None of the common rose fungicides is truly systemic. A true systemic is transported both upward in the xylem and downward in the phloem. The tebuconazole fungicide in your Bayer Advanced product is upwardly systemic in the xylem only. It cannot travel backward and downward from the leaves on a sprayed stem which means it can't then move upward to a higher stem and enter its leaves. What it amounts to is, if you don't spray a leaf, that leaf isn't protected. The safest and the most effective way to spray a climber is probably with a ladder. Standing below falling spray isn't a good idea.

Oh thanks so much for all your replies....I now have two choices, other than Bayer. The first was given to me by a rosarian that I have mentioned before. Her name is Victoria and she is from Regan's Nursery in Fremont Ca. Last year, when I had black vine weevils, she suggested beneficial nematodes and that worked great. So when I told her I had black spot, she asked: "Do you have lawn sprinklers?". When I said yes, she asked if any of the water was blown on the roses. Since I had been watering at night, I didn't know. So I checked the next evening and sure enough the roses got a light spraying. When I told her this, she suggested changing the timer to early morning so that the water could dry off during the day...If this works, I'll do handsprings!! If it doesn't, I'm going to try the milk spray that Jeff Rivers suggested, thank you very much. Michael, I am upset about my babies. I don't have many I know, but they are all gorgeous (in my eyes) and I don't want to plant the next 7 bushes without knowing how to take care of them properly. Windy once again. Sorry. ak

In the past I grew about 1000 roses in a northern Ohio zone 5 garden. I did not spray. I would get a little blackspot on some roses late in the season. I have stated that I consider that as possibly part of Nature's way of shutting down the roses for winter. I have posted this information (or something similar) many times on the web: "There is a another choice. This choice is to allow the friendly fungi to reach equilibrium with the blackspot. This choice comes under the heading of "biocontrol". The following may be useful in putting the concept of biocontrol into layman terms: "Disease-suppressive soil microorganisms have been found in many places. In monoculture wheat the severity of "take all" disease often decreases within three to five years. This phenomenon is known as "take all decline," and is considered an effective natural control. Although the mechanisms are not completely understood, the decline is associated with changes in soil microorganisms that compete with and prey on the fungus. Melon plants grown in the Chateaurenard region of France do not show Fusarium wilt symptoms even though the fungus is present in the soil. Soils with suppressive characteristics tend to develop slowly and are usually found in fields where perennial crops or monocultures have been grown for many years. Suppressiveness may be lost if the monoculture is interrupted even for one year, or if pesticides are applied. For example, researchers first recognized soils suppressive to cereal-cyst nematode when nematode numbers increased after application of a broad-spectrum biocide. Many species of fungi and bacteria in the genera Trichoderma, Streptomyces, Bacillus and Pseudomonas suppress diseases, but at this time only a few strains are commercially available. Additional commercial products may be available soon, however, as this is currently an active research area." The quote was taken from: [sorry link no longer works] ------------------------------------------------- A scientific study (2007) of biocontrol of blackspot of roses: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17429140701701071 --------------------------------------------- " Thread where the above appeared: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/rosesant/msg06130420825.html

What color & how big are the spots? Can you post a pic?