Certain wholesale produces have a history of supplying retailers with infected stock. So if all your original plants came from these growers then it can seem like the condition is universal. And yes, if you are doing clonal propagation of infected plants you are sharing the infection yourself.

Heat treating--growing roses at elevated temperatures can generate RMV free plant material--it is possible to propagate RMV free plants from infected ones.

On whether it has spread, not necessarily. See the loooong thread One of my new David Austin roses has RMV. What should I do? over on the Antique Roses forum. Many of us have had RMV-infected plants in our gardens for decades.

As for the cuttings, if you take a cutting from a plant infected with RMV, the cutting will also have RMV (sorry).

Thanks very much, Diane - I've asked this question on that thread - as to whether RMV can be spread by unsterilized pruners.

Thanks to all three of you! :)

Carol

This is a 2016 copyrighted University of California extension article:

http://ceventura.ucanr.edu/Gardening/Coastal/Landscape_578/Viruses_Menu/Rose_Virus/

RMV is not necessarily a death sentence for any rose. It can weaken a rose and make it less likely to winter but on its own it's not a killer. And that's not a foregone conclusion either. I have many infected roses that have wintered for decades!

Does it spread from pruners? I doubt it. I know I have many RMV infected roses in my yard but I'm pretty sure I bought them that way because I buy a lot of the inexpensive bagged roses.

For the most part I rarely see symptoms on them except under stress conditions. That's usually when it shows up. When something else is already wrong. I've seen some this year because we've been in a drought condition. I water and water but it isn't the same as having rain.

All in all if you keep your roses otherwise healthy I wouldn't stress out over it!

Henry, I was happy to read Seil's "I doubt it." about pruners transferring RMV. Darn it, but your site says it does.

Well, I guess, I'm not going to worry about it. But I'll tell my friend that she may not want my cuttings. Although the other link said that most OGRs have RMV, and she has a lot of those.

Oh well...vive la rose!

Thanks!

Carol

Carol, don't worry about it--it's a cosmetic problem, mainly. I've had roses for years with RMV and they are vigorous and come through the winter with flying colors. However, they've all been Austin roses--no others. I'm not happy with DA for ignoring the problem, though. We pay premium, prices for Austins, and they should not have problems like this whether they do much harm to the rose or not. I've never had a pruner transfer of RMV problem, either. I use alcohol on my pruners between roses. Diane

Carol, there are many MANY thousands of roses out there with RMV. I just can't believe it's all because of pruners. There are certain varieties that can not be had without it because they were bred at a time when almost all roses were sold grafted. And they were grafted on to virused root stocks. Up until just recently no one in the industry was doing much about it. Thousands of roses have been produced over the decades with the virus so it may be an impossible thing at this point to ever be totally rid of it. Chances are if your friend tries to buy those roses anywhere they'll be virused anyway. I know this is a sore subject with some people, and we've debated this ad nauseum here, but I just hate all "the sky is falling" attitudes about this issue. Don't worry about it and just enjoy your roses!

Thanks, Diane...it's probably too late for me to bother using alcohol on my pruners. But the sun came out for an hour, and I've lost my fear of RMV. LOL I feel much better.

Carol

Thanks, Seil!! I agree with you, and I'm going to copy your comments and send them to her. :)

Carol

Malcolm on the other thread says that RMV is NOT passed through pruners!!! Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carol

Malcolm knows. DA roses are probably all infected with RMV so buying from DA might be avoided, Carol.

Since you are Canadian, you may find this information more applicable to your climate than information from hot areas in the U.S.

http://blog.niagaraparks.com/gardens/when-do-i-prune-my-roses/

------------------------------------------------------

For general Canadian rose reading, see:

https://archive.org/details/canadianrosesociety

Hopefully, there is a local Canadian rose society near you.

Enjoy your new hobby.

Thanks, Henry!

I overwinter my roses in pots, so I don't have to worry about winter kill.

That was interesting.

And yes, I belong to the Calgary Rose Society. :)

Carol

Malcolm Manners knows everything worth knowing about the transmission of viruses in roses. You can trust what information he has to offger. Mr. Kuska, on the other hand, spends too much time scanning the Internet for documents that feed into confirmation bias thinking. The sky has not fallen yet....

I also tend to doubt that the virus is spread by cuttings, but I am no expert. What you might consider is buying a cheapo pair of clippers to be used only on the infected bushes, and reserve your good pair for everything else.

Trospero - Yes, I'm really glad that Malcolm could allay my fears. I fell tons better.

Mcnastarana - that's a good idea. :)

Carol

I keep good records, so I know where I obtained roses that have a virus.

Touch of Class--came with house

2002 Electric Blanket--JP Roses--later roses from them are clean.

2004 Double Delight--Wayside (one of eight from them)

Baronne Prevost, MIP, Lavaglut, and Sharifa Asma 2007/2008 Pickering--later roses from them are clean.

Watercolors--Weeks

Playboy--from rosarian who had to move.

Both JP Roses and Pickering said there were going to clean up their roses--and as far as I can tell they did what they said they would. I have a lot of plants from these two suppliers.

I had one from Pickering. I knew it was virused after the first year. I did not notify them, but that winter they notified me. I was impressed.

I had many others. I did not keep records. Almost all died within 5 years. One of the most disappointing was Climbing Yellow Blaze. I probably had around 5. They were beautiful climbers, and I was planning on using them in my hybridizing program especially with my Yellow Alzbeta Kuska (which does not repeat so I was expecting that cross to yield some repeaters).

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.63226

Dr Manners is an expert on this subject. I am so grateful for all his work cleaning roses of virus and his help over the years to all of us here. A true friend of roses.

I lose so few roses due to winter that if I were to do a statistical study, I could show that roses that show signs of RMV have a better chance of surviving winter! If you are worried about the effects of RMV, I suggest getting clean roses and doing a comparison.

I bought Cl. Yellow Blaze/Cl. Sunflare this year at Walmart. So far, no sign of virus. This was sold by Walmart years ago, in the 90s, and had no virus at that time. Right now it is between flushes, but I might be able to supply cuttings later this summer if anyone is interested. I am basically growing it as an annual, because it doesn't survive zone 5 winters, or never has for me so far, because it is one of my favorite roses.

The following was stated in an earlier (2009) thread:

"I second the comment about Cl. Sunflare. I grew this rose about 10 years ago and it quickly became a favorite. I bought a new plant for my new house which was in no way as good as the first one I had had. Didn't grow as well, bloom as much, and the flowers were not nearly as pretty. I put the poor performance down to location, and then noticed the jagged marks on the leaves. I have been told that probably all plants of Cl. Sunflare are virused. It is sold by a west coast nursery. When I emailed to ask about virus I received no response. I shall not be purchasing from that nursery. I have never failed to get a response to any question I might have from Vintage, which sells far more varieties, and has way fewer employees.

Another which is virused is the old Peace sport Lucky Peace, and probably is not available unvirused. I still grow both, because I like both.

I do think there is very little excuse for virus infection of Cl. Sunflare, which wasn't introduced intill the 1990s, when the producers should have known enough to avoid the disease. If it is too much trouble to grow rootstock from seed, they could at least have procured virus free rootstock. UC Davis sells VID Dr. Huey."

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1583436/roses-grown-in-e-texas-and-virused-vs-virus-index