Looks more like a mild burn of some sort, or possibly spider mites. In the latter case there would be fine pale stippling on top and the underside looks dirty.

Miracle Gro potting mix contains fertilizer, so if the cause is lack of nitrogen, that should green them up.

I would just maintain appropriate moisture levels and be patient. It could be sunburn from running short of water.

Thanks Michael. These looked like this when I got them from Northland. They're in partial shade and are well watered. I haven't seen any indication of spider mites, no webs or leaf curling. Should I apply iron chelate or just wait a bit? I have read that spraying the rose with a seaweed extract is helpful as is acidic mulch. I have some Dr. Earth Ocean Rich pure and natural seaweed which is 0-0-4.5 and contains prebiotic microbial food.

I would just water appropriately and wait for new growth. If the new growth is pale or yellowish with greener veins, then you can diagnose iron deficiency.

Seaweed is high in sodium and possibly could contribute to burn in a stressed plant. I understand the impulse to put stuff on stressed plants, but typically it's better not to.

Thanks Michael, I'll just see how it grows for a couple weeks. Maybe it just needs to catch up.

Possibly it is a mild case of spray burn from chemicals applied in the greenhouse, or stress from shipping. A;so it may take a while to recover from transplanting.

That doesn't look like the chlorosis some of my roses get in their very alkaline soil--like pale yellow leaves. Certain of mine are very prone to this, and I treat with soil acidifers. I've just had to do my best and ignore it with chronic sufferers like the hybrid musk, Ballerina. I understand that type of rose dislikes alkaline soils. I haven't found any difference in chorosis rates between roses grafted on multiflora rootstock and Dr. Huey rootstock. Diane

Thanks Michael. I didn't think of chemicals from the greenhouse. It was like this before I transplanted it so that might be what it is. I noticed that all the roses from them had these discolored leaves so maybe it is on their end.

Hi Sharon,

Where did you buy it from?

It looks to me like you may have spider mite - turn the leaves over and look with a loop to see. It also looks like they have not had enough nutrition or possibly stressed out from lack of water at one point.

Dark Desire has been in the south in a no-spray trial for 3 years with no reports of cercospera but I see that spotting on the one leaf on the right of your photo. Stressed out plants will show disease more readily - and those plants look very stressed. This is a vigorous grower and after 2 weeks of temperatures over 100 F here it is the most vigorous rose in the trials with lots of new growth. Dark Desire as it puts out big, thick new canes -not the small ones I see in this image. Here is an image in my garden of a own root put in the ground this spring from a 4" band pot.

Foliage is dark in cool climates and in the spring, but becomes lighter with higher temperatures. New growth is always red. Leaf shape does look right to be Dark Desire.

I would look and make sure this is spider mite and then treat the plants. I would fertilize these now but not in August and September. I would use something like Miracle Grow or the organic equivalent.

Thanks Chris. I got this rose the middle of May and it has been unseasonably cool here. I live in Z6 Massachusetts. I have not seen any evidence of spider mites but i'll check again in the morning. All of my other roses are growing rapidly. Maybe I just got a couple of wimpy ones. These came from Northland Rosarium which has excellent reviews. No one else had this rose. I wonder if they sent smaller roses than they would normally send. It has not been water stressed. All my potted roses are watered religiously whenever they require it. It has been in part sun so I don't think it's burned. So far no one seems to think this is chlorosis so I'll just keep an eye on these and see if they improve with time. I do get cercospera occasionally on my Kordes Sisters Fairytale and Cinderella. I have read that strains differ geographically so this could be a different strain than down south. It's never really bad so I just let it go since many believe that the sprays actually hinder the rose from developing immunity or the ability to keep the disease at bay.

Sharon

I went to check the leaves for insects. I read to shake the leaves over white paper to see if any insects fall off. I didn't find any but noticed that the leaves felt kind of crunchy. I wonder if it is some kind of chemical burn or heat stress as MichaelG suggested? I had a similar problem with my Cl Compassion rose which was also a band. I moved it into full shade and now it's really healthy and putting out some nice growth. I'll try moving this to full shade and see if it helps. It has been very cool here but we did have some really hot days in May and have had little rain but high humidity ever since.

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I agree that there are strains of black spot and other diseases and we will see roses showing diseases we think they are immune to. Always disappointing! I don't think a rose will develop immunity, but I do think large healthy roses are better able to resist disease than younger roses. I still think genetics largely determine resistance.

I have a eye for spider mites because we are in a warm dry region and we see a lot of it at this time of year. It could be something else as it sounds like you have had cool, wet weather which does not encourage spider mites.

The demand for Dark Desire has out paced the supply, but I hope I don't see too small roses being sold.

Give those roses some well balanced fertilizer now and see if they can grow out of this funk. DD is very fond of being fed, but do it now as I don't believe it is good to fertilize roses in August or later as it encourages tender growth into the fall when the rose should be slowing down for dormancy. It is a lovely rose with lots of vigor and I really hope these do well for you.

I always think of Cinderella and Sisters FT as northern roses so I have not have them trialed where I think there is a lot of cercaspora. They tend to grow way too big in the very warm regions of the USA. Anything I think will perform well in the south goes for no spray trials in the deep south to see how it performs.

Thanks Chris- Would I still fertilize even with the miracle grow potting soil? What would you recommend? They're potted in the large David Austin pots so they have plenty of soil. I also added Mycorrhizal to encourage root growth since the root system is small.

