Usually skip this subject since I've no experience with sprays besides some traditionals like sulfur & copper used many moons ago on fruit trees. Given my ignorance & the range of opinions, hesitant to even stick a toe in these waters, but (here we go) feel the need to share some thoughts. We all acknowledge we can't grow some roses as perennials in the open garden due to intrinsic climate & site unsuitability, available space & individual practical considerations at any given time. We intentionally eliminate some roses from consideration for not meeting our bloom & growth preferences. Of those we do select, some will self-eliminate despite our care or be rejected down the road for not living up to expectations or no longer appealing as our tastes change. The most critical of my criteria for choosing any rose is its reputation for health & vitality in conditions similar to my own. Gardening more than 50 years in typically humid & fungal prone locations zoomed this to the top of the list long ago. Heavy physical reactions to all the "-cides" except elemental since childhood prohibits their use, as does my philosophical worldview. So I garden the old-fashioned way, pre sophisticated chemical compounds, by necessity. From my point of view, the health potential of any plant is expressed by positive response to its environment - nature vs. nurture - and the availability of the elements & conditions it needs to thrive tilt the odds to favor this expression. We all know moving a shaded rose into more sunlight often "cures" its blackspot outbreak, athough fungal exposure hasn't changed, and that roses sometimes outgrow these outbreaks with maturity. Believe boosting the plant's immune system by helping nature provide those essentials allows it to function optimally on its own, so concentrate my efforts on these aspects. (Same principles as human health. Incidentally, fortify my immune function with the internal products of plants' immune systems - essential oils - borrowing from the plants as it were, the core of traditional botanical medicine.) When we first came to this garden 16 years ago, it had been installed & maintained by a college groundskeeper for 7 years on heavy-duty chemical prevention principles. Extensive shrubbery had been maintained with yearly chunky woodchips atop that of prior applications - 6" worth suffocating the soil without deteriorating though covered in sour-smelling fungus. Couldn't find a worm wherever I dug outside the woods & not a bug, good or bad, in evidence besides mosquitos, flies & chiggers. The few roses were dwindling away under this treatment, bare shadows of their potential. Reversed that trend with organic husbandry & the worms returned. Fed the beneficial microorganisms that fed the worms that till & aerate the soil & the soil web reestablished itself to create an environment in which suitable plants can thrive. For years now, the gardens have welcomed a wide variety of inhabitants that appear to have found an interwoven balance with which I'd be loath to meddle. Beneficials & birds keep the ruffians in check most seasons with an assist from the hose. One year the garden club girls (one fellow joined as I was leaving) spent an entire initial meeting exclaiming about decimation the Japanese beetles wrought over the Summer. Apparently no one believed my surprise & report that only a few spotted here that season not far from their gardens, or they might have wondered what could be different here... Many roses brought in over the years, some with blackspot or mildew from travel stress, so likely a mix of farflung varieties present. Most got over it, as have those which arrived this humid rainy season, including a spotted Buff Beauty bought locally. Fungals show up here & there in small bouts with minor fleeting consequence (knock on wood). Still not brave enough to intentionally choose roses not known for their good health, some of those with mixed reviews doing well. Those among the dear departed were dispatched by deer, storms, cold, neglect & seeming suicide. Shovel pruned 2 for RRD. In my book, really not a bad record for all the years & varieties attempted. Saved a lot of bucks & effort counted up over time, alternately spent on new plants & garden stuff. But then, an admittedly lazy gardener relying on simple methods to support health, the weather gods (as do we all) & beneficial energies... Longwinded way of saying it can be done - growing roses naturally in the humid fungus-ridden Southeast - by way of encouragement to those considering a change of method & solidarity with those already doing it, too. This post was edited by vasue on Sun, Jun 22, 14 at 21:37

Thank you very much for the advice. I do have one more question though. Today I noticed one of the leaves curled a little and checked under it. What I saw was a web sticking from each side of the leaf like a little canopy about an inch long. At first I thought "ah ha" mealy bug. But then I notice a spiders legs sticking out. I couldn't see the whole body so I'm still a little weary. The legs didn't look stringy like the pictures I saw of the noxious mealy bug. And the web may have seemed more sticky due to it being wet from the rain the past couple of days. If it's a spider it's beneficial, if not I'm just not sure. I couldn't really tell what that noxious type mealy bug looked like from the pictures I found on the internet. The red mealy bugs I can actually see what's what in the pictures. Again thank you for all the advice.

Hey there, Sorry for the late late response, cant seem to figure out how to get the email alerts for replies to my messages...Hmmmm....I just upload my images to the site "Photobucket.com" and post the link for people to copy n paste into their address bar =/ works unless there are tons of photos to post, lol. I did the same and they're turning out alright, glad you figured it out too! Only problem are the slugs n snails, and the chickens, but thats a whole other story... I just got done spreading chili pepper powder around my few tomato plants to keep the slugs n snails off of them, seems to have worked so far, but its going to be a constant battle Im sure. Between killing them myself, all the toads and chickens around here(they both love the slugs), and the chili powder, I think I have them beat..for now. I grow pretty much anything I can find actually! I have some venus flytraps, the tomatoes, strawberries, a small bonsai or two, a bunch of shell and vertical ginger, 3 or 4 kinds of cannas(Indian Shot(red orange and yellow versions) and large Canna Lillies, Cooks Pine, hibiscus of all kinds, trying to find more contantly, working on different color plumeria trimmings, mountain apples, a few different ferns(Staghorns, Luau, working on Tree ferns, etc.) heliconia of all kinds, have the red and yellow hanging, a few vertical species, pink, orange, etc. Im pretty much just gathering all that I can, lol! We have yardsales up here in the wailua homesteads, and I put the plants out all the time, in the last 6 weeks Ive made about 180 or so in plants alone XD People really like the ginger and stuff, I put good plants out super cheap, do it mostly just to fund my gathering, lol. Im working on Tahitian Jasmine and Gardenia cuttings right now, have about 10 or so of each, and will be trading some with the neighbor for some various rose cuttings. Constantly gathering orchids, though I only have about 4 kinds, could get expensive if I decide to go all out =p If you're on Kauai n are interested in any of it, lemme know either on here or email me, and we can do some trades or something, take it light til I talk to ya next! Aloha, ~Dave P.S. If anyone reads this, Im looking for the following plants, trimmings/rhizomes preferred if not an already started one; Puakenikeni, ANY Heliconia or Cannas, Wild Plantain, any color, have yet to obtain some! and pretty much any other interesting plants, lemme know what you have and Ill let ya know what I currently have, we can throw up a trade or Ill just buy a few trimmings if not crazy expensive! =p Mahalo!

loo Here are my perfect pepper plants. A the black spot appeared overnight. I think it may have been the heavy rains. Today, I am going to drain off any extra water that maybe in my pots.