Fungicides are the least toxic of the horticultural chemicals. Yes Daconil can burn foliage but only under certain conditions (when plants are dried out and temps outsides are hot). I've never had it burn any of my roses because I'm certain to water them beforehand, only apply it early in the season, and limit spraying to the early morning or evening hours. In fact, its a whole lot less harmful to the foliage than lime-sulfur, which is an "organic" fungicide. The only toxic side effect I've read in the literature about Mancozeb is that there is a slightly higher incidence of eye trouble in agricultural workers who routinely work around it. These people don't have the advantage of goggles, a respirator, and protective clothing. They are also exposed to much higher levels and much more often. I've never noticed a marked decrease in insects from the use of fungicides. A bit of perspective. This weekend I visited my 70 year old mother. Before leaving for what is a three hour drive I picked a new blossom of PRETTY JESSICA, a gorgously fragrant new English Rose that I acquired last year. As I was driving I'd occasionally pick up and smell the rose. The powerful Damask fragrance kept me alert and happy during the drive. Such a treat! The flower was still fresh and beautiful when I arrived. My mother immediately wanted me to buy her the rose when I let her smell the flower. I had to gently let her down. "Pretty" as PRETTY JESSICA is, she needs spraying and mom's health won't allow her to put in the necessary work to keep the English Rose looking good in her Tidewater VA garden. My mother was profoundly disappointed. Her rose garden is organic, and lovely as the Chinas and Teas are, they just don't have that certainly "quality" that we've come to expect from the English Roses (and Bourbons, Hybrid Perpetuals, Portlands; all of which are disease mongers). I'm hoping mom will be more pleased as her new garden develops. Duchesse de Brabant and Belinda's Dream in particular should please her. "It is beauty that nourishes the soul." Image of PRETTY JESSICA by Celestial Rose.

Hi Msgirl: I love your honesty .. I looked up El Catala on HMF, and I broke out laughing when I saw 3' in height .. translate to a slow & wimpy rose. Heirloom Roses is notorious for small root & slow start. Now they raise the price to $27 per band !! If the root is big & solid, then it flowers sooner (roses from Weeks & star are grafted on Dr. Huey, see below). http://scvrs.homestead.com/Rootstock.html I got roses from Heirloom Roses as own-roots and their roots were like alfalfa-sprout, instead of big & long & woody like Dr. Huey. High Country Roses in Colorado sells BIGGER own-roots at $14 per band (they ship to Hawaii). I got Austin roses from them with blooms on !! About Dr. Huey rootstock: They are native to alkaline region, thus most healthy in alkaline clay. Dr. Huey itself tends to mildew, so high potassium helps. If your soil is acidic, then raise the pH with lime to above neutral. Lime will supply calcium besides raising soil pH. Decades ago my neighbor bought a bunch of grafted-roses-on-Dr.Huey, he planted in our rock-hard clay at 7.7, and they were blooming like mad & zero diseases. I was jealous since I had just moved from an ACIDIC clay region, and gave up on roses due to black spots. Since Dr. Huey is a woody-root, calcium should be supplied at 1/2 of potassium. Calcium is what makes plant tissue firm, thus more resistant to pests like thrips, mites, and aphids. When nitrogen is supplied via chemical, the quick burst of growth makes plant tissue softer, more susceptible to pests. I have been growing tomato for 30 years, and the only 2 years with big-fat tomato worms, plus blossom-end-rot were the years I used chemical fertilizer 10-10-10. Other years with ORGANIC slow-released nitrogen like manure, cocoa mulch, alfalfa .. no worms, no blossom-end-rot, since those ORGANIC sources supply low-nitrogen, decent potassium & calcium & trace elements.

