Bayer does make a plain fungicide with nothing else in it that works well. You really don't need an insecticide. Most of them can be controlled with a good hard spray from the hose.

The insecticide isn't very efficient anyhow -- and it lingers in your soil for 3 years. AND kills bees.
I have been told that the fungicide is likewise inefficient (does not get to the most vulnerable new growth) -- but I can't testify to that.
Frankly, roses that mildew or (in particular) rust to a great degree . . . don't stay here.

I've never sprayed and am not about to poison the environment for the sake of a few roses. I don't mean to sound judgmental but, even if not for the sake of beneficial insects and wild creatures, please consider your children and pets are going to be around this stuff. I discard roses that continue to have disease and plant several plants of roses that do very well in my climate. Find out what works in your climate and I'm sure you can have many lovely roses that don't need to be drenched in poisons in order to do well.

Hi Adrianne, I don't understand whether you want a spray or soil drench fungicide. Spraying 80 roses wouldn't be time consuming with a backpack sprayer if that's the way you want to go. My Lowe's sells Bayer fungicide with tebuconazole but you can also order online. Good luck.

Thou I believe this to be a personal choice as we are still allowed to use them. Please consider all that come into contact with pesticidal use.For what it's worth the Smithsonian Channel aired a special on human breast milk. In these samples there were still traces of pesticides that were banned long before these women were born. Don't mean to sound like a nut here. I also so used insecticides but not for a good tens years now. I do regret that I was not doing my part of making this a better place for all to live in. You should see the life that has returned to my garden. Took some time thou to return to a healthier state. We all have the opportunity no matter how small to leave a healthier footprint.

Nice to meet a fellow Adrianne (My name is spelled Adrian), lol.

I own around 100+ rose bushes right now and I am able to spray all of them with a two gallon spray tank. I gravitate towards less commercially available products that end up being way more economical in the long run such as Banner Maxx/Honor Guard and Dithane/Mancozeb for fungus. I have been using the Bayer 2-in-1 Granular product periodically but I've noted that even though it has been used only in the pots where I have my roses, it has leached over to other plants in my garden. I have several butterfly friendly plants (Passion Vine, Milk Weed, etc) and they are growing out of control without caterpillars eating at it, so beware. I'm not one to shy away from insecticides (I'm currently battling fleas in my lawn) but I do acknowledge that they should be used sparingly and only when there are issues to be addressed.

The Bayer fungicide-only product is Bayer Advanced Disease Control For Roses, Flowers & Shrubs (not for sale in NY state). I use the same formulation as kublakan.

Adrianne -- I think part of your problem is that, if you were looking for a more natural solution, that just didn't come across.

Look -- There are several things you can use for insect control. Neem oil, yes. Insecticidal soaps, yes. Horticultual oils . . . But in MOST cases, doing absolutely nothing about insects is going to work, too. Ladybugs and other predatory insects eat "bad bugs." (This does not apply to Japanese Beetles, which are simply a plague -- and one we in the west don't have.) We get waves of small bug-eating birds here, and they will clear out any aphids the ladybugs missed.

As far as fungal disease . . . In some cases, hort oils will help with those, too. But after a lot of experimentation, I finally concluded that the EASIEST way to get rid of fungal problems was to remove roses that had more than an occasional outbreak. That way, I'm happy, the dogs are happy, and the neighbors are happy.

For fertilizer -- I still do use some granular fertilizers. I'm also enthusiastic about alfalfa, alfalfa tea, and nice fresh horse manure. (I don't use the latter where my dogs can get it. They eat it. They also ate Mills rose fertilizer, which is why I don't use that.)

One thing, FWIW. We dropped all chemical insecticides when our dog began to seizure every time we sprayed. It took a good YEAR before the predatory insects, and garden lizards returned, but with the memory of those seizures, we were not tempted to backslide.

My sincere apologizes Adrianne. I do not know of an organic systemic insecticide. Light horticultural oil sprays neem based products ( they make one without the oil thats doesn't burn the leaves. I've used a product called mycotrol O which is OMRI listed. It's expensive thou. Got it thru Johnny's Seeds. Actually wether looking for pesticides or fungicides you can look for OMRI on the label at least you would know that it's organic. If you were acually looking for a fungicide there are some that are safer to use but I don't remember the names at this moment. Truly hope this was more appropriately helpful.

