A 2011 USDA Beltsville, MD scientific paper supports the findings of the strawberry paper presented earlier in this thread. Title:Effect of cultural system and storage temperature on antioxidant capacity and phenolic compounds in strawberries Authors: Peng Jin a,b, Shiow Y. Wang c, Chien Y. Wanga,*, Yonghua Zheng b Authors affiliation: a Food Quality Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA b College of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, PR China c Genetic Improvement of Fruits and Vegetables Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA Abstract: "The effects of cultural systems and storage temperatures on antioxidant enzyme activities and non-enzyme antioxidant components in two cultivars (âÂÂEarliglowâ and âÂÂAllstarâÂÂ) of strawberries were investigated. Fruit samples were hand-harvested from organic and conventional farms in Maryland, USA, and were stored at 10, 5 and 0 ðC. The results from this study showed that strawberries grown from organic culture exhibited generally higher activities in antioxidant enzymes. Moreover, the organic culture also produced fruits with higher level of antioxidant contents. Strawberries stored at higher temperature (10 ðC) had higher activities of antioxidant enzymes and antioxidant capacities than those stored at lower temperatures (0 or 5 ðC), in both organic and conventional cultural systems. In conclusion, strawberries produced from organic culture contained significantly higher antioxidant capacities and flavonoid contents than those produced from conventional culture, and even though low storage temperatures retarded decay, they also reduced the increase in antioxidant activities." Here is a link that might be useful: USDA paper

I have two suggestions. One is that there od more than one disease to spot a rose, and to me they look alike. The second sounds something like cortispora, cercospora(but I know what I wrote isn't quite correct.) The second thing is that my Knock Outs must often be pruned almost to the ground. It may be possible that you are allowing the roses to bloom on wood that is not real healthy. If that is true, and if this is one of your first blooms, have you looked down towards the base of the plant and to all the stems to be sure that the wood is healthy? I have been doing quite a bit of re-pruning because I think the damage of the winter freezes often takes time to reveal itself. The first flush, you know, is often the result of the vigor from the fall. After that flush, you often can really see what the freezes have done to the rose. Good luck Sammy

Fun musings, Rick! Another option to consider in the mix of reasons for less BS for you this summer is the notion that rain actually washes the BS spores off the leaves so there's less chance for the disease to take hold. Even in relatively humid weather, regular spraying and/or rain seems to have a positive impact on BS - the real kicker is humid heavy weather WITHOUT the rain to wash off the spores. Nightmare city, eh? Your observations about the health of your plants providing extra vigor has to be a factor in BS being less of an issue, even if plants don't have an immune system per se. Still, if you have a healthy 4' bush putting out new leaves constantly, you don't really notice the 40 of those leaves that are blackspotted, whereas if you have a 2' one-cane runt, those 40 leaves would leave it bare-nekkid. Quick recovery from a disease is almost as good as not having the disease at all, at least as far as roses go. Cynthia

Rifis, Beverly is a stronger grower than Savannah in my garden, actually a robust brute, but it dies back to the ground without a heavy winter mulch. It gets some black spot, but I spray. Whether it would defoliate, how badly, and how soon it would do so during the growing season, I have never determined. I don't have the guts to let it make it or break it on its own, so I spray. Savannah is not as vigorous as Beverly, but has more winter hardiness. I have not given it any winter protection this year as a test. Since it is not as beloved to me as Beverly is, I am willing to experiment with it. Savannah's flower, however, is outstanding in form, color, and fragrance, in some ways more alluring than Beverly. It suffers from black spot, but as with Beverly I spray it, so I really don't know how it would handle a no spray approach. I spray other black spot prone roses in my garden so while I have the sprayer out Beverly and Savannah get hit too. The only roses that get no fungicide spray in my garden are the newer ADR Kordes roses: Pink Enchantment, Dark Desire, and Earth Angel (no winter protection for these three), and the Buck rose, Quietness. No fungicide spraying, no winter protection, extreme fragrance, beautiful blooms, repeat blooming...Pink Enchantment, Dark Desire, and Earth Angel. I'm in rose paradise with these three. Kordes, keep up the good work! You're on a roll!