Your photo might need to be cropped to show a clearer closeup of those leaves. I think I'm seeing a speckled apperance on the leaf surface. Is that what you mean? If so, that isn't powdery mildew. Take a look at the closeup shown in the link. Is that what you're seeing?

Here is a link that might be useful: Leaf hopper damage

I agree, that doesn't look like powdery mildew to me either, but it is really hard to see anything in that pic.

I think I can see some PM in the bottom right of the photo.

I should say that, in our part of the country, (Southern CA) New Dawn is notorious for mildew.

Jeri

Powdery mildew isn't going to kill your rose. Blackspot will weaken a rose severely and then a cold winter will kill it off, but PM is more an annoyance than a killer.

A while ago on the Organic Rose Care Forum I saw vinegar solution spray (3T apple cider vinegar to 5 liters water) as a solution to both backspot and powdery mildew--the idea being to create an acidic ph which will inhibit the fungal growth. I'm about to try it and will post with the results. These two problems (along with rose slugs) are slowly building in my once trouble-free garden! Bourbons are the most affected.

He{{gwi:306089}}re's another try at posting another picture:
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On this last pic, I was trying to show the curled leaves.
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As you can hopefully see, the buds turn brown and don't open.

Thanks so much for any diagnosis of the problem and solutions.

Marlene

Marlene -- you have more than one separate and distinct problem.
The bud problem is simple: botrytis.
At the link below, scroll down to botrytis fungus.
This is a problem for us here at the Pacific Coast, where the air is cool (tho it can exist in many places).
We avoid planting heavily-petalled roses which have very thin petals.
Two good examples of roses that don't open here are Souv. de la Malmaison, and Yves Piaget.

As to the leaves, it's really hard for me to see.
Do you have by chance a flatbed scanner?
If you DO, please put leaves in the scanner, and scan them. You can put 2 leaves in, and scan both top and bottom at once.
That will make a GREAT clear image.
As it is, what you have could be anything from Rose Mosaic Virus to some sucking insect, to Spider Mites.
I just can't tell.

If there IS powdery mildew present, it's minor.
And as noted, it won't kill the plant (tho it can be unsightly.)

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Baldo Villegas Bugs and Roses Web Site

Kind of looks like spider mites, any fine, tiny, barely visible webs underneath the leaves? But yes, a scan of a leaf would enable a better diagnosis...

I think the leaves are suffering leaf hopper damage. If it's spider mites, look carefully for very fine webbing around the affected leaves. The webbing will be most prevalent on the leaves that look the most damaged. If there is no webbing, check for leaf hoppers.

I see no evidence of powdery mildew and have a New Dawn (or Dr. Van Fleet) which has suffered before from PM, so I know what that damage on that rose looks like (at least, how it looks in Coastal Massachusetts). PM not only creates a white film on top of the leaves (your damage looks to me like it's inside the leaves, not on top), but also distorts the very shape of the leaves themselves.

PM twists the leaves into contorted shapes they never have on their own.

I was going to say spider mites, too. I have only had them once in 19 years, and that summer was extraordinarily hot.

There are multiple solutions to spider mites, but they can be very damaging if you do not start to solve it right away. Miticides are not very effective. Malathion does have some qualities to get to mites. But what I found most effective was simply to overhead water by spraying them down several times with a hose. The mites suck the moisture from the leaves and they wash off with the hose. The overhead water therefore has two positive benefits.

Do not do this at dusk. Water them down during the day.

Look for the little tiny white flying insects on the underside of the leaves. If they don't fly, they are the cast skins. These were confirmed by the Bugman:
The damage:
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The size and scale of the evil doers:
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Lousy macroshot of the cast skins showing the dots:
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Thank you, thank you -- all of you. I am going to try to post some pics I took today. I am hoping they will be more revealing.

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Sorry that last one is so blurry. Berndoodles, thanks for the pics of leaf hopper damage. I think I certainly have that, don't you (referring to the pic with the lovely bugs)?

I also found some webbing, so I think maybe I have spider mites. Oh, joy! And I also think I have powdery mildew.

I would love anyone's advice. I sure wish I had a flatbed scanner. My daughter has one, but she is out of town. And I wouldn't mind if we had a Bug Man out here in Colorado. However, I took samples to my local nursery and the very nice rose lady there confirmed that I have several separate problems. She thought that the drooping rosebuds were caused by thrips and told me to go home and cut all of those drooping buds off and dispose of them.
She thought I had powdery mildew, too, and also spider mites.