What zone or area of the country are you in? That makes a huge difference. FWIW, the 3-1 or 2-1 aren't efficient. The insecticide is overkill and the disease control is not enough to help if you live in a blackspot zone. You've gone to organic fertilizers, that's great. It's better for the roses and the soil and you. If you need to control insects, that should be done on a case by case basis. Aphids, use the hose to spray them off, Japanese Beetles, pick them off in the morning when they are sleepy and drop into soapy water. Thrips, curse mother nature (it works as well as anything else, even chemicals).

The only non-organic thing I do for my roses is fungicide. I live in a backspot zone where even knockouts get disease. So I spray. I use a systemic so I only have to spray every 2 weeks. I wear proper protection, use an extended wand, so I don't expose myself to spray, I only spray the roses and I don't spray on windy days, so that limits the amount of exposure in my yard. I use the Bayer Advance Disease Control which is a great product that prevents blackspot and can even stop an existing blackspot infection.

I am trying to be as organic as possible. We switched our lawn care to organic only. But unfortunately for blackspot, I have to use a fungicide.

My apologies, Adrienne; I'm so sorry if my remarks distressed you or they seemed condescending. I also misunderstood your post. I think our concern is so overriding because of the huge losses we've sustained of bees, butterflies, bats and many other creatures, and at this point the ecosystem is so fragile that we (or perhaps I should say I) am not always as sensitive to a poster's question as I should be. I will try to be more careful in the future.

There is no topic, on this forum, that enlivens folks more than insecticides. I hope you find something helpful from our commentary. Good luck.

This is not scientific: The president of our rose society (Jersey Shore, but she lives more central, away from the shore) has been using a 50/50 mix of whole milk and water as her only fungicide treatment. She has been pleased with the results.

Sulfur is also used, your mileage may vary.

I only use insecticides to treat rose midge (nasty creatures). Aphids and Japanese beetles get a pass (they gotta eat too). Milky spore can be used to treat the lawn to kill of Japanese beetle grubs. It takes a few years, but it is effective in reducing the population.

Jeri's point is well taken. The only way to avoid using synthetic treatments is to consider disease resistant (for your area) plants. A consideration for future purchases.

"Black spot disease caused by Diplocarpon rosae is the most severe and ubiquitous disease of roses. Fungicides used to manage the disease are expensive and generally professed as ‘environmentally unsafe’; therefore, the development of alternative disease management strategies is required. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of rhizosphere bacteria isolated from healthy and infected rose plants to manage black spot disease. A detached leaf assay was performed to select the most virulent pathogenic strain. Then, a greenhouse assay was performed to test the ability of the bacterial strains to manage the disease. Rose plants cv. Gruss an Teplitz were inoculated with bacterial strains in pots followed by pathogen treatment. Strains RB11 and RB4 exhibited the greatest disease management potential, reducing the disease index by more than 60% compared with the control treatment. These strains were identified as Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus subtilis, respectively."

See:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01448765.2015.1017737#.VQyIU-8tHcc

Funny, It was those hotly debated insecticide threads that finally convinced me to stop spraying. Once again Adrianne, I'm sorry for hurting your feelings.

All,

Thanks so much for the input. I have a few things to try now!

I also really appreciate the kind words. Thank you. I was dreading reading any more responses actually :-o)

I'm in 7b, metro Atlanta, Ga -black spot heaven. For some reason my zone info got dropped with the switch to Houzz, I'll try and fix that.

Jerijen, I have the same problem with my dog, Rosie and Mills. She has pulled out 4-5 roses out of the ground in the past month since application. I'm pretty sure it's the bone meal. Dealing with her hijinks looks to be more of a challenge than the blackspot currently.

Thanks, Adrianne

I live up the road about 70 miles N.E. of Atlanta. I use a lot of organic fertilizers with a little inorganic. Black spot will totally destroy most roses in North GA. if not taken care of. I choose to spray the Bayer Advance Disease Control every two weeks. If I have a bug problem that gets out of control, besides Jap. Beatles, I will use an insecticide to knock the problem down. My bush's look good all growing season and I have tons of honey bees, bumble bees, butter fly's galore. Tons of earth worms. All kinds of feral cats plus my 4 out door cats. Flocks of birds to the bird feeders and lots of humming birds fighting over the two feeders I have for them. Growing good roses in N. GA. is enjoyable for me.

