Thanks for your input, guys. I found one study that detected red ringspot in rabbiteye cultivars (linked below), but, like you mentioned blueboy, most everything else that I've read suggests that they're resistant or immune. For now, I think I'll isolate this particular plant and see how it progresses. It's been in close proximity to a variety of highbush cultivars over the last year, though, and, given their susceptibility, I'm a little concerned about them. Only time will tell, I suppose. Here is a link that might be useful: Molecular Detection and Discrimination of Blueberry Red Ringspot Virus...

All living things have bacteria and virus in and on them. Many are innocuous, actually most are. Plants and animals that are healthy have systemic processes (immune systems) to prevent the 'germs' from taking over and killing them. In humans, we get a fever that raises the body temperature high enough to kill the bacteria. Antibodies are produced to tackle the virus. In plants, if a bug or a dirty blade punctures the cuticle of the tissue, the plant will induce a protective death of the cells surrounding the wound, thus sealing it off and preventing the spread. If that doesn't work, the plant will often drop the affected leaf. It saddens me to think about all the poor plants that have been thrown away due to this paranoia about virus. Obviously if you're a breeder, there are certain viri that are worth worrying about. But for most casual hobbyists, there are MUCH bigger problems. Squirrels, for instance... or scale/mealies/crown rot. Hydrogen peroxide is your friend. Besides, how often do people really have to cut into their plants??? I can think of maybe two or three times I have in the past five years. If you're doing surgery on your plants more often than that, perhaps you should be growing roses. :) -MB

That is interesting, Henry! Thank you! This is something I often wondered about at Sequoia. In the summer, those greenhouses were frequently 120 degrees F with 100% humidity. A number of their weaker older roses were grown in pots in hot greenhouses to push them to grow, and often were the source of propagating material for the variety. I wondered how possible it was that the new, soft cuttings of those plants grown in such heat and rooted under mist in the same heat, to be either cleaned of virus, or at least with reduced viral load. When you're dealing with a nearly extinct variety and all there is, is that one, weak plant, you use what you have. Ironically, the cutting grown plants of I. Zingari grew much better than the old plant of it at Rose Hills where all the material came from. Kim

windeaux, thank you for providing your experimental details. I do not have any virused roses to experiment with. (I am now shutting down my 1000 rose garden due to age and health.) From the literature I would expect that cuttings taken in your zone in August (highest possble temperature) would have the greatest chance of being virus free. Also it appears that old wood may be preferable to new wood. Also, it probably would be advantageous to take cuttings from branches that did not have virus symptoms in the spring (in fact I would recommend that virused branches be removed from the plant when first observed). The first paper that drew my attention to this behavior is (please, keep in mind the reversal of our seasons with theirs): Authors: Dal Zotto, A.; Nome, S. F.; Di Rienzo, J. A.; Docampo, D. M. Author Address: Instituto de Fitopatologia y Fisiologia Vegetal INTA, 5009, Cordoba, Argentina. Title: Fluctuations of Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) at various phenological stages in peach cultivars. Published in: Plant Disease, volume 83, pages 1055-1057, (1999). Abstract: " Fluctuations in Prunus necrotic ringspot virus (PNRSV) concentration were researched in single plants of six peach (Prunus persicae) cultivars-Kurakata, Red Haven, Nectar Red, Start Delicious, Meadowlark, and Loadel-by double antibody sandwich-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) of dormant buds (May, June), flowers (September), new sprouts (November), and mature leaves (January) (Southern Hemisphere). The optimum extract dilution (sample weight per buffer volume) to detect the virus was also quantified. The average absorbance patterns of the six cultivars show a steady increase in virus concentration, ranging from A405nm 0.61 in May to A405nm 0.86 in July for dormant buds, to A405nm 1.22 in September in flowers, to 1.53 in November in new sprouts, where the highest concentration was found. Virus concentrations in mature leaves drop to values similar to those of noninfected plants in January (A405nm 0.12). The yearly average (six noninfected peach trees) ranged from A405nm 0.04 to A405nm 0.08. This drop coincides with an increase in summer temperature and attenuates foliation symptoms caused by PNRSV. Analysis of dormant buds, flowers, or new sprouts with 5-cm-long leaves was reliable to differentiate infected from noninfected plants. Cluster analysis of absorbance profiles for single plants of cvs. Loadel and Meadowlark, however, showed a comparatively low profile, with a drop at flowering time (A405nm 0.20 in September) close to the average of healthy controls. The difference between infected and healthy plants did not become apparent in all cultivars from the analysis of plants at a given phenological stage, for example by the analysis of flower only, the material most preferred to diagnose the virus. Therefore, plants should be analyzed during flowering and sprouting or flowering and dormancy (dormant buds)." Here is a link that might be useful: peach southern hemisphere study