She advised that I use Bayer All-in-One spray, so I bought that, but after reading the instructions, I decided to try Neem Oil because the instructions said not to use when bees are active, and they are very active on Ballerina, at least during the day, but maybe I could use it at night. I sprayed yesterday very thoroughly with Neem oil and will repeat in 7 days. However, since my roses are so badly infected, and with multiple buggies or whatever, maybe I will have to go toxic.

Another problem with me using a toxic spray is I have large pots of herbs close to Ballerina, in fact right beside it. I think I could cover the pots with black trash bags or something. But I also have black raspberries whose vines are kind of intermingled with one of my New Dawn climbers. I'm not sure if I can cover all of them enough. Maybe if I used a hand sprayer rather than a hose-end sprayer it would be easier. So what do you think?

Thanks again.

Marlene

There IS powdery mildew.
Some roses are more susceptible to this fungus than others.
In MY climate, New Dawn is one of these sufferers -- part of the reason it's rarely grown here.

If your weather is not too hot, you can spray the affected leaves with Eco-ERASE.
This oil spray will coat and kill the mildew spores.
The damage will remain, but the fungus will be stopped.
The downside is that you can't use oils if the temps get up around 80 or so degrees -- and I think
your area's pretty hot now.

Washing foliage off early in the morning also helps reduce fungal disease.
SPIDER MITES can be brought under control by repeated blasting, from the bottom UP
with a garden hose at high pressure.
Do it every couple of days for maybe 10 days, and that should improve.
I think insecticidal soaps can help with leaf hoppers, but I've never dealt with them here.

Jeri

Hi, Marlene, I think you've nailed it down: New Dawn has a trio of things going on. Leafhopper damage is largely cosmetic. Spider mite damage is not. Follow the washing routine for several consecutive days and then repeat it after a few days to get any leftovers. Any oil spray to control spider mites is problematic during the summer. Oils will cause lots of damage if sprayed in heat or cold - - so your window for use is maybe 45 degrees to 75 or 80 degrees. I don't know anything about limitations on insecticidal soap, but a quick google search shows cautions about using it in temperatures of 90 degrees or in full sun during the summer - - just common sense, really. And while summer monsoons provide the perfect atmospheric conditions for PM, water stress - - too much or too little - - can also trigger powdery mildew. Make sure to check the soil in a couple of locations around the plant for soil moisture. Dig about 6 inches down. You might want to hold off making any judgments about New Dawn until after you've reduced the population of spider mites and checked the soil several times to see if your rose is dry or soaking.

Once again, thank you so much, especially berndoodle and jeri. Tomorrow morning I am going to spray UP for spider mites and will check soil to see how much moisture it contains. I really think it may be too moist due to location adjacent to a drainage pipe.

If you all don't mind, I'll post results.

Marlene

The bottom four pictures all show powdery mildew, the other pictures show leafhopper damage.

Looks like time for chemical warfare to me.
I try to keep chemicals to a bare minimum but you need help.
I'd water them well and feed with a systemic like Bayer.
Three days later I'd water again then spray with your fungicide of choice.
Three days later water then use Neem oil.
Then spray weekly after watering deeply.
You're going to lose some leaves but you'll probably not lose your Roses.
Within a week or so you should start to see new growth.
Be sure to keep the new growth sprayed.
They should be okay.

Thanks for the advice, Chuck Billie. I am really thinking, too, that it's time for chemical warfare, at least on the roses that are not too close to the raspberries. I went out this morning and tried to hit all the undersides of leaves with a strong water spray. I hate to use toxic chemicals, but I have so many problems that maybe it's time. I know I have leaf hoppers because I found some that look just like the picture Berndoodle sent, and I think I have spider mites and am sure I have powdery mildew and maybe thrips, too.

I haven't checked soil moisture because -- unbelievable -- but we had an inch and a half of rain yesterday afternoon and then my sprinklers went off early this morning. However, I do think I have too much moisture because, although the landscapers put in some kind of drains since my sump pump dumps out in the area of my garden, I don't think they (the drains) are sufficient. I can't remember for sure how they did it.

Thanks to all.

Marlene

Hi Marlene - I'm in a similar climate. I would not use chemical warfare for spider mites. You'll kill all the good predacious bugs, too, and usually the spider mites recover first and come back even worse. It's a really bad cycle to get into. Just try blasting the foliage and see how that goes. It shouldn't take long to see an improvement. If you have a hose end feeder or something along those lines, add a little bit of soap to start knocking down the leaf hoppers.

Check the raspberries for mites. Spider mites are a host for them, too.

I meant to say:

RASPBERRIES are a host for spider mites, too.