Good idea, Jim, that would be sturdy & easy to clean. What store did you get it from? I will have to look for that. One healthy rose worth buying: William Shakespeare 2000, I never find any Japanese Beetle on that for the past 4 years, since its petals are tightly-packed, and JB can't get inside. I have W.S. 2000 in a flooded area, with the overflow of rain barrel dumping water on that tiny rose, yet it's clean. I also put gypsum (for its zillion-petals), and cracked-corn in the planting hole (for anti-fungal agents in corn, such as zinc and copper). How one prepare the planting hole determines how disease-resistant it is. If the hole is well-drained, and has beneficial microbes, it will be healthy. When I piled up horse manure on Golden Celebration, I was surprised that the previously compacted soil underneath is made fluffy, thanks to the microbes from the well-rotted manure. The below link explains why: http://www.naturalenviro.com/Article.php?ArticleSKU=Soil-Building "The broad and diverse population of soil microorganisms will immediately begin to build an aerobic zone in the soil. The aerobic zone is the top portion of the soil that supports plant life. A healthy soil will normally have an aerobic zone 8-12 inches deep. Most soils today have an organic matter content of less than 1% and usually have very shallow aerobic zones (1-2 inches). One of the main causes of this is the lack of diverse population of beneficial soil microbes. Soils that have low organic matter and shallow aerobic zones also have a very low water holding capacity, are compacted, and have very low oxygen content. These conditions are very adverse to good root development by turf or plants and usually indicate very low microbial activity. When you apply microbes, you will see conditions in your soil begin to change quickly." An excerpt from another site on humus: http://www.naturalenviro.com/Article.php?ArticleSKU=humic-acid-role "Humic acid is also especially important because of its ability to chelate micronutrients increasing their bio-availability. Humic acid stimulates microbial activity by providing the indigenous microbes with a carbon source for food, thus encouraging their growth and activity. Soil microbes are responsible for solubilizing vital nutrients such as phosphorus that can then be absorbed by the humic acid and in turn made available to the plant. Additionally, microbes are responsible for the continued development of humus in the soil as it continues to break down not fully decomposed organic matter." William Shakespeare 2000 as own-root can take lots of rain. I look over the pictures over the last 4 years, including the 1st year when it was in a pot, with chemical fertilizer. My rating: it was really stingy in a pot, from high-nitrogen-soluble. It gave lots of bloom with sulfate of potash & gypsum, but the health can't be compared to horse manure. This year with too much rain: I used red-lava-rock & cocoa mulch, bloom-quality is good, but leaves got holes from excess water, but no black spots. Below is William Shakespeare when I used horse manure & alfalfa meal, 100% healthy, fantastic bloom-color and quality: Here's William Shakespeare 2000 bloom with horse manure: nice purple, thanks to the trace elements in horse manure. I like more than what I have now, deep crimson from red-lava-rock:

ann beck 8a ruralish WA How does your soil look like, being high in iron? The top layer of my soil is black and rock hard clay, but the lowest layer is lighter color clay (orangish), and red roses do well here. Red roses like Double Delight & Munstead Wood both have a higher need for iron. I check the web, and it stated: "The most distinctive characteristic of an iron-rich soil is a ruddy orange or red color, though not all red soils are rich in iron. When the iron deposits in the soil oxidize, they turn a distinctive rust color that tints the soil red. " In early summer when the stems of cut-blooms are softer, they wilt easily if I use acidic rain. My cut-blooms always last longer in my alkaline tap water at pH 9, rather than acidic rain water. My tap water leaves whitish calcium and hard magnesium deposits on pots. We have hard well water, and our soil is high in dolomitic rocks (calcium plus magnesium). In the fall when the stems are harder, cut blooms can tolerate acidic rain water better with less wilting. Below are some recent cut blooms this Sept. 2022. Dark red are Munstead Wood, it's a constant bloomer as 8th-year own root, light pink is Princess Charlene d. Monaco (4th-year own-root), and whites are 12th-year own-root Mary Magdalene, lowest ruffled pink are Augusta Luis: The Dark Lady (red), Tchaikosky (light yellow), and Sweet Mademoiselle (salmon) are heavy bloomers this Sept. Tchaikosky is 4.5" across and Sweet M is 4". They are fertilized with biochar at pH 8.6 which supplies calcium and potassium for large blooms.