but - the problems were mostly on the more horizontal canes on the bottom and the new roses didn't have a problem. but yeah - I'll lay off the juice for awhile! :) hoovb - I grow mine in pots. Plus I have a super fantastic husband who lets me buy as many rose bushes as I want every year. We're using them sort of like annuals. Most people here get blooms starting in the middle of July. I've had blooms from my new roses for at least a month and a half. Plua - I can't say that the stems were soft. They were hard. Could it be that the new growth grew when it was too cold - so the canes didn't get the grith they needed. They stayed more spindly? They weren't exactly spindly - but they could have been thicker that's for sure. Carol

Goodness, my roses have red spots and silvery patches all over the place, especially fall through spring. Young canes turn various colors as they mature from green to brown or gray. These can start as red or purple spots and streaks, yellow flushes, etc. Purplish red spots and silvery patches can be from various nearly harmless fungi. Red spots can also be black spot infections of the bark that will carry the disease over winter, or the beginning of canker infections that will kill a patch of bark. It could be a reaction to sunlight. Don't be alarmed, however. You will probably never know exactly what these spots are, and chances are you will not notice any resulting problems. I just regard cane spotting as a normal thing in my climate and ignore it. If cankers appear in spring I will deal with them then.

Above is octopus arms on Darcy Bussell after gypsum on top. Pic. taken August 12. Carol: if your clay is high in potassium that will control the octopus arms. But if your clay is chalky (high in calcium) it will add more calcium and make the octopus arm worse. If your clay is heavy & gluey (high in magnesium) like mine, that makes it worse .. magnesium is the glue that holds tight to nutrients, including calcium. One person reported high-calcium & low potassium soil test, pH slightly alkaline .. and she gets thin long shoots, plus faded blooms. I use tons of gypsum to break up my hard-clay, but I always balance with high-potassium red-lava rock inside the planting hole, or watering with sulfate of potash (soluble potassium with NPK 0-0-50). I'm out of sulfate of potash as soluble fertilizer for pots, that's why I get octopus arms. Potassium makes the stem and leaves thicker, whereas acidic calcium (as in gypsum with 17% sulfur) will make the leaves and stems thinner, plus long octopus arms. Gypsum (acidic, with 17% sulfur) release of calcium is much faster than dolomitic lime. Thus gypsum is much riskier to use. I induced blackspots on a few roses when I gave too much acidic gypsum. TOO MUCH CALCIUM DRIVES DOWN POTASSIUM. Potassium is vital for disease-prevention. One year Evelyn lost all its leaves from rust fungal infection, after I dumped soluble gypsum around the bush. Evelyn likes it alkaline. Rust is very, very rare in my Chicagoland, happened only twice when I messed up soil's balance. I never see fungus growing on banana peels in my compost, but I see disgusting mold growing on slightly acidic organic matter, such as moldy citrus rinds, moldy strawberries, and white mold on alfalfa meal. If I feed roses alkaline & high potassium fertilizer, plus anti-fungal trace elements of copper & zinc & boron ... leaves become alkaline & richer in anti-fungal nutrients and less chance of fungal invasion. Fungus prefer it slightly acidic, fungus and pest gain entry easier when leaves become thinner as the pH drops. When I bought my 10 own-roots from Roses Unlimited, I was impressed at how thick the leaves were .. I wondered if RU used the $$$ potassium silicate. Too expensive for me to buy, so I spread 1 tablespoon of sulfate of potash around each own-root. A few waterings later .. and their leaves are super-thick compared to the control without sulfate of potash. Banana peels is very high in potassium, NPK of 0-3-42, that's 42 potassium compared to 50 potassium in sulfate of potash. Why roses are less healthy when it's acidic? As the pH drops, less potassium and calcium are available. In both rose-tissue analysis and hydroponics field studies, TWICE more potassium than calcium is recommended. I really don't need to give roses calcium: only when they are really tiny & wimpy as own-roots, or when it's right under rain-spout and there's leaching of calcium. There's only a few occasions that applying calcium was beneficial: Radio Times used to be right next to tree-roots that stole calcium. Tree roots also secrete acid that made the soil loamy. That rose stopped growing, so I gave it garden dolomitic lime (pH 9). It DOUBLED in size, and no more blackspots (leaves are more alkaline). I also gave it sulfate of potash. Bolero was under the rainspout, getting 32 gallons of water dumping on it every 1/2 hour. Lots of blooms for a tiny rose, but I notice less petals ... so I knew it needed calcium. I gave it Garden lime, and the petals count went up. Jude the Obscure is notorious for being wimpy own-root. Roots are like alfalfa sprouts, can't do acid-phosphatase .. so leaves are really pale. I gave it gypsum, and it doubled in size. Below is Munstead Wood with octopus arms at 3.5 feet, or 1.06 meter. Too much gypsum was given. Pic. taken August 12. It looks really silly invading Veteran's Honor next to it. Both pots get plenty of sun, no excuse for octopus arms. Each octopus arm has 3 buds, but I chopped them off. When I planted Munstead Wood into my clay, the root was solid, but didn't grow into 2-gallon as I expected, thanks to my being out of sulfate of potash.

Beth - thank you!! Chandos Beauty is a fabulous rose!! It daily strikes me with its beauty and fragrance. I had to use the cup method though - to get rid of the thrips. You wouldn't be sorry if you bought Chandos Beauty!! Carol