via Pubmed, and was dismayed at what I found on the mite, Phyllocoptes fructiphilus. Although there are some cautions mentioned in the abstract, the use of Phyllocoptes fructiphilus is cited as being particularly successful.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: Effectiveness of eriophyid mites for biological control of weedy plants and challenges for future research
anntn6b
12 years ago
Tess,
You'd be especially dismayed if you could go back fifteen years when there were major groups working for Biological Controls of certain weeds. They had some great meetings in exotic (and expensive and luxurious) resorts when they patted themselves on the back for using RRD to control multiflora.
Back then, the main info on the internet parroted the phrase "seldom affects ornamental roses." Well, they were very, very wrong.

Rose Rosette Disease...Need Advice

Comments (11)

silverkelt

seil zone 6b MI

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anntn6b

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Rose Rosette Disease...Need Advice

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