Oh nooo! Thank you Moses for pointing it out, I will check tomorrow morning, if it's spider mite what's the best treatment? Hmm I wonder if those millipedes were there attacking spider mites?

Water spray from a watering wand pointed upward to hit the underside of the roses' leaves. Do it in the heat of the day when mites are actively moving around....easier to knock them off, and roses get to dry off before night.

Twice a day for three days. Every day for a week. Every other day for another week or so. Check leaves daily to see progress, old and new leaves both, to see if mites are spreading. Then be on guard with regular foliage checks.

Mites hate water. Do not blast the leaves off the rose bushes, gentle but forceful spray. Damaged leaves means you used too much water force. Be careful. You really just want to completely drench the under leaves while using some mild force.

Hi Moses, I looked underneath the leaves and saw some white stuff, not sure if they were residues of dried mite webs or some chemical residue that was drenched on the plants. Under magnifier I didn't see any activity but I will check again in the afternoon when the sun is stronger here. I took a picture but it was hard to capture the white residue, what do you think?

Sorry the picture is very blurry below

Iiakawak,

That's classic spider mite INFESTATION! They may all be dead, sprayed dead before being shipped to you from Chamblees. Some may be alive among the dead ones. Chamblees should never ship such roses. Demand a full refund or replacement with healthy plants. Inexcusable of Chamblees to send such roses. I am surprised at them. Inexcusable!

Moses

Huh. I got a shipment from Chamblees at the end of March. Now I need to go check the undersides of the leaves.

Heirloom might be super expensive but I've never gotten extra bugs with any of their plants.

I've gotten roses from Heirloom that had mites. These were the few ones that came with leaves on them. They usually strip the foliage off their shipped roses claiming it is to ease the stress during shipment. I wonder if it is more to hide diseased/insect damaged foliage?

I'm not a cynical old curmudgeon, I hope, but I've been growing roses for a long time, and I've seen a lot of hanky panky in the mail order rose business, from just about every one, sooner or later.

I have two roses coming from Chamblees in May I'll have to keep an eye out for critters hitching rides...lol...But I do that no matter where I order from...

Received a one gallon Fiji rose from Heirloom last July that had no leaves...Poor thing did not grow any at all... But it came back after winter but its puny...Hopefully it takes off this season...

Hi everyone, bad news I checked again when the sun came out and the mites are alive and active under the foliage ugh! Please check your roses coming from Chamblees.

Moses I shot them an email, thank you! I am not sure if sending new ones will make a difference, sounds like a bad infestation in the area these roses are. I started what you recommended, spraying water with mild force under the leaves.

Liakawak,

May I recommend a call if you get no response by Wednesday next week. Ask to speak to the owner, Mark Chamblee.

Chamblee's knew they sent severely mite infested roses. I believe the roses have been infested for at least 2 weeks, probably longer, going by what I can see in your photos. A mild infestation will have only a few yellow spots. As the mite population increases unhindered, the spots become more numerous. Your leaves have hardly any more room for more mites to suck the leaves, which sucking activity leaves a yellow dot. The roses are in a weakened condition due to the severe mite infestation. The damage is not new. The roses have been afflicted for some time reaching critical condition already about two weeks ago or even earlier.

If they request photos, send them the last two photos you have shown us so far. Their faces should turn bright red with shame when they see your photos, and rightly so.

If they send new, healthy replacements, which is their duty, you will be adequately compensated. Or you could request a refund, your postage should also be included in your refund.

The Chamblee roses you now have should recover with diligent restorative care.

A chemical miticide spray, organic or non-organic, may be in order, but I would use the water spray route for 10 days, then decide if more drastic means are in order.

What you want to see is healthy new, uninfested leaves, and all the mites wiped out. The old damaged leaves are not going to become healthy and rich green again even when the mite population is wiped out. They will soon be dropping off the roses as the bushes continue to recover. The damaged leaves' bush building function for the roses is over. They are no longer feeding it. The roses will send them packing, dropping off.

Mites are the bane of rose gardening, not easy to control, but the degree of infestation of the roses you got from Chamblee's is unacceptable, showing very poor care at their nursery.

You may want to give these roses a feeding of all purpose liquid fertilizer feed at 1/4_strength every 10 days for a while. That would not be too strong for them while they are in a weakened condition. I believe it will help them along until they are back in the pink.

Moses

I'm sorry to say but I also received two roses (Tamora and Ebb Tide) from Heirloom that had mite infestation. I was a newbie then and didn't realize what they were (leaves with "white dusts"; and webbings that developed after two weeks). Needless to say, all my other roses got them in no time. It took me two years to eradicate them. I had to defoliate time and again. I hope yours recover.

I have started to spray the underside of the leaves twice a day and will keep doing so for 10 days as you adviced Moses, hope the roses recover, can they stay in their Chamblee's pots while they are quarentined and treated? My original plan when I ordered was to transfer and grow them in bigger containers, not in the ground.

