Sorry about your roses! That is sad.

That is so disheartening. I sure hope that you can find the source. Maybe walk around the neighborhood to locate the culprit.

I am very sad to hear about your lose but Flowers is right. You need to let your extension office know what you have found. They keep records for research purposes and any information could be helpful in battling this disease. Your local rose society will want to know too. They can be on the look out for it and that will help keep it from spreading. You need to get the word out to as many people as possible. If everyone is diligent about removing diseased plants promptly and properly it will help stop the spread.

So sorry to see your comment this morning. It is heartbreaking to lose our plants at any time but just as they are about to be their most amazing....so sad.

Such sad news! I'm so sorry for the loss of your roses. Your problem solving seems like a good way to prevent further infections and possible get rid of the culprit. If you have a local neighborhood group maybe you could put out a message with images of RRD and an explanation of what to do in the event that it occurs on a rose. Good luck!

So sorry for your loss of roses. I am still in the process of trying to contact the AG regarding the advanced cases of RRD I saw growing on K.O. roses at the Domain in Austin.

I'm so sorry to hear that! I am entering the third full season with my roses and am so looking forward to finally seeing them with some maturity...I can understand how you feel!

I recently watched an episode of P Allen Smith (who is located in Alabama) and he said that they spray with a dormant oil and think it might help kill mites.

Does dormant oil spray have any impact on mites that carry RRD? I love P Allen, but I'm not sure he knows what he's talking about in this instance :)

Lynn, please let me know if you get any response. A year ago I tried reporting a stand of K.O.'s at a commercial development in N. ATX, (off 183 b/w Spicewood and Anderson Mills fwiw) and the hedges are still there, and still dying off one by one. It's within a couple miles of me and it has me freaking out that nobody is doing anything. I suspect landscape crews might actually be spreading it -- they hedge the roses every year or so, and I'm sure they do not sterilize their equipment b/w jobs. K.O.s can be found every quarter mile in every direction at every sort of development here, and the spread of RRD will be unchecked if nobody starts addressing it. I would be devastated to lose my entire garden, including my own seedlings.

CharinTX, my heart goes out to you. I am so sorry for the loss of your plants. For those of us on this forum, our roses are way more than just decorative landscaping.

Charin, I’m so sorry about your plants. That must be heartbreaking to see them go. Such a waste. I hate that disease. I hope you continue having good luck with your other plants in the front, and derive many years of enjoyment from them.

Follow-up... Last year I reported RRD to roserosette.org, but I gather they merely track the progression. I've spent much of my morning today calling around to municipal entities, the Texas Agri-life extension, the TX forestry service (who deals with oak wilt) and others...

In the end, my take home is essentially this: This is Texas, and nobody can tell anybody what to do with their plants on their property, unless the state decides that it is imperative to the well-being of an important enough industry that they are willing to be so radical as to actually engage in regulations -- a word that is anathema to a Texan.

Basically, we can all just watch the progression and prepare to say goodbye to our collections.

I really worry about all the growers in Texas who provide so many of the roses throughout the country. They will have to operate in a state of denial if and when it does spread onto their grounds if they are going to be able to make rent.

I suppose the only thing is to contact media to create enough concern in the public to try and pressure folks to address such.

Last year was my first year trying to grow roses - although I had tried unsuccessfully a few times in the last 20 years or so. Anyway, until I came to this forum for info, advice, etc., I had no idea there even was such a disease! I'm wondering if neighborhoods in your area participate in the "Next Door" app? In my area many many people are "on" Next Door and it is a great way to spread info. If you put a notice to anyone who grows roses, maybe it would get some attention? I'm so sorry for the loss of your plants.

Phillipatx,

It is my understanding, that some of the tracking or research for RRD is taking place here. I am going to continue to pursue contacting people at the A.G. Not giving up yet....

