Buford's photos could both be herbicide damage. At present there is not a simple field test to determine if a rose has RRV or does not have RRV. Excessive thorns is thought to be a good indicator of RRV infection but lack of excessive thorns does not rule out RRV. Buford's photos do not show excessive thorns, and the one that he feels is RRV is similar to one posted for herbicide damage by Plant Pathology Department Extension Service at the University of Arkansas. http://plantpathology.uark.edu/Number5-2009.pdf From Ann Peck's web book: "There are no laboratory tests to confirm a diagnosis of RRD; graft transmission tests can confirm the disease when the recipient plant (R. multiflora) develops RRD. A lack of transmission does not prove lack of the disease, just lack of transmission. Dr. Jim Amrine (personnal communication) suggests that graft transmission tests are more often successful in spring than in other seasons. This, to me, corresponds to the time that multiflora puts on most of its new growth (when its growth isn't affected by RRD)." -------------------------------- H. Kuska comment: Until a simple lab test is developed, we simply do not know from a single field examination in some/many cases. There are too many variables: type of herbicide, concentration of herbicide, rose variety, weather, etc. to say for certain from a single observarion in all cases this plant definitely has RRV, this one definitely has herbicide damage. Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Peck's chapter Recognizing Rose Rosette

Hi. Jim Amrine and his students are the ones who worked with the mites. Jim thinks that to get the (now we know it's a) virus into the vascular system of the rose, the move is through the cheliceral stylets of the mites. There are also two appendages that sort of look like "hands" in that they have a stalk and a bunch of things that emerge from the bottom of the stalk. Those things can just whir when the mite decides for them to. I don't think anyone knows why. Just translating our thoughts to something that small whose mind is probably a series of if-then statements, and not much more. Can we outwit something that has no wits? Jim is the one who came up with the very logical idea that if the stylets get into undifferentiated meristemic tissue, and put the virus there, then the virus can get into the vascular system. Getting the virus into a pre-existing phloem cell is almost impossible otherwise, because there is no part of the mite that is long enough in microns to reach into the plant into the phloem. In my ebook, take a look at the line drawing of the mite. Now to put that into a size that you know. That mite is the size of a bedroom slipper that would fit on one aphid foot. From what I've read frass transmission of viruses is known for beetles and one of the professors who studied RRD in Arkansas also did the beetle frass work. Check Dr. Rose Gergerich for references. The only cut apart body view of an eriophyid mite that I recall is in a book called Eriophyideae. Just cutting a microtome section through a mite so that it's along the middle of its back AND vertical must have been a challenge. IIRC, the animal has a relatively short digestive tract. It has no respiratory system-that's done through the 'skin'. To opuntiamc's original questions: I know several people who have been devoted insecticide and miticide sprayers. They have continued to have RRD infections. They have made major efforts to remove infected 'wild' roses in the fields around them. Remember we call spider mites and eriophyid mites ....we call them both mites. But there are so many physical differences ...size, predators vs. objects of predation, number and location and articulation of legs, response to us and movement, etc. Even within eriophyids, there are some major differences. The mites that include the RRV vector potential live very differnt lives from the mites that make the galls on oak leaves...even on poison ivy leaves. poison ivy leaf galls What has recently interested me is that the leaves with galls are not widespread on a plant but only on a few and I wonder what we can learn/infer/guess is happening. The one part of the country that hasn't had RRD as much as it 'should' have is the area in the Delta where there was a major spraying program against boll wevils. That eradication program has stopped, so time will tell If it has a positive effect. The -cides have one big negative: their targets develop tolerance and the -cides stop working. Air flow modification does work if you have the room; removing one sick cane earliest...can work some of the time and some of the time beats none of the time, and maybe some of the very small predaceous thrips and mites will continue their hunger for the eriophyids. Ann

Amber, we need to know more about your growing conditions. Also, have you been treating DOWNY, or POWDERY mildew? There's a vast difference. Powdery mildew is exactly like it sounds, a whitish powdery coating that disfigures the leaves. DOWNY mildew is a deadly disease that affects the whole plant, causing rapid die back, loss of cane and eventual death if it continues unabated. You can Google to see the difference. Where in Australia are you? How intense is your summer sun? What aspect are your roses growing in (full sun, morning sun, evening sun, partial/shaded...you get the idea)? Is there reflected heat from hardscape? What is your soil like? Do you water? Do you mulch? There's not much you can do for the mosaic. It usually weakens a plant if it's rampant, but roses can grow for many years before they succumb to it. In warmer weather the leaf mottling usually disappears and you will forget it's there. The cercospora and black spot should be controlled by the Yates spray, but it is best used as a preventive, which means spraying BEFORE symptoms appear. For the sunburn I'm seeing, you can do two things: work to keep a good foliage canopy on the rose (see below), and/or supply some shade, either with a structure or by moving the rose. If that is powdery mildew lesions I'm seeing, then it's very difficult to control. There are a couple of chemicals available here in the US, but I don't know if you have them there...they aren't terribly effective anyway. There's a hot water treatment that supposedly works (spraying HOT water on the canes, trying not to cook the roots, lol), and Jeri in CA swears by spreading fresh horse manure around the rose. Just don't let it touch the rose itself. In the meantime, any cane that is girdled by a lesion is a goner and needs to be cut back below the damage. It can travel rapidly down the canes. General good culture will go a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng way toward improving your roses' health, as long as they aren't being slammed with weather/climate beyond their ability to cope. Make sure they aren't water-stressed. Fertilize. Add compost. Start a PREVENTIVE spray program (hopefully you can discontinue when the plants perk up!) when the first new leaves grow. Mulch. Then cross your fingers :)

I am so sorry, Ann, and you are correct on all fronts (especially regarding our food supply--I recently learned about the viruses threatening global banana production). It is devastating, as RRD's spread is merciless. Further, I am certain that almost every rose I've purchased within the last 3 years (local nursery, mail order, etc.) has arrived already infected with RRD. We all know that one excessively thorny and succulent stem...It's like we can't win, no matter how diligent we are. RRD is all over my neighborhood, and I am doing everything I can to spread awareness and share mitigation strategies. I just spoke to a neighbor this morning who was wondering how his 2-year rosebush "mysteriously died" despite meticulous care (his next door neighbor's roses all have RRD). I hope a solution arrives sooner than later, because growing up in Montreal, roses were a fixture of my childhood, reliably growing up out of the concrete everywhere on the island, spring after spring. As someone who grew up with a good deal of household instability, roses supplied what I didn't have much of as a child--stability and routine (their beauty and fragrance were a bonus!). The roses blooming effortlessly everywhere around me were a balm, and made me believe that things would truly turn out ok--and they did.