I spray in the Spring to kill the bugs(Aphids, Japanese beetles, ants.....) before roses in bloom, then spray again when I see black spots on some roses. This year I will spray more for the rose midges, last summer I had a lot of roses without blooms. When the weather is cool enough (under 75 F), I sometimes mix sulfur with water and a little bite of dish soap spray for fungus, it works pretty good for me. Don't like to spray a lot, I have about 500 roses, that's a lot of work, only spray when it's needed.

I live near the coastal area so my garden is a powdery mildew heaven. I use GreenCure (order from Amazon) when many of my roses have the problem. The GreenCure website said it is non-toxic chemical. So far I don't have to use it this year yet but I may have to use it when the weather gets warm and humid at night.

Last year Kim gave me good advices on how to help the roses fight powdery mildew and rust by keeping them healthy with plenty of water. It is easier said than done in California. However, I figure it is better to give my roses a bit extra water (I only have less than 80 roses) than constantly have to spray them. The result has been good. It is a trial and error for me. Wish me luck and good luck with your roses.

Helen

Hi ladriannec, I am also in 7B or A, I'm not sure :) I am about 40 miles north east of Atlanta. Yes blackspot and cercospora are the worst issues. I don't see a lot of powdery mildew, although 2 years ago, it completely destroyed the bloom on my veilchenblau. It's dependent on the weather. Like Ken, I use the Bayer. I just did my first spray yesterday. Many of my roses have leafed out, the weather is getting warmer, and we are getting rain, so I don't want to let BS take hold. I saw some spotted leaves, but they were older leaves from last year.

You should consider joining the Greater Atlanta Rose Society. I belong to the Greater Gwinnett Rose Society. In the winter, we both do an order from Shealy, a South Carolina agriculture supply and we get Purely Organic, which is a great fertilizer. We also can get other supplies such as gypsum, lime, other fertilizers, Reply, other fungicides and other items. The prices are great and Mr. Shealy delivers them in February, just in time for spring. It's worth the $15 membership just for that.

Adrianne, your property is gorgeous! I hope you'll consider posting more photos.

Helen, Would you please let me know what did Kim tell you? We have plenty water here, I'd love to know. :-) Many thanks

Hi summersrhythm_z6a,

Here is the thread:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1616279/thoughts-on-powdery-mildew

People in this forum are so generous and amazing. I learn new things every day. For me, it's a trial and error in taking care of roses. I listen to advices, see what may work for me, try them then continue with them if they work for me.

Helen

Thanks Helen! :-) Kim is a rose fairy on earth. I will give his tips a try this growing season. :-)

I know I am going to take a lot of heat for this but... This year I made the decision to switch to the Bayer 3 in 1 granules. And I have to say that the first flush of roses have never looked better.

No more spraying every two weeks. No more lugging around the fertilizers. No more hitting the bushes with water blasts daily. Just sprinkle in some granules every six weeks and sit back to watch the roses grow. No more aphids. No more powdery mildew. I've been watching for spider mites but it's still not hot and dry enough for them.

The Bayer product has made me an even lazier gardener. I didn't think that was possible.

Be gentle with me.

SoCal - 9B

This is not at all scientific, though strawberry hill (I believe??) Talked about her alkaline soil. As I removed lava rock from a bed of mine, I added some lime stone granules. The granules were more concentrated in one area (mostly for fill). The rose planted within the more concentrated area was the only plant within that bed that I did not have to fight off blackspot. Please take note, this is Lady of Shallott, which is a wonderful rose on its own. Again, just something that happened, may be irrelevant. Though, I have added lime stone granules around several plants this years, as an experiment, looking for addotional results. Good luck on your endeavor!!

~René

The 3-1 granules or drench will not be enough to stop blackspot in a BS prone area. If you live in California, sure, it might work. I used to use the drench and still had to spray.

PH is important, but I also don't think that alone will stop blackspot. If your soil has the correct PH, your roses will be healthier and that may help.

Joe, I'm glad that you're watching for spider mites and know to wash them off if they show up -- that's a real hazard of routine insecticide use. The cheap inorganic fertilizer that's included in the 3 in 1 does not improve your soil; I hope you added compost and an organic mulch this spring.

If you are in a blackspot prone region, alkaline soil doesn't get you anywhere. (except you aren't growing multiflora or rugosas)