Sometimes baby roses get PM, and then grow out of it. I have a mature Lamarque, and it does not get PM. Also, sometimes when roses are water stressed they tend to get fungal diseases. If you don't want to spray, I would do what you are doing, AND give it lots of extra water, and wait. Patience is a virtue.

Jackie

Lamarque will out-grow it.
Paul Neyron, OTOH, = "Mildew R Me."

Avert your eyes (and make sure plant is well-hydrated). It frequently is transient and will go away later in the season, unless the variety, as Jeri says, just can't seem to live without it.

Here in the land of blackspot, I'd gladly take powdery mildew instead. When it pops up occasionally, I hit the rose with a modified Cornell mix, substituting potassium bicarbonate for sodium bicarbonate, using neem oil instead of horticultural oil, and using Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap -- apparently, the peppermint version also makes leaves not as tasty to leaf-eating insects. If leaves have gotten to the disfigured stage from powdery mildew, they won't "bend back to normal" even after using this spray. But the mildew is mostly or entirely gone a day or two after the first spray, and whatever is left is gone after a second spray. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much for blackspot here, but it certainly works for powdery mildew.

If you want to try it, I found potassium bicarbonate offered most cheaply at online stores for home brewers. It's also sold as an ingested nutritional supplement. I'm guessing that if it's safe enough for me to consume, it's safe enough for someone who doesn't want to spray a higher-octane fungicide.

:-)

~Christopher

Thanks everyone, I give extra water and see if that helps. I’ll have to keep an eye on Paul and see if he’s going to continue to have PM. This is the first time I have had PM on any of my roses so I wasn’t sure what to do or if it would kill my roses so thanks for the advice.

I get lots of PM at this time of year. I can’t remember where your located, but if your days are warming up and your nights are cool, that’s when I have the most PM. I overlook it at this time of year. Some plants have it every spring, and get over without intervention in a month or two. My Duchesse de Brabant continues to be a PM disaster all through summer and fall. She blooms her heart out year round, and I give her extra water, but still PM. This year I’m trying something new. Since moving her is realistically not going to happen, I’m going to provide her with afternoon shade, summer and fall. I’m going to plant a tall Dahlia SW of her, for some afternoon shade. Hopefully that, and more water, will stop her love affair with powdery mildew! Some of my younger roses are frosted with PM right now, but I’m not really worried. It’s always gone away......except for DdB! Lisa

Thanks Lisa for the words of encouragement. I am in SE TX and it has been an unusually cool spring for us here especially at night. I’m glad to hear that PM will resolve with warmer temps. So far my DdB has not had any PM but i did notice some on my SDLM but she’s in the same bed as the Lamarque and Paul Neyron so that would make sense. This spring has also been terrible for black spot on some of my roses that have never had it before, this too shall pass with warmer temps.

Back in the old days of rec.gardens.roses, there was a long thread about Paul Neyron and mildew. I forget whether Jolene Adams or I had tried more ways to cure it -- but no one where mildew CAN be produced is likely to grow this rose clean without a revolving arsenal of fungicides -- and maybe not then.

Thanks for the heads up Jeri, I just planted Paul a few months ago and I had no idea he was a mildew magnet. I’m going to keep him around and let him grow and see how it goes. I’m hoping it will only be a early spring thing for Paul and mildew, I guess time will tell lol. My husband picked this rose when we were at ARE, he saw the blooms across a pathway and said now that’s a beautiful rose, so of course I had to get it, I always try to incorporate any rose my husband shows an interest in so he feels more connected to my garden and my rose obsession:-). So I will watch Paul and hope he doesn’t stay covered in PM for my husband.