my roses leaves have started to droop - help appreciated

15 years ago

Hello, I have several roses and lately I have noticed that on one of them, the leaves (including the new growth) have been very droopy. This is not the case of ALL the leaves, but mostly the higher ones and often the new-borns. I have attached a picture.

I am a novice gardener, and would appreciate any feedback on what may cause this and how to avoid it. The roses have been in the same place for a good year, and aside from the usual odium have never had any problems. They grow, and bloom, until this happened.

Thank you,

Nihal

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Comments (8)

michaelg
15 years ago
Are they in pots? Is the water used for irrigation at all salty? Have you applied a lot of fertilizer? These questions aim at the possibility of excess salts in the soil preventing uptake of water. The cure would be flushing the soil with a lot of water.

I see that your winter/spring climate is cool to mild with some rain. Has there been unusual rain that would encourage fungus diseases? The ring spots with tan centers-- do the centers sometimes fall out, leaving a hole? This would be spot anthracnose disease. However, it does not cause wilting.

The dead areas on the edge of the leaf-- I have seen these in my garden. There is no recognized fungus here that causes this symptom. I have suspected it is caused by excess ammonium from fertilizer.

The dark shading on the woody stem-- this could be a fungus that is keeping the stem from transmitting water and causing the wilting.

Are there any symptoms that do not show in the photograph, such as different-looking dark spots on other leaves, yellowing, black streaks on the bark, oozing sores on the bark?
bethnorcal9
15 years ago
Looks like powdery mildew to me. You might want to spray some fungicide.
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Okay. This is trouble. It might be too late and since you have pods, replanting might be risky now that we're in the latter part of the season. However, it does depend on your region as mentioned above. I have had plants drop leaves, lots, but managed to get a recovery. Here's what I did: The way I see it, the root system is in trouble. As stated, I had a similar situation this year on one plant - though not as dire. It recovered well and happy. You also might not have any choice but to uproot and clean the root ball. That means carefully unraveling the roots that are bound to the side of the pot. Any rusty, dead looking roots should be clipped. The size of the plant makes it difficult So having someone support the plant while you do the surgery might be required. It's important the roots are wet throughout the operation. It's best to have your soil ready in the new pot so the plant doesn't have to wait around too long. Same sized pot is okay. Make sure the replanting soil is prepared not too soggy, but moist to the point where it is sticky, kind of like instant mashed potatoes when you haven't added enough water. Replant and hope. No matter what, you will still lose leaves. The idea is to not save them, but get a new generation of shoots starting to replace them. When I did this though it was much earlier in the growing season and I would hesitate doing it in mid-August. Re-establishment is always nerve racking because sometimes many days go by without any noticeable change in affairs. But when those new shoots start growing in earnest it is very satisfying.
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Thank you all so much for your words of wisdom! Diane & Seil, thank you for helping me regain my calm, my mind has been a bit frantic lately, coping with these unusual weather conditions! I definitely did not do any pruning last fall, I felt like I may have even been overly cautious, as I stopped pruning in late August & it didn't even start to get cold here until late November (also unusual), so it's definitely not that. We have just been having many very spring like days smack in the middle of what should be the coldest part of winter! Ann, Thank you so much for chiming in! I very much look forward to your posts & responses as we live so close and often are dealing with the same weather issues. I wish you had a blog or were an author or something so I could just read your gardening advice during all times of the year, concerning topics local to our region. I used to post under another name, Dinglehopp3r (a reference to a movie) but I felt like a name change was in order because it sounded too close to dingleberry (lol), I've received quite a bit of great advice from you in the past as well, so thank you. I googled chickweed as I had never before heard the name of that plant, but sure enough there is already tons of it growing in and around my beds, I had been wondering recently if I should be pulling it up, as I was afraid it may be wicking water and nutrients away from the roses during winter, but I'm glad I hadn't taken the time to do so yet. How handy that this little plentiful "weed" has a use all of its own. Luckily I only have basal breaks on the one Ducher, so I won't have to worry about doing this for many roses, and this particular Ducher grew by leaps and bounds last summer, it seems to be quite happy where it is, so hopefully if it does take some damage, it will continue growing at this pace next year. Buford thank you for chiming in as well, since we are fairly close neighbors as well I value your input on this matter. A very big thanks to you all! I know you all must be chomping at the bit for spring to come just as I am! Hopefully the ups and downs of temperature this spring will be gentle on us and our gardens! Jessica
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michaelg
15 years ago
Mildew doesn't cause wilting, does it? Downy mildew is one of the possible problems, but I don't see any clear-cut signs in the photo.
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15 years ago
Wilting means something is going on with the roots, usually.

Looks like just a touch of disease that perhaps pounced because of the stress of the wilting (a stressed plant is less disease resistant): Powdery Mildew and either anthracnose or rust (are there any tiny dots of orange powder on the backs of the leaves?).

That does not explain the wilting, however. Is it getting sufficient water?

Have the roots been disturbed in any way? Rodents tunneling around in the soil? Some digging done nearby?

Herbicide sprayed nearby? Water with some kind of chemical in it dumped there?

Just to cover all possibilities, did you get one night of unusually cold temperatures?

How is the drainage in the area--has it stayed soggy for some reason--this would exhibit different symptoms, but we might as well cover everything.
jerijen
15 years ago
Are they WILTING, really?
Or is it that the mildew is making them curl?

Jeri
michaelg
15 years ago
Jeri, good question, but doesn't the petiole look wilted?
york_rose
15 years ago
I also suspect too much fertilizer, or too much salt of some sort. I do not believe this is powdery mildew. Too much fertilizer can cause problems with roots and also with leaves.
jerijen
15 years ago
Well, there IS mildew present.
The petiole -- well, it doesn't look quite right, but ...
I don't think we know enough to be sure what's going on, other than the mildew, and maybe anthracnose or cercospora.
I wonder how much water it's getting, and what the water is like.

Jri

my roses leaves have started to droop - help appreciated

Comments (8)

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