West Coast growers who don't want to spray fungicide tend to discard rose varieties that are highly susceptible to rose rust and powdery mildew. There are a good number of resistant varieties to choose from. Blackspot resistance is less common, but you are not in an area with high blackspot pressure. It needs rain to spread.

If you want to spray, Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses, Flowers, and Shrubs (that exact name) or the Ortho Rose Pride fungicide are supposed to control all three diseases. Don't buy the combo pesticide products that are marketed to gullible newbies.

Remove leaves that are infected with rust. Spores are airborne from the pustules on the underside.

I live in Northern Calif. What I do on the very few of my roses that get rust (which are all mid 20th century HTs I am keeping as they are "family heirlooms") is:

1) Get a large brown paper bag.

2) Take the paper bag and your clippers out to the rose, and hold the paper bag under the leaves which have rust as you cut them off, so that they will fall into the bag. This is because the spores will infect new leaves if they touch them, and they drift through the air if you let them, so you want to trap them in your paper bag and not let them fall on the ground or anywhere else. Cut off ALL of the leaves that have rust spores on them (mostly will be on the back).

3) Close the paper bag carefully and throw it in the garbage - not the green can or compost.

4) Spray the entire plant (especially the new leaves) with Bayer Advanced Disease Control (NOT any other Bayer product like "three or two in one" - those have poisons that will kill the bees and good bugs).

I have over 100 roses which DO NOT get rust or black spot, and which I do not spray. You might want to consider getting rid of any rose which constantly gets rust or blackspot. There are many old old roses which do not get either in our climate, and are happy here and bloom 10-11 months of the year. It is the HTs which are usually the problem. Types of roses which are healthy and thrive here are: the old tea roses, china roses, hybrid musks, polyanthas, tea-noisettes, banksias & hybrid giganticas (these are the only once bloomers on this list), and some modern roses like Cl Iceberg and some ground covers.

Jackie

I'm in the central valley and I'm finding out about Rust for the first time. Maybe it's been here but never enough for me to notice. I've only noticed Powdery Mildew here. It's amazing how the right cultivar can make all the difference in disease. The Rust is mainly on Pink Peace and is hitting it hard. Pope John Paul II has recently contracted the rust and has a minor case of it. Amazingly, I have Saint Patrick and Touch of Class right next to Pink Peace too, and they don't have not one bit of Rust! Strangely though, my newly planted Saint Patrick is looking kind of pink and acting like a climbing rose.... Thanks for sharing your method jacqueline!

Rust on Pink Peace

Very Clean foliage on Saint Patrick right next to Pink Peace

Pink Peace is EXTREMELY susceptible to rust, something it inherited from its paternal grandfather, Mrs. John Laing. Unless you want to spray, Michael is correct. The BEST way to CURE rust (and any other plant disease) is with a shovel. I moved 300+ roses from SoCal to the Central Coast and I am finding which ones are not going to remain clean and those which will. Those which can't resist are going into the green barrel, period. Mildew is a bit more tolerable and will often clear up once the conditions for it pass or the plant matures enough. Sometimes rust will, too, but I'm not giving it that chance. If it insists upon rusting, it's outta here. Fortunately, black spot doesn't seem much of an issue...yet, but the same will hold true with that disease, too.

No WONDER Pink Peace rusted here! Mrs. John Laing set new standards for rust here.

Kim is so right. The way to cure rust PERMANENTLY is with a shovel. There are so many roses that do NOT rust that there is little point in growing those that do.

Mind -- I'm not tossing the baby out with the bathwater . . . I can tolerate rust that appears late in the year on senile foliage. I can pull those leaves off and let the plant get new ones. And I'm accepting of a little transient mildew. But if it is going to rust like an old bucket, or mildew so badly blooms can't open ... it can't stay here.

Rust-control-by-shovel is far easier, more permanent, and less-damaging to my environment than any sort of spray I could apply.

I should add that I have never seen rust on any Tea Rose (as opposed to Hybrid Tea Roses) or any China Roses. For that matter, I've never seen Noisettes rust. But most Hybrid Perpetuals DO rust here, and so do Bourbons (Oh BOY, do they!) which is why I have no Bourbons here, and only a handful of HPs.

The University of California Davis has one of the top Agricultural programs in the country (in my mind). The following was written for rust by: J. F. Karlik, UC Cooperative Extension, Kern Co.; and D. A. Golino, Foundation Plant Services, UC Davis.

"You can use preventive applications of fungicides, but it may require frequent applications to keep plants rust free, which may not be justifiable in garden or landscape situations."

H.Kuska comment: the use of bold face was added by me, not the original authors.

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The Royal Horticultural Society states the following: "Infections may be severe enough to cause serious damage, but this is relatively rare and most infections are light enough not to require control."

also: " *NB: The following products are being withdrawn:

Myclobutanil (Bayer Garden Systhane Fungus Fighter concentrate and Bayer Garden Fungus Fighter Disease Control). These products cannot be sold after the 30th November 2015 and remaining stocks must be used or disposed of before the 30th November 2016."

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=269

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I would suggest that if someone feels that an external fungicide control is warranted that something "less potentially dangerous" than the "azoles" mentioned earlier in this thread be utilized. This approach is part of what is called " Integrated Pest Management (IPM)" or "less Toxic Pest Management".

http://www.cityofpaloalto.org/civicax/filebank/documents/2456

Thanks Jerijen and Roseek. Pink Peace didn't show any signs of disease for me last year, I remember it being extremely healthy. Sadly, it looks like the best long term solution is to find a similar looking rose that will grow more healthily in my area. I really liked this rose though, which is why I haven't pulled it out yet. It's the brightest thing in my yard always seems to be blooming. Have been hoping it'd improve as the weather warmed up. In my 10 years of having roses in my garden I never sprayed because I never had the need. Have only dealt with mildew that quickly cleared up on its own.

Great article and Care Guide Henry, I have such little space in my yard that it really isn't justifiable to keep anything that's going to be so problematic and encourage the spread of disease. There's just too many options out there, and choosing the right one is the fun part!

How about a different microclimate? I only see rust in the front part of afternoon sun side yard that stays wet too long. The rear part of the side yard has old garden roses that have fewer disease issues. You might also consider mixing short shrub roses with tall bare legged HTs so that the HTs get better air circulation than if you had a group of tall plants. This article suggests that even your soil type can affect your microclimate--I didn't even think about that before looking at the article.

http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/weather/microcli.html

Well personally my soil has only been improving since I moved in two years ago. (side note:my phone tried to autocorrect "soil" to "soul" which would have made for a very different statement hahahah) But every year this particular Rose has looked sub par. First it was terribly overgrown and had no airflow. Black spot ran rampant. Then the thrips were robbing me of beautiful blooms. And now rust? The best part is that the Rose right. next. to. it. Has none of these issues! This one is just begging for the shovel I guess.

That would be my suggestion, Dandylioness. If the other roses around it are performing well and this one is the "dawg" of the bunch, imagine how much better the neighbors might do without the competition for light, water and air. Yes, you can try moving it to another spot and that MIGHT help...or it might not. Your choice, but those who refuse to behave in my yard while the others around it remain fine, demand dates with a shovel.

We have learned that the dried-out roots of roses that have been removed for such reasons make GREAT kindling for the winter fireplace. ;-)