Buford's photos could both be herbicide damage. At present there is not a simple field test to determine if a rose has RRV or does not have RRV. Excessive thorns is thought to be a good indicator of RRV infection but lack of excessive thorns does not rule out RRV. Buford's photos do not show excessive thorns, and the one that he feels is RRV is similar to one posted for herbicide damage by Plant Pathology Department Extension Service at the University of Arkansas. http://plantpathology.uark.edu/Number5-2009.pdf From Ann Peck's web book: "There are no laboratory tests to confirm a diagnosis of RRD; graft transmission tests can confirm the disease when the recipient plant (R. multiflora) develops RRD. A lack of transmission does not prove lack of the disease, just lack of transmission. Dr. Jim Amrine (personnal communication) suggests that graft transmission tests are more often successful in spring than in other seasons. This, to me, corresponds to the time that multiflora puts on most of its new growth (when its growth isn't affected by RRD)." -------------------------------- H. Kuska comment: Until a simple lab test is developed, we simply do not know from a single field examination in some/many cases. There are too many variables: type of herbicide, concentration of herbicide, rose variety, weather, etc. to say for certain from a single observarion in all cases this plant definitely has RRV, this one definitely has herbicide damage. Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Peck's chapter Recognizing Rose Rosette

It showed up here about 5 years ago. Here being about 20 miles west of Sharon. The odd thing was that it seemed to come from the north, not the south, and did not show up in the garden where I expected given the usual wind patterns. It seems to be fairly manageable so long as you pay attention to your roses. I don't know what the general landscape is where you are. We have a lot of wild multiflora that isn't particularly happy because of pH issues. So sick multiflora doesn't tend to survive and spread problems, but obediently dies off. Aside from the wild multiflora, most of the roses I've seen with RRD have been various wichurana crosses.

The whole issue is potentially really quite terrible. Weeks brought "research material" into their production fields and propagated it beside roses they made for sale to the public. Some of that material was infected with RRD. That was four, perhaps longer, years ago. It can take several years for RRD to manifest itself. In the several years since the initial infection, bud wood, cuttings and bare root plants have been distributed to virtually every commercial rose source in the US as well as abroad. That means, worst case scenario, there are RRD time bombs at every production source of roses in this and perhaps many other countries. By now, who knows how many Weeks roses (and other varieties they propagated) may have been exposed? Perhaps none. Perhaps... Yes, if no one buys, the industry and its members suffer and perhaps fail. How much of a gambler are YOU? If I had a yard full of roses I could easily replace and if RRD existed outside my fences, I may feel differently. I don't and it doesn't.

I am SOOOO sorry to hear. RRD was one of my concerns that sorta kept me growing roses years back Right now, I think I might have boxwood blight. Took some cuttings for analysis to get confirmation. Sadface on , as these boxwoods I have nurtured since they 3G sized to full grown....and they grow like a measly few inches per year at most. I hate the diseases we speak about cause it's not a single plant virus/disease. It can setback your hardscape by wiping out X Y Z