I grieve with you.

I'm not sure I would have the courage to plant more roses, if that faced me.

Jeri

That is catastrophic, I would be heartbroken, and wouldn't blame you a bit for not wanting more roses...

I'm really sorry for this tremendous loss. You have my sympathy. Don't blame you at all, though it is so painful to think about, not growing roses any more.

I'm so sorry. Susan

That's just a shame. Such beauty, all lost...

My condolences, those are sad losses indeed, so many glorious roses. Thanks for sharing.

yes, that is a sad loss.....but also an opportunity. The plant kingdom is wonderfully diverse and, once the gardening bug strikes, it is not possible that you will simply give up. Best wishes going your way and hoping you find equal beauty in some other, non-affected plant family to give you joy.

I wouldn't be able to keep planting either. I'm so sorry.

All my sympathies. I have had similar losses from RRD ad there are days when I am ready to throw in the towel. I have branched out in plant selection, other things besides roses. But I am also fighting back. I am fortunate enough to have 1.5 acres and I can plant windbreaks against the prevailing RRD-bearing winds. I don't know how much that will help, but I'm hoping. I have also gone to the sources I know of and ask if I can destroy the multiflora. Many people are happy to have someone clear out the brambles. After I cleared out the stand of multiflora down at the creek, I planted pyracantha. Not only does it provide [an evergreen] habitat for the critters, but its root system should be able to out-compete multiflora seedlings. It will all take time...

Almost all my rose budget for the last two years has gone into replacing roses lost to RRD and I am more careful in my selection. While RRD can get nearly any rose, it seems to have preferences for those with multiflora in their lineage. I had a good collection of hybrid musks, but those were the first to be hit, so I'm not replacing too many of those. So, more gallicas and noisettes...we'll see.

What a heartbreak indeed. The RRD virus is spreading, with wild multiflora and commercial stands of Knock Out to aid in its march across the country. I foresee a day when many of us may have to give up on roses, though I doubt that I will be one of them.

As of now, this has been an easy year for RRD for me, with no new infections sighted in the fall growth. Last year was my worst year, with six roses affected. (Looking on the bright side, in my garden of 800, it's not a bad percentage.) The one of these that hit me hardest was "Connie's Favorite Gallica (actually a Hybrid China). Fortunately, I had a spare that I propagated from a sucker, so this rose isn't actually lost to the garden, thank goodness. I have cut back 'Alba Meideland', but not yet dug out its remains.

As of now, I am doing what catsrose is doing ... hunting down and destroying any multiflora near our property and being very vigilant in my own garden for signs of infection. It's all I really CAN do.

Hello to hollysprings, an expert grower and formerly an active and wise poster here. So sorry to hear about your trouble.

I have had terrible losses this year, about 1/3 of my roses infected. Maybe some of these are cured by surgery, but we'll see. At this point I plan to keep replanting as long as it's not a financial or physical strain. But I can't see encouraging others to take an interest in growing roses nowadays. I fear our glorious obsession is becoming a doomed enterprise in half of North America if not beyond.

Thank you, Hollysprings, for raising our awareness. I'm so sorry or your loss, I lost only one to RRD - a landscape rose which got infected at local Home Depot. The previous rose in that same spot is clean (I moved it elsewhere), so that's how I know RRD was from Home Depot.

My backyard has the neighbor' fences plus a hedge of Norway Spruce (fast growing wind-breakers) - so there are still isolated places where it's safe from RRD. My yard has Japanese Beetles, but my neighbor's yard by the lake has none. There will always be variations to pest exposure, so hopefully folks won't be discouraged from growing roses.

One of the pleasure in life is "to stop and smell the roses"... hopefully a small wingless mite won't put an end to that pursuit.

Holly,
I'm so sorry. I had wondered how bad the disease pressures were in your part of the world.

The only positive thing I can come up with is that back when we started talking about RRD on GW a fellow from Missouri who both loved roses and who had a farm filled with multiflora and who saw multiflora sicken....well, after four years or so, his multiflora was totally gone.