The leaves look specially bad on the Twilight Zones and Lion's Fairy Tale so I guess the whole area they are located are plagued, I don't know how that can be oversighted and that shows a big neglect by the nursery...I wonder what's happening to their business...I hope they didn't send duds because I paid with a gift card: a birthday gift from my in-law to encourage more roses in my backyard (ordered 6). I am very frustrated because now I have to spend extra time babying them and my spare time is short...part of me just wants to throw them away but the other part is very heartbroken and wants to treat and recover those roses. Sorry for the rant folks!

@roseloveinsf I just can imagine how terrible was for you to see your garden being infestated like that, all that work and energy...

Moses thank you thank you again for taking your time and to look throughout the pictures, point out the ugly and the advice, it's very helpful and appreciated!

Liakawak,

It will be easier to treat them in the pots they currently are in. The root mass will stay together better if you place the pots on their sides. When you water spray, it may possibly be better to lay the pots on their sides, wedged between two bricks, rotating them when you spray, then returning to upright when finished....possibly making it an easier and better accomplished task.

You are most welcome. It's my pleasure to be of assistance.

Moses

Moses,

Thank you so much for pointing that out on liakawak's pictures. I got 2 Plum Perfect from Chamblee's about 3 weeks ago and they weren't doing as well as my other roses. I looked and yep, spider mites. Dammit, I could have got those from a local organic nursery and they would have been healthy, but now I have that to deal with in my new rose garden. At least I can start treatment and hope the drifts they are planted with resist the infestation. Thanks again.

Char

Char,

You have gotten a, "Baptism by Fire," with those mite infested roses. I am indeed sorry for you, but sooner or later mites become an issue for every rose gardener. They can resist treatment, but the water wash off method is rather effective. You can have annual mite flare ups when it is hot, humid, and dry, about the 4th. of July, here. Then, you may never get them for years in a row in spite of perfect weather conditions for a flare up.

I hope you get victory and real soon. Do the water wash and expect success. It takes diligence and persistence. It's only water, but works, and doesn't hurt you.

Be warned that spraying water so frequently, which is necessary, may encourage a black spot outbreak! Try not spray past 5:00 PM to let the foliage dry off before nightfall. So, it's a late morning and mid afternoon spray for the initial days.

Keep your chin up.

Moses

The underside in next to last pictures looks like rose slug damage. Are those holes in the leaves?

Hi irisgal, I noticed those holes when I received the roses and went to inspect closely that's when I saw the millipedes crawling in the soil, no signs of rose slugs but you never know what's harboring in the mix, in a month or so I will know I guess!

Char, I am doing what Moses advised and already noticing some improvement in them. Hope your drifts get a nice recovery if infested at all.

Thanks, liakawak. So far the drifts look fine, just hope they stay that way. I'm doing what Moses suggested too. The one that looks the worst I may pull out and put in a pot. The other one doesn't seem to be as badly infested and is putting on new growth and has even bloomed. Just sad that you try supporting a grower in state and then get this. My other roses I bought from a local organic garden store and they are all healthy as can be. He had Plum Perfect but I hadn't decided for sure what I wanted in that bed so didn't buy them there. Wish now I had..

Glad yours are looking better.

As your roses recover and fresh, healthy growth shoots up, the old, damaged leaves will fall off, if they haven't started to do so already. Gather them up and place in the trash where mites/viable eggs that may still be alive on them cannot crawl about infesting other roses.

You may even want to go over the infested bushes and pick off really bad looking leaves since they are really not adequately feeding the rose bush anymore. Discard them carefully to prevent possible live mites spreading to healthy roses.

Thank you Moses. I've been picking up any fallen leaves, but I think I will just pull the rest of them off, except the new growth. Luckily I had just mulched that bed so it is easy to see the fallen leaves.

Ug. I received 10 badly infected roses. Do the mites stay on the leaves or do they get into the soil? Would you remove all the foliage or will that stress the plants out too much?

Huh, this last post inspired me to call them since at least 4 of us got infected roses - got VM, let's see if they ever call me back.

I also emailed them some time ago but received nothing in reply.

If Chamblees doesn't spray and washes down foliage instead, the transit time would allow eggs to hatch. I have some coming from them too, will hose them down good!

They wrote me back a week ago and told that they are aware of the problem and taking steps to fix the issue but seems like are still sending affected roses to customers ugh.

Ah, just spoke to them. Yes. There was an outbreak at their nursery and they say that they are now on top of it. They're going to respond soon.

I don't understand Chamblee's outbreak. The roses they have shipped to you folks SURELY had to look severely infected with mites BEFORE they were picked up and boxed for shipping to you. They should NEVER have shipped such disgraceful plants! PERIOD! I've not only seen your photos of your mite infested roses, but now I smell a rat!

Moses

Moses, I should have forwarded the call to you.

I donno. I mean, I'm sure they have 1000s of roses. Maybe they're employing people who don't know alot about roses for packing. So they pack up and shipped the roses and then the mite infestation hit critical mass.

He also said it was a difficult winter in that nothing ever froze so nothing really died either. Leading to more mites.

Seems like a terrible situation because I'm sure their reputation has taken a hit.

