Crown gall bacteria need a wound to enter, so perhaps the plant contracted the disease when the cutting was taken or the graft was made. Sorry, but I don't know how fast the galls grow. The bacteria are widespread in the environment, so I don't think the unsterilized pot is a particularly likely source.

Hi Gracin, no, you did nothing wrong, nor are you very likely to "prevent" gall. It's something extremely common here in the "desert south west" and particularly on Wichurana, and to a slightly lesser extent, multiflora types. The Fairy, from which the Drift and Flower Carpet roses are bred, is extremely susceptible to gall here. Finding one without gall is the rarity. I can now say every original Flower Carpet I've known for years is now dead from gall. Or, at least so severely weakened by them, they succumbed to some other extreme circumstance.

Michael is very likely right that the cutting from which the plant was grown, was infected by the "wound" of being cut. I have own root polys which have never been in native soil here, only bagged, commercial potting soil, with galls. The same goes for a number of minis and other types. The bacterium exists virtually everywhere and is quite opportunistic. Despite your best efforts, it is very likely to show itself. About the only thing you can do to "prevent" it is to use products like Galltrol. These products have been commonly used by many rose producers to reduce the complaints of "sick plants" from their customers. If you haven't seen galls on your roses, it's likely due to conditions there not encouraging their growth, rather than the absence of the bacterium. Kim

Here is a link that might be useful: Galltrol, Gallex

Interesting--gall is very rare in my garden. I wonder why it would be so frequent in Kim's area. I do understand why it would be common in the commercial rose fields, where each plant has been wounded repeatedly and irrigation ditches may carry bacteria from plant to plant.

The bacterium appears to find arid, alkaline soils and water more to its liking. With as high a percentage of the US rose production having come from those climates/soils/waters, of course it has likely been more spread across the country than it might previously have been. At least for the past fifteen or so years, flood irrigation has been more common than irrigation ditches between rows. "Laser leveling" the fields to permit completely flooding them was, for quite a while, the preferred method. Sometimes, it even worked. Syl Arena remarked once when I was out with him and Paul Zimmerman in Wasco, how he had spent the extra to have the field mechanically "ripped" to four feet to make sure it would drain well, then laser leveled so flooding the fields would work perfectly. Yet, standing where we were, you could trace the issues through the field where water pooled, leaving other areas dry and how whatever the drainage issues were had affected the performance of the crop across rows.

But, as Michael previously pointed out, anything produced by any kind of "cutting" inheritantly begins with a wound subjected to whatever pathogens contained in the soil and water. Kim

Thank you Michael and Kim. I contacted the outfit that makes Gallex only to learn that they are not yet licensed to sell in Florida.

I destroyed my affected plants and then sat down and ate half a bag of chocolate to drown my sorrow.
It's comforting to learn that I probably did not spread the problem with an un- sterilized pot. I always rinse my clippers with 91% alcohol when I finish working on a plant, so I knew I didn't spread it that way.

Cheers!
Gracin

I'm so sorry, Gracin. I lost two The Fairy roses several years ago to crown gall, and I've been afraid to plant any roses there since. Wish I could have been there to help you drown your sorrows. I love chocolate.