Specific replant disease is a real thing....and it happens here as well as in Europe. Sometimes known as "sick soil syndrome", it affects plants other than roses as well. The exact causes are not fully understood but are believed to be a depletion of soil fertility and biological life as well as the possiblity of a concentration of pathogens in that area.

In most cases it will only result in a temporary setback that time and normal fertilization will rectify. Removing the soil in that area and replacing with fresh, well amended soil is also said to help.

That area did not have much growing there before, just the roses for 1 year before I moved them The previous year they all did great, and I amended when I was replanting so I dont think the soil was depleted. I also load up on horse manure every fall and spring.

some light reading (if you have not already come across it):

https://www.rose.org/single-post/2018/03/20/Advanced-in-Understanding-Rose-Replant-Disease

Thank you for the article, I did read it.

I guess I am really asking people on this forum who replace roses that are not performing well in a spot with another rose in the same spot... do you do anything special to prepare the soil other than what you would have done when you first plant? ie..do you dig out the "contaminated" soil and replace with fresh? Some sites recommend planting with a cardboard boundary and replace all the soil with fresh within the boundary.

And... if you do not do that do you find the roses perform fine going into the previous soil?

Thanks for your help!

Years ago, we knew many, many hybrid tea growers. In this part of the world, if you are going to grow hybrid teas, you are going to replace roses. You are going to replace, and replace many, many roses. Their average lifespan is considered to be three years. There are some which are hardier, and may last a decade, and those that can't make it through their first winter. Nobody ever did anything more than add more soil amendments, and it was never a problem. I was involved as a volunteer in three public gardens that were mostly HTs, and it was not an issue.

Out West in the desert, rose replant disease isn't a problem for me, or for any other rose growers I know. Diane

For a short period of time in the ground, it is not a problem. And a newly well-amended plantng hole can take care of it.

But just have to add if roses only had a 3 year life expectancy where I live, I wouldn't bother planting them! Heck, they are barely even established properly in 3 years. In my location, virtually all roses live for decades......often many decades :-)

Thats good to know that it hasn't been a problem here. I kinda thought that as I wasn't seeing any posts on it. I wonder why its such a known entity elsewhere.

...this is a problem for us here more than where you are it seems... it's a major issue for us and at any given time I have 3 or 4 roses suffering at least partially from it... it's not just roses, any woody shrubs in the rosaceae family, like apples or pyracantha can cause it too..

...we are helped now with the advent of mycorrhizal fungi which is sprinkled into the planting hole... it is supposed to remove the need for any amendments and is simple to use.. but in my experience it does not resolve the issue entirely... I've experimented with it and watched how the roses develop or not.... it's so obvious when it occurs and you just know the reason... poor growth, a few measly blooms... as soon as you dig up that rose and move it to fresh ground it takes off... it shows itself during April to June when we expect the most growth on roses...

...I've got so used to seeing it, I can tell within a few weeks of Spring planting, whether a rose has it or not...

...I hope it need not be a concern for you....

I saw this video and than I look for your thread. Went back again and realized it is the same topic. Well, I am putting a link here it might help to understand this better. This is so new to me anyways here it is......
https://youtu.be/3BCcfiF3fNE
jin

Plumeria, great video where he talks about the answers he got after he emailed Traud Winkelmann, researcher from Germany, and asked her questions about Replant Disease (RD). It sounds to me the most likely explanation is a soil pathogen. Here is another article, T Winkelmann is an author, that looks more closely at soil microbes and fungi in apple plantings (apples are related to to roses and also get RD). https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2017.01604/full
Skip to the Conclusion section at the end, unless you really want to wade through the details. They found links to microbes that were positively and negatively associated with RD (ie. Some microbes were found in RD soils and others found in non RD soils) indicating that beneficial microbes could mitigate RD. Unfortunately, they didn’t look at the soil nematode populations in this study.
If it is a soil pathogen that lives in and thrives in the type of soil and climate in Europe that could explain why we don’t see RD out in Western USA.

Ah, but we do!! It may not be as common as elsewhere but it is very real and often present.

Rose Replant Disease

The arid West is totally different from the coastal West. That's why I specified the desert West when I said no replant disease seemed to be found around here. Diane

I have never heard of this and therefore it is very new to me. We don't grow apples but oranges , sugar canes , limes and what not. I am hoping Dr. Malcolm would answer . I think he must know something whether it exists here in Southern or not. He does heat treatment so I figure he quality more in this topic. I really hope he sees this thread. I am sure replant disease exist everywhere but the research is pending and has its own challenges. So new.....and I am curious now.

Stephanie, I was just going through my videos and somehow this one popped up. I was surprised. I was going to skip it than I double and triple check the thread. It is very educational.

jin

This is a copy of an earlier post of mine. Some of the links are duplicates of links posted by others.

This is what Dr. Rankin has written:

http://www.tenarky.org/Merit_Articles/2009/DrRankinRoseReplantDiseaseNRLMay2009.pdf

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This appeared in a local rose society newsletter that I have great respect for:

http://www.marinrose.org/replantdisease.html

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This appeared on the American Rose Society Web page:

http://www.rose.org/advances-in-understanding-rose-replant-disease/

I have had similar experiences to Dr. Zlesak.