I don't se that here, probably because most multiflora near me is along ill tended fencerows, but IF your disease problems are coming from ill tended fields, in a few years your disease pressure might drop off.

I also wondered at one time (Because one grower about as far north of Memphis as you are south of Memphis) ...anyway he hadn't see RRD at all, but was surrounded by cotton. He and I wondered if the chemicals used for the (now going to oblivion) boll wevil eradication program were knocking out the vector eriophyids. Could that be affecting you?

The other factor which may be a negative is this year's drought. My own worst problems have come in drought years and I have wondered if the drought acts to make the eriophyid migrations worse?

Your thought?

Ann

This is truly heart-breaking. I can't even imagine losing beautiful mature roses, and I don't think I'd have the heart to go on. I think I would have to find another plant to be passionate about that would be the focal point of my garden, but few plants are as beautiful as roses with as long a blooming period. I'm so sorry this has happened to you.

Ingrid

Anytime I read about a mass attack attributed to rose rosette virus, I wonder if the problem could actually be due to the use of weedkillers. Hollysprings, do you or your neighbors utilize a lawn service to control lawn weeds (and of course were there other possible ways herbicides could of reached your roses)?

Here is a link that might be useful: My rose rosette virus web page.

The difference between weed-killer damage and RRD is night and day. I have seen both in real-life, BIG DIFFERENCE! Once you see RRD in real-life, basal shoots of red stems & tons of EXTREMELY dense thistles & extreme proliferation of witches' broom ... can't possibly be mistaken for weed-killer. I don't spray roses, nor use weed-killer here.

Strawberryhill, I feel that there is sufficient documentation that rose rosette virus symptoms are very variable as are herbicide damage symptoms.
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anntn6b, I have read your information. I asked a specific question that only Holly can answer. My asking the question is not only to get an answer in her specific case but to alert new readers that herbicide damage must be considered.

Holly, this is such sad news. I can only imagine how you feel.
I earnestly hope that your remaining roses survive and thrive, continuing to bring you joy.

And I hope that the clever fellow who thought that RRD was a nifty idea for dealing with multiflora is suitably rewarded.

Rosefolly

Add Prosperity to the list. And Jean Mermoz had an therapeutic amputation. I've had a few that survived with just having the first sign of the evil hacked off, but they've generally been the teas. The hybrid musks and polyanthas seem to have too much multiflora and are already well involved before the witches broom symptoms become apparent.

Henry, I wish I were merely mistaking herbicide damage for RRD, but that is NOT the case here. I have an unopened bottle of Roundup sitting in the garage right now. I never got around to using it this year to keep the weeds down behind the barn like I usually do. And no neighbors have either.

The big change in wind patterns in the last few years at my home was the clearing of a 40 acre scrub wood to the south and west of my property. Where it was 10-20 foot scrub maples and blackberry became someone's idea of a subdivision right before the real estate crash. Where before I'd get the wind blowing almost straight over my property, clearing those bit of trees and accelerating up the hill, now I get a bit of a swoop and drop in the main currents. Maybe if houses ever get built there it will change again. But with only 3 ever constructed, and those right at the property entrance down wind and not upwind, well, I can see the results.

On a more positive note, General Schablikine survived his amputation last year, and is providing some stellar fall blooms, as is Colonial White. The teas seem to have done the best with the disease pressure, despite the loss of Mrs. B.R. Cant.

Has anyone seen if the efforts at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens have been successful? Planting other perennials and annuals in with the roses, to bring more diversity to the garden?

Hollysprings- I am so sorry about your loss! If the wind patterns are a problem, then planting some kind of wind break might be a good idea, as someone already suggested. I'm glad most of your tea roses are doing well...and I hope things get better soon and you're able to keep growing your roses.

hollysprings, Round-Up is only one of the herbicides that can cause problems. For example, an Atrazine based product is very water soluble and can reach your roses by downhill water flow. Even mulches and animal fertilizers can cause problems.

http://www.aces.edu/counties/StClair/documents/NRHerbicides-SecondaryDamageLee2011.pdf

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above concerning mulches and animal fertilizers