baby Westerland losing all of its leaves

7 years ago

Several of the roses I ordered from Heirloom arrived this spring with some type of fungus, which looks like blackspot to me, but please correct me if it's something else. Here is Westerland which arrived as a gallon and has been in the ground for almost a month. It appears that it might lose all of its existing leaves in short order. Should I be concerned and is there anything I can do for it at this point?

This first photo is from a day or two after it was planted:

And here is how it looked yesterday for comparison:

Featured Answer

smithdale1z8pnw

7 years ago

That often happens with my new bands, I just pluck off the offending leaves & ensure it's very well watered. Most new roses outgrow this IF you have bought roses with a high degree of BS resistance. Oh & also remove all buds except one for ID purposes. Be patient, this will take longer than you want & if it doesn't work (say at least 4yrs as it's a climber) you can always replace it.

Jane

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Comments (9)

arlene_82 (zone 6 OH)
Original Author
7 years ago
Leaf close-up:
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Patty W. zone 5a Illinois
7 years ago
Happens on many of my bands as well. That first year can be a tough one. I've been removing them also.
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH) thanked Patty W. zone 5a Illinois
BethC in 8a Forney, TX
7 years ago
I have several new roses with the same problem. I've lost a few bands if they haven't established enough to fight it off. I pot mine up for a while to help them establish more roots in good soil and have better success that way.
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH) thanked BethC in 8a Forney, TX
jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I've actually only had 1 rose bush arrive with BS-ed leaves...(not from Heirloom but another rose vendor)... I did not remove any BS-ed leaves and it struggled and dropped leaves in its entire first season but in its second season it remained clean the entire year...Hopefully it does well here in its 3rd season...

I had two roses also from a different vendor drop all leaves from heat stress of being in there shipping boxes but I still planted them into the ground they releafed and have done fine...

Normally most bands do well here the entire first season with no problems...

So I guess pluck off the worse BS leaves...
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH) thanked jim1961 / Central Pennsylvania / Zone 6
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH)
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks to all for your input. I went ahead picked off some of the leaves that have almost completely yellowed and aren't photosynthesizing at this point. This area is pretty bad for blackspot and I tried to pick roses that have a reputation for disease resistance. Will have to see how they adjust over the next season or two. I do hope that my Westerland is developing a nice root system as it doesn't seem to be doing much above ground other than losing leaves at a good clip.
ValRose PNW Wa 8a
7 years ago
Hi Arlene. Black spot is one of those fungus that is all around all the time. I find that a rose under heat/water stress will become susceptible to black spot. In the nursery the rose had frequent watering possibly several times a day. My nursery roses get watered 3 times a day. The soil used in pots needs to be very well drained so that the plants won't drown from all that water. When you plant a young rose in the ground the density of the garden soil may be different from the potting soil so the garden soil dries the plant out. If this is the problem then it will continue until the roots find their way into the garden soil and frequent water will solve the problem.

A nursery may ship a plant free of black spot symptoms and the stress of the shipping may cause the symptoms to appear.

I grow Westerland and I know it to be a very disease resistant rose. Here in Florida, only a prolonged drought will make it show black spot symptoms;
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH) thanked ValRose PNW Wa 8a
arlene_82 (zone 6 OH)
Original Author
7 years ago
I would like to add that I noticed some cane die back as well last week. I wrote to Heirloom Roses about this problem and they sent me a gift certificate to cover the cost of a replacement rose, no further questions asked. After some of the more negative threads about them recently here, I am very pleasantly surprised.
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arlene_82 (zone 6 OH)
Original Author
6 years ago
Just wanted to post an update on my Westerland. Here he is today through my husband's dirty workshop window, down to just one cane (DH named him 'Sticky' in early spring as he is basically just a stick secured to the fence). He had a good bloom flush for his size over the past week or so...maybe 7 or 8. I am trying to baby this rose and have high hopes.