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I am also interested in actual scientific references such as:

Title: "CHANGES IN TUFF DURING PROLONGED CULTIVATION WHICH AFFECTS ROSE PRODUCTIVITY."

http://www.actahort.org/books/294/294_10.htm

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Title: "The effect of medium disinfestation on cut rose productivity and on some chemical properties of tuff"

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423898000934

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Link for article that rose roots give off an ihhibitor

http://www.actahort.org/books/697/697_66.htm

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Apple replant disease has received much more attention than rose replant disease. Here is one that that I found:

Title: "Microbial community analysis of apple rhizosphere around Bohai Gulf."

http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-08398-9

...here is a picture example of rose replant sickness in my garden..

..there are 4 Desdemona roses forming a hedge, all planted at the same time, and treated with M Fungi granules... the 2 nearest camera were planted in fresh ground.. as you can see they are fully formed, floriferous roses about 4 x 3 foot... the hedge is somewhat distorted because the other 2 visible in the top left corner, both have partial replant sickness.. they are about 3 foot tall and only 1 foot wide, producing no basal growth... there are a few white blooms visible, but the difference between those 2 and the 2 nearest camera is very marked indeed....

...I had a large Bonica rose in the top left corner which I took out.. roots everywhere... hence the problem... both roses are recovering, but not quite there yet..

Henry, Thanks for sharing the Nature paper “Microbial community analysis of apple rhizosphere around Bohai Gulf” by Chinese researchers. They basically showed that beneficial microbes are reduced and pathogenic microbes increased in soils where mature apple trees were removed and replaced by young saplings as compared to mature apple orchard soils. What they did not do was theorize on why and how this is happening. Someone in that field really needs to look at the soil in direct contact with the decaying roots of the previous apple tree residents and find out if that is the location of the pathogens. Those mature trees were removed but their small roots formed a network throughout the soil and now those roots are decaying and are no doubt being feasted on by microbes. Well which microbes? Maybe if they got a piece of old decaying root, shook off the soil and sequenced the bacteria and fungi clinging to it.....

Gardengal, looks like you garden in the Pacific NorthWest. Have you experienced Replant Disease? The PNW is quite similar to England in climate.
Marlorena, I can definitely see that the two plants on the far end are mostly below the brown fence line and the ones closest to the camera are shooting well above.

Interesting articles and info..

Marlorena, when you say the 2 afflicted bushes are recovering, what did you do to help them recover?

I have been coddling mine with plenty of compost and alfalfa pellets and fish emulsion, but while it's hanging on it is definitely not thriving . It is one of 3 bushes planted in a row and they all got damaged in our severe winter. The other 2 are recovering much better than this one.

skr... I hadn't done anything to them other than to remove the whole lot as I lost patience since the photo was taken.. my idea was a rose hedge and this went somewhat awry with the replant sickness which made it lopsided and after 2 whole seasons started to look ridiculous.. I could stand it no longer..... so I've replanted those two in fresh ground, and removed a 3rd, so I no longer have a rose hedge... and won't be putting roses along that border... it's now a Penstemon hedge...

...they were just starting to recover too as I could see more vigorous growth appearing... the most conclusive is when they throw up a basal... you know then it's recovered... there is no way they will do that whilst suffering the complaint...

...I got a Munstead Wood right in front of them and that was suffering for 2 years but a few weeks ago it threw up a big basal... recovery !...

...for us it's a minor issue if annoying as it upsets the applecart when you're planning something, but there are workarounds and one needs patience... it doesn't compare with rose rosette disease... if I had that I would give up roses... I would be surprised if you got this problem in your garden where you are though... maybe you have some other issue going on?...

No, not personally. But then I have never had any need to move or replace my roses. But as a professional horticulturist, I have seen it occur and talked with other local rosarians that have experienced it. It seems like it occurs most frequently in dedicated rose beds (I grew all of mine in mixed plantings) and when the roses have been growing in place for a number of years. I know that both the International Rose Test Garden in Portland and the Seattle Rose Garden at the Woodland Park Zoo do refresh or replace soil in their rose beds before replanting to avoid this issue.

...well,.. my experience of gardening with it over here where it's endemic... which unfortunately is probably more than most members of this forum... tells me it happens in mixed borders and can occur when a rose has only been in the ground a few months even, and then replaced with another... such as only rose obsessives might do... you know, we quickly get fed up with one, so out it comes and in goes another..

...the RHS has also found this to be the case..

''The roots of the previous plant need only to have been in the soil for a few months for the problem to occur''

''the problem is eliminated by soil sterilisation, suggesting a biological cause''

I doubt there are many ordinary gardeners who have experimented with this as much as I have over the years apart from the cardboard box, I've never used that... I've replaced own root for grafted and vice versa... and still get the problems... sometimes a trick I like to use is to plant the new one about 2 foot to the side of the original hole.. sometimes it works... but as Peter Beales used to say, you can still get the problem a few years down the line...

...one of the weirdest things is when you expect the problem to occur and it doesn't... and the rose grows normally... you just never know really..