I feel bad for them, specially because I feel my post opened a pandora box...but I think inspection and quality control should be one of priorities of having a nursery...and if they knew they never even should have allowed the roses to be packed in my opinion...I love Chamblees prices though and I hope they get the problem solved soon.

I have 2 roses coming from Chamblees mid May...I've never had a outbreak of spider mites yet and do not want too!...I'll be checking mine out good when they come...I better research Spider mites as I never seen them in real life yet...

I don't feel too badly.

As I said on the phone I have $1000s worth of plants - laurels for example, that can all get infected with spider mites. Their bad pest management has put all my entire garden at risk and then they took weeks to respond to it! I wrote to them back in the middle of April and heard nothing.

I understand running a business is hard, I run one, but man, you have to write back to your clients and say "This is terrible we are working on a solution."

All Chamblees has to do is spray their roses. It's part of running a business. No excuses. That's what I do, and most other folks who want nice roses.

It's not that their roses have mites....parasites are part of growing plants. They can't be blamed for that. It's that they KNOWINGLY shipped them, and SEVERELY infested stock, to boot!

By the looks of the photos that you folks posted, the infestations just did not happen over night. It took weeks to develop to that bad of an infestation.

At this point I am starting to believe that Chamblees expectation was that only a certain percentage of customers would even know that the roses were infested with mites. They would just assume that's the way shipped roses look sometimes, due to stress. Of them, most would handle the problem privately.

A small percentage of them would contact Chamblees to just report the problem, nothing more. Then, an even smaller percentage of those who contacted them would, 'raise Cain,' about it. Then Chamblees would be forced to take compensatory measures, only for the last group!

I'm really disappointed in Chamblees! I thought their business standards were beyond reproach!

Moses

Well said Moses!! I can purchase healthy roses locally and will do so from now on. I ordered from Chamblees because it's an hour and a half drive one way to the organic nursery and I only wanted 2 plants. Chamblees prices were the same as the organic nursery except for the shipping and I figured a tank of gas covered that. I have yet to hear from them and, at this point don't expect to, but they have lost me as a customer.

Char

Many of us do not have options to purchase locally and many mail order companies are quite expensive with shipping. I have been very pleased with Chamblees aside from my recent order. It's such a bummer they did not catch this sooner. ..

Also, there was no offer to replace my roses or any kind of financial reimbursement and there is still nothing on their website.

Well, I wasn't going to buy from them again anyway.

Okay no offense, but sometime sh** happens. I overwintered stuff in my basement and spider mites appeared from nowhere. In January. Keep them isolated, spray them down with water and the mites will be gone. I really like Chamblees roses, they are well rooted and grow well for me. I don't have a great selection locally, and the roses the nurseries do have are $30 and up. Even with shipping Chamblees is more economical. And I don't want them to arrive covered in pesticides either, so there's a trade off there.

We have no selection locally here either which is why I count on mail order nurseries...

My Chamblee roses will arrive tomorrow maybe?

I told them I was aware of the spider mite problem they had and I received this email back from them...

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

" Hello,

All
of our roses have been treated recently due to the spider mite outbreak. You may
see a small amount of spider mite damage on some leaves, but the mites should be
dead. If you think any are still on the leaves, the best thing to do is to rinse
the top and bottom of the leaves with water. It washes them off the leaves
without using harsh chemicals. If you have a problem with the roses you receive,
please let us know and you can return them for a refund or we can accommodate
you in some other way.

Regards,"

Jim when mine arrived they were fine, no mites!

Awesome Dingo! :)

Yay!!!

I'm glad for everyone!

Going by the most recent communications sent to you Chamblee's customers from them regarding the mite outbreak, I have to say my faith has been restored in their rose nursery.

My patronage of Chamblee's has gone back about 20 years. It has shown to be a more than satisfactory mail order nursery....excellent quality roses, prices that can't be beat, and friendly Texas folks in charge. I am relieved to know that they are indeed the responsible folks I believed them to be.

Moses

Our Fiji from Chamblees has some new growth going on already... :-)

I agree with others who say that we need mail order. Without there is no access to most rose varieties here. That was a great idea Jim. It would take almost no time to wash down the leaves on a band

My roses also recovered very well and growing many basals! Impressed how they grew since then! Jolie has put two huge flowers and also doing well :D

Lion's Fairy Tale

Twilight Zone

Jolie Veranda

To All,

I'm glad to see the good fresh growth your roses have made. I hope the mite problem is resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

Now you can get down to the serious business of enjoying your roses.

Moses

Jolie Veranda is coming back strong from winter here. Mine had a very different color, though. More ofor a coraly color....maybe the lighting is making them look purplish?

Really pretty Liakawak! Love the milk glass vase too :)

Looking good liakawak!

Hi Kelly, yes Jolie has a beautiful rich coral color, even though the color on these first blooms were kind of chamaleonic, it changed depending of the light, sometimes from afar it looked deep coral, then closer I would swear it was pink...the purple spots are from sunburn, Jolie has been taking heat and sun well here, the rose didn't ball or shut down instead put a nice basal cane. I am very happy with her and can't wait to see more blooms!