Thanks. I am one-for-sixteen in saving plants by pruning. In that case I pruned the whole plant down to the ground. A larger sample might reveal a higher success ratio.

I think maybe that's the key, Michael. If you prune it all down to the ground and let the rose start over you're sure to take away any chance that the mite is still there or that there are other infected canes with no symptoms yet. Just taking out the one infected cane doesn't seem very effective since it takes a while for the symptoms to show up in any cane.

I am still pretty new to roses. I will look around this evening on Houzz to see if there are any good photos of rosette virus in roses.

Donna--rosette virus produces UGLY overgrown witch's broom type growth that is going out of control. Hard to miss if your roses catch it. I've lost 5 roses to it--and am wondering about the one that I pruned way back this spring. I think it is beginning to produce the same excessive growth it showed earlier. I may be digging up that rose in the next day or so. Darn!

Kate

Kate, What's the name of that bush?

I saved one, Madame Lambard. But the damage was at the tip of a very tall cane, so maybe I got it before it worked it's way down the rose and spread.

It worked for me. Caught it on day one thou and no more mites must have landed on them. They have been fine for years now. If infection shows any where on a rose again it is removed,

After losing 30 roses to RRD, I started tearing off infected canes at the base and marking the plant for close observation. I've only had 1 plant with recurring disease since then. I'm surrounded both by wild areas with multiflora rose and developments with unchecked RRD gardens, so the mite pressure is high. I can't state for sure if the technique of removing canes is what worked, or if it's been too windy the last 2 years for the mite to move. At any rate, I tell others to learn what RRD looks like, keep a close eye on their plants, and remove the first cane showing symptoms. Some of the plants I removed are not in commerce anymore, and I regret not giving them a chance to survive.

Thank you for the update Henry. I've been fortunate to not have this problem yet, but I truely appreciate all the education I get on this site regarding this horribe rose disease.

As the originator of the one cane removal technique, I can tell that it works sometimes. Sometimes is a whole lot better than never.

One scientist has said to me that how can you tell it doesn't come back. I have responded to him, after ten years of good healthy growth, that should be enough.

I don't think it works for fall infected hybrid teas as I didn't save any of mine that got fall infections that I saw the following spring.

The other thing I do is check with a microscope to see if the infected bush is teaming with eriophyid mites. Mine aren't. I don't use insecticide or acaricides and I see beneficials at the microscopic and visbile to the naked eye sizes.

Here's my ebook about RRD/RRv for those who haven't seen it before.

Rose Rosette E-book

Ann

Ann I've never thank you for writing your Rose Rosette E-book. I've perused it more than you would know. Incredibly helpful back in the day when few where saying anything at all and not any other good information out there. So much misinformation out there even today.

I've had good luck cutting out infected canes. I know what to look for and anything remotely suspicious gets cut. Better to lose a few blooms than an entire bush. If it shows up again or the infection is on more than one cane, the bush gets it.

I used to be surrounded by infected multiflora, but they built a highway and removed almost all the MF. I guess that's one good thing about the highway.