I had RRD five years ago. I dug up approximately 16 roses. I did nothing to stop it early as I didn't recognize what it was that was affecting my roses. It appeared around July. I dug up the roses in November. I replanted the following spring, and the problem did not return. I actually did have a few bad leaves the next two years on some other nearby plants that were not dug out, as they were not nearly as badly affected. I would simply cut the suspicious looking growth out. None of these plants were removed, and are clean of RRD. My garden has been entirely clean of RRD now for about 3 years. I recommend that such growth be cut out as soon as it is seen, as pruning it out at the top may save the rose. It seems to start at the top and if given time will move into the bottom of the rose and grow into other branches that were not previously affected and then your rose bush is doomed. The medicine was harsh. I lost some great roses, and didn't really have the money to put toward getting roses of my choosing. I accepted donation replacements, and bought a few own root roses, and my rose garden is not what it had been. The main symptom was elongated leaves. An individual RRD leaf looked somewhat like a an individual marijuana leaf. ISU Extension Service examined my photos as well as someone else on this forum and both told me they believed it to be RRD. Iowa State University operates Reiman Gardens, which has a very large population of roses. ISU told me they did not know RRD had gotten as far north as where I am located in Iowa. But they contracted RRD that year at Reiman Gardens. They are about 130 miles away, but only about 44 miles to the south of us. This was Iceberg when infected by RRD. Note the elongated leaves and misshapen flowers. Don't wait to start trimming bad RRD growth out if you are trying to stop RRD's spread: Note the elongated leaves:

I'm sure some of our found roses are self seedlings which volunteered somewhere. Rose seeds have long been available commercially, and particularly Chinas and "Fairy Roses" were distributed as seeds. R. Xanthina was brought to the US by Meyer (of Meyer Lemon fame) as seeds and raised once here. He found both single and double forms from those seeds. Slater's Crimson China, among others, was sent out as seed. It is very successful as a self seeder, too. Any wonder why there are so many variations, all identified as Slater's Crimson China? If "grandma" planted some seeds, or some came up in her garden, of course only the most vigorous, healthiest would have been selected to maintain. Those would likely have been the ones relatives passed around and even planted in the family plots. Often, selfs resemble the parents quite closely. Not exactly, but close enough for someone to look at them and proclaim they are this, or that variety. Grow them side by side and you'll see differences. Micro sports also occur all the time, altering basic traits just enough to change the rose so it's no longer the original. You might find a less, or more, double mutation. Take a look at Awakening and New Dawn. They COULD be mistaken for the same rose if you didn't know one or the other well enough, but they aren't the SAME rose. Kim

this spring one of my huge new dawns had rrd. i removed the plant, removed the 19 multiflora patches at the edges of my property and bought and distributed predatory mites. well another huge new dawn [i had three in all originally] has just put out fall growth full of witches brooms, so i am removing it now. it was about 30' away from the previously infected plant. there is a belinda's dream nearby with red new growth, which is small, but not really strange looking. i am keeping an eye on it, as i cant find any descriptions that mention if its new growth is supposed to be red. most of my HTs have red new foliage, and always have in the past. it is so frustrating that the biggest most vigorous established plants seem to be the hardest hit. i noticed the plants mentioned as getting RRD seemed to usually be huge climbers esp. new dawn, and shrubs, then HTs. i realized i hadnt seen minis mentioned. i searched gardenweb mini rose forum for rrd and rosette, and got zero posts about rrd. i dont know if minis are too short to get it, or mini growers are spraying miticide non-stop to kill the red spider mites, or the red spider mites are eating the eriophyid mite [which i've read can happen] ann, you posted last summer: The reasoning behind using wiltproof ties to the way that the flightless eriophyid mites get around- they are dropped by breezes when the breeze slows down. Thanks to the dissertation of Abdullah Kassar at WVU, if they land on a rose, they sense it and stay. If they land on a non-rose they try to catch the next breeze away. What we hope is happening with the wiltproof and other anti-transpirants is that they land on the wiltproof and reason "not rose" and leave. So as to how often to spray wiltproof...you'd like to keep the leaves and stems coated. Spray accordingly i bought wiltpruf to spray the new dawn i am in the process of removing, and the belindas dream i am watching. i am using it instead of hairspray. it forms a polymer coating, which i think might trap existing mites on the plants, just like the hairspray. i wouldnt give the mites that much credit in terms of intention -- it also might be that the anti-transpirants seal up the crevices they need to crawl into to not get blown about in the wind. in http://www.ars.org/pdfs/rose_rosette.pdf, it says shrub roses are most affected because their petioles provide a tight crevice, whereas HTs arent as good a host. if the mites are so prone to be blown about by the wind, maybe if the do land on a plant without good crevices,either because of the plants natural anatomy, or because wiltpruf has filled in those crevices,the mites get blown off on the next breeze before they can transmit rrd.

This Spring, as my 'Napoleon' started leafing out, it scared me by doing something similar -- it seemed that almost every growth bud was stimulated, and new shoots were growing in every direction. New leaves were very red as well. Kim Rupert advised me that this can happen if the primary bud was damaged, and this stimulates both side buds to grow. Well, 'Napoleon' continued leafing out, and all leaves appeared normal in shape and size, eventually greening up. I'm noticing that my "Bermuda Spice" is now also putting out a lot of new growth in a similar pattern, as are my new (this year) potted Teas. Teas and Chinas are known for putting out growth in seemingly haphazard directions. It looks scary at first, if you've already been stung by RRD (as I have), but I don't see the tell-tale signs of hyper-thorniness, twisted leaves, and new shoots much thicker than the canes from which they emerged. I'm not an expert, but I'd say you're just getting a burst of new, healthy growth. :-) ~Christopher