In a totally unrelated question do you know of a source for Sisters Fairytale Rose? I have one and love it. I have checked on HMF and none of the nurseries listed have it. I also am interested in Pink Martini (Pink Veranda) which I haven't been able to find either. I'm basically looking for a light pink like Sisters Fairytale and a medium/ darker pink to plant with the Dark Desire. My Sisters stays small and is one of my best for repeat bloom.

Update-it is spider mites One hatched and was crawling around. Now what to do about it?

MIchaelG- In another post on spider mites you mentioned an angled hose wand. Do you know where I would buy something like this? I have HD and Lowes nearby or a picture of what they look like? Google search came up empty.

Thanks.

There is or used to be a product called Water Wand that is ideal for blasting mites, but you can probably fund something at the box store that would do it.

Thanks Michael. I found something called Bug Blaster but it sprays in a 360 degree circle and soaks the "waterer" more than the plant. One reviewer said it was a waste of money but a poster in Antique Roses forum said it worked great on spider mites, aphids and any other voracious pests. Amazon has it with free shipping.

Right now I sprayed them with a blast from the hose. Since they're in pots I could lay them down and get at the underside. I wonder if they came infested from Northland since I don't see any evidence of these on my planted roses from last year. I'll keep these isolated to try to avoid infecting my other roses.

Again, thanks for all of your help :-)

Sharon

Hi Sharon,

I do wish I could send you my two Sisters Fairy Tale Rose plants. After about seven years, I have decided to remove them next spring (for a variety of reasons). This rose was also sold as House (or Home) and Garden in Europe, so perhaps it's being sold under that name somewhere in the U.S. or Canada. My roses came from Palatine. Good luck. Diane

Spider mites aren't really a common pest in the northeast. Generally they become an issue either when a lot of insecticides are being used, or the roses are in a abnormally hot and dry microclimate. The gravel in the pictures makes me wonder about the exact situation these roses are in. It looks hot dry, and more suitable for cactus than roses.

Thanks Diane. Why are you removing them? I would love to have them and even pay you for them. I wonder what these would cost to ship? Maybe bare root could fit in the largest Flat rate USPS box which I believe is $18.00. Let me know if this might interest you. I checked Palatine, Hortico and others, no one has it listed :-(

Mad Gallica- Thanks for the info on spider mites not really being an issue here. I had really never seen any on my roses in the past. I'm wondering if the rose was infested from the grower when it shipped. As for the growing medium this is a picture of the potted rose which was in my driveway when I took the picture ;-). I potted it up from its band pot to see if it will grow a bit more before I plant it since it was pretty runty. My roses are planted in raised beds in some of the most gorgeous custom blend, friable soil on earth!

Hi Sharon,

Sorry I do not know the fertilizer rates in the Miracle Grow soil so I do not know how to respond to how much or if you can fertilize more. I think it is a slow release formula and perhaps not too strong a dose but you would have to read the packaging. Just not a product I ever use. A foliar feed would help them, but getting rid of the mites will certainly change the way the plants grow.

Here in the west spider mites are a huge issue. It is because of the hot dry weather which favors the growth. They actually are not on the roses early in the season but when the grass pastures dry down around our farm they flock to the roses. It is not because of pesticide use - we do not use it. Just the right conditions and the population explodes. What does happen in greenhouses is that using the same pesticides over and over causes a population of insecticide resistant mites. What we do is overhead water the roses - this does not get rid of all of them but it keeps the population in check at a rate we can live with. Wherever we do not overhead water I have spider mites - tons of them. They particularly like the small leaved ground covers.

You know given how small those plants are you could just take them put some plastic on the soil and turn them over into a bucket of water for five minutes and repeat this twice a day for a week. This will be a lot less expensive than buying a devise you will only use infrequently. You will also need to scape the web and eggs off the leaf underside to prevent more from hatching. I suspect that given your weather there will not be a big explosion of mites into your garden - just not the right climate for them to grow.

Hi Chris - I generally don't buy anything Miracle Grow but it was the only potting soil available at the local store. The analysis is .21%N .11%P .16%K so would this be 21-11-16? I've never seen it listed as percentages. So maybe hold off on fertilizer seeing it has high nitrogen already?
Dipping the plants sounds like an excellent idea. I haven't noticed any webs and don't know what the eggs look like but I'll scrape the leaves as a precaution. And this is a lot better than spending money on something I would never use. We get aphids but not enough to be problematic so I usually just squish the ones that are on the buds and leave the rest alone since they are food for the good bugs ;-) I'm trying to teach my roses to "sink or swim on their own" so no chemicals and little intervention other than coddling the young ones until they establish. The Kordes roses have been great so far, I'm especially liking "First Crush" which has gorgeous blossoms and smells divine.

I think I would not fertilize again given what you read on the label. I imagine it is expressed this way as a percentage of soil volume. I wonder if it is slow release? Anyway you should have enough fertilizer to get through the season. I just hope these recover and you enjoy this Dark Desire as much as I do. I agree I do like First Crush - lots of bloom power and really a nice fragrance. We are releasing 2 more Parfuma this year - it may take a year or so for these to reach the public. I just really like roses with scent although I can appreciate the others I am drawn to scent.

Best of luck and let me know how this turns out.

Chris

enchantedrosez, we start feeding about 1-2 months after a rose is planted in Miracle Gro Potting mix/soil...