Here is an article about RRD/RRV from the Ohio State University BYGLers (Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine) discussed the relatively recent appearance of rose rosette disease (RDD) on Knock Out roses. Roses in this group have been heavily used in landscapes because of their relative adaptability to a wider range of landscape conditions compared to their hybrid-tea cousins. However, in recent years, RDD has become a serious issue in Ohio landscapes, particularly in mass plantings. RDD was first reported in 1941 on multiflora rose Manitoba, Canada, Wyoming, northeastern California, and Nebraska; however, it took many years for scientific sleuthing to reveal the exact cause of the disease and the mechanism for disease transmission. Indeed, until very recently, the pathogen was thought to be a phytoplasma; these are prokaryotic (no nucleus) cells that lack crosswalls. However, phytoplasmas did not "fit" with the discovery that RDD is transmitted by an eriophyid mite, specifically the ROSE LEAF CURL MITE (Phyllocoptes fructiplilus) that inhabits the shoot tips and leaf petal bases of roses. Phytoplasmas inhabit plant phloem and eriophyid mites do not have the phloem-piercing mouthparts of leafhoppers or psyllids; two common vectors of phytoplasma diseases. Research published in 2011 by scientists from the University of Arkansas and Oregon State University showed the true causal agent for RDD to be a new negative-strand RNA virus that has been tagged, ROSE ROSETTE VIRUS (RRV). Readers may recognize the name because "RRV" was used before on the road to discovering the true culprit when it was believed a virus was involved prior to the phytoplasma side-trip. A virus once again "fits" because virus particles are not limited to phloem and may be readily available within a range of plant tissue to hitch-hike on eriophyid mites. Currently, the disease is diagnosed based on observed symptoms since there is no laboratory method to detect the virus; however now that the virus has been identified, diagnostic tests may be developed. The mite alone causes little damage; however, the virus produces a range of symptoms that first become evident in the spring and intensify as the season progresses. Infected plants produce succulent bright red shoots covered in stunted, twisted stems, and leaves. The leaves may also appear red, chlorotic, or a combination of both symptoms and the shoots may be covered by an abnormally high number of thorns. The twisted growth may be mistaken for damage caused by a plant growth-regulator herbicide such as 2, 4-D. The disease is lethal to multiflora rose and it was originally thought that the pathogen was specific to this non-native noxious weed. However, it has become clear in the intervening years that RDD also infects virtually all cultivated roses. Once plants become infected, all parts of the plants are infectious. Pruners used on infected plants can spread the pathogen to non-infected plants. There are no pesticides available that will control the disease, so management focuses on removing the pathogen by removing infected plants. Entire plants, including the roots, should be removed and destroyed; while the pathogen does not survive in the soil, it will survive in roots. If possible, rose growers should focus their attention on eliminating nearby multiflora rose plants since the plants can serve as reservoirs for this disease. Here is a link that might be useful: OSU article about RRD

Well, no one has ever talked about this, but I think maybe some of you would like to try it and see if it helps. We have had a hell of a time on our red clay soil, beets and apple trees wouldn't grow at all. Turns out that all of the southern red and yellow clays are short of boron, and improving them by raising the pH and organic matter makes boron even less available. The "virus" in our tomatoes and in some potted apple rootstocks (in improved clay, makes it easier to just stick them in the ground without worrying about incompatible soils) has turned out to be boron deficiency symptoms. I'm not saying that RRD is a deficiency, We've had no RRD show up in our garden even though our boron levels were very low the first few years I had roses. But I have read that a boron deficiency allows viruses to grow faster. I'm assuming that Patricia in AL is on red clay??? You have to be careful with boron, it's toxic if overdone. The safe amount to add per year is 11 pounds of borax per acre. You can use the 20 Mule Team borax from the grocery detergent section. I sprinkle it like it was fairy dust, and after 2 winters beets grow fine and the apple trees seem to be growing a bit. If you'll put a pinch of borax in a gallon of water and water it in for every plant you really don't want to catch the virus, you might save the ones around the perimeter of the infestation. If you'll do the same for infected plants, maybe cutting them back to healthy growth will suffice and it won't reappear. And if you'll go out and throw the stuff along some infected multiflora fencerows, maybe we'll find out if boron is some help for slowing or stopping the infection. Be generous with the boron on the multiflora weeds, it'll give you some idea just how much you can use without killing anything, and I guess you won't mind if a few of them keel over, LOL. We don't have much multiflora in our county, thank God, but Cannon county is overgrown with it. I'm told that someone in France in WWII was really impressed and sent seed home, planted fencerows with it on about 5 farms he eventually owned. It hasn't showed up in my garden or on the couple of wild plants on the property, but it got some plants belonging to a farmer who's collected old roses from old farmsites, he's a mile from us. Let us all hear if you try this. It might sound sound silly, but Ann has told me that back where the RRD first started, at the experiment station in Nebraska, there is no RRD anymore. I wonder... did they change something about their liming practices????

"Today, the seller offered to put on a new roof himself. Not hire somebody, but himself. He said I would not be able to choose the color or the shingle, but it would pass inspection although I would not like it." I would have walked too. If the roof leaked, who knows what type of water damage/mold you might have in the attic/walls. I also wouldn't like to be told I have to use a color/shingle that someone else chooses for MY house. As for shopping for a house in December, thats what we did. Our house had been on the market since July. We weren't willing to pay the original asking price so we were watching it to see if the price would go down. It did. By making our offer in crappy weather (Jan), we got it for $50k off. I'm glad we didn't wait until spring to purchase because I knew all the greenery and flowers would bring more buyers.

The statement was made: "Thank you, but I don't use chemicals. My plants have to flourish under completely natural conditions..." H. Kuska comment: Sorry, I probably should not have used the following wording: " you may try adding chemicals to your roses (before they are infected) that have been shown to increase the resistance of other plants to other viruses." I probably should have presented the concept in the following way: I suggest that you adjust your garden conditions such that you encourage a high concentration of Trichoderma Harzianum (to me this is not any different than selecting a spot where your roses get sufficient sunlight or sufficient moisture or have sufficient drainage. --------------------------------------------------------------------- In my web page on RRV I state: "The April 15-16, 2013 conference on rose rosette virus recommends: "Current control strategies include keeping roses in good vigor, pruning, mite control, and cultural controls such as reducing water on leaves." H.Kuska comments: I assume that the "good vigor" is to keep the immune system at its best. Thus, you may want to utilize known immune system boosters such as hydrogen peroxide and/or salicylic acid (home gardners normally use aspirin as a salicylic acid substitute). " https://sites.google.com/site/roserosettevirus/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Back to the present. I did not list the above two chemicals (hydrogen peroxide and aspirin) due to your stated restrictions. But, I assumed that your restrictions ("My garden is all natural--no sprays or treatments, organic or chemical, of any kind-- and will remain all natural.") would allow you to encourage a high concentration of Trichoderma Harzianum (which your non spray soil already contains at some level). The introduction in the paper that I presented states: " Biological control is a safe method to reduce plant disease incidence without collateral damages to the environment and to human health induced by synthetic chemicals (Tucci et al. 2011). Some microorganisms, such as fungi belonging to the genus Trichoderma, are used as biocontrol agents (BCAs) to antagonize plant pathogens through a series of mechanisms including competition for nutrients and space, fungistasis, antibiosis and/or modification of the rhizosphere ..........." --------------------------------------------------------------------- The simplest way (that I can think of) to encourage Trichoderma Harzianum growth is to supplement your standard potting soil mixture with cornmeal.