If I got no response from my alerts to residents or commercial, I would have no hesitation visiting a site with roundup. Getting arrested and making the news may do wonders to spread the news....course I do live in Texas so I might just get shot. But at 75 I would be dying for a good cause:))

I lost 3 last year one huge Heritage a fav for 10 yrs. The only miticides that I know of that kills the RRD mite but does not harm beneficials are Avid and Forbid. If mites come from an infected plant outside your garden go for the neighborhood walk with roundup.

Thank you all for your kind words. It was heartbreaking to have to dig up all my roses in the backyard. I have tried contacting the extension offices with about the same result as everyone else. I am on the board of my HOA and our general meeting is in March. I plan on printing up pictures of RRD and handing them out with instructions on how to dispose of diseased plants. There is also a general meeting for all the HOA officers held by the city. I will make sure that the information is available to them as well. The realignment of 183/Bell Blvd. starts this summer. That will take care of some of the KOs that are diseased.

If you are on an HOA you might get some satisfaction. They do have teeth to enforce rules. (You can see the discussion/argument going on on the miniature knock out thread. LOL)

I was thinking the same thing, philipa.

Charintx, I do not live far from you... for reference... I would bet we are within 5-10 miles distance. Good luck!!! Passing along knowledge can make a difference.

Do you have nextdoor app in your neighborhood? You could tell all your neighbors about RRD, ask them to check their roses. You can attach photos to educate people what RRD is and what to do.

That's a great idea Summers. Or maybe if there's a neighborhood paper or online paper.

How was RRD determined? Often herbicide damage is misdiagnosed as RRD.

" It appears that some/many "apparent" RRV infected roses may actually only have herbicide damage. In 2013, the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab received thirty-one symptomatic samples of different rose varieties that were tested for Rose Rosette Virus. Of those thirty-one samples, only ten returned with positives finds."

The above quote is from a 2014 paper presented at a meeting.

In fact, one of the Texas A and M research professionals has made the following statement (Feb 2017):

"As always, if you suspect that your rose may have rose rosette disease, please send a sample into the Texas Plant Disease Diagnostic Clinic. Many times there are other plant problems confused for RRD, and plants are taken out that may not need to be. "

https://dallasgardenbuzz.com/2017/02/14/rose-rosette-now-what/

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The above is taken from:

https://sites.google.com/site/roserosettevirus/home

(Which I should update.)

I didn;t send any samples in as it would have taken too long to find out and I would have infected every rose down wind. At least that was my feeling. I don't use Roundup or anything else that would have affected my roses. I am no spray. When I first suspected it, I waited to see if it was the weird weather but it didn't take long for it to develop into what looked like RRD from every picture I have seen. I took the steps that I felt would protect my other roses and that was removal and bagging.

It is in Austin, and it is spreading like wildfire. Knockout roses are ubiquitous here. This little gem is within 2 miles of my house, and freaking me out. Their bushes have been slowly dying over the course of a couple of years now as the disease spreads one to the next.

Here is North Texas (DFW) we are a few years ahead of you in terms of widespread RRD infection, I can tell you it’s terrible. I can easily find 100 different locations of RRD infected Knock Outs within walking distance of my house. What I‘d be hard pressed to find is a single stand of established Knock Outs without RRD. My next door neighbors Knock Outs were full of RRD, only their pool and our fences separating their roses from mine. I tried to talk to them about it, but they decided to let their KOs die out before removing them. The city of Plano finally removed hundreds of RRD KOs on the major street that borders my subdivision replanted with Nandina (hurray!). One bright light is that some of the stands have finally started dying out, become so ugly that they’re being removed (5-10 years after planting). It sickens me that Star Roses and the big box stores just keep pushing them out like this issue is nonexistent, and the average home gardener doesn’t know any better. It’s a tough battle, I wish you all well, and hope your city and residents get better informed and take more action than mine.

Austinkisses,

I’ll be looking for you in the evening news, as the notorious ‘RRD RoundUp Lady’. I might end up in the jail cell next to yours!

Sorry to hear you‘re all facing RRD problem. I am wondering if you offer to replace your neighbors RRD roses with bargain barefoot roses from HD or Walmart($6 each), they might dig those up. How many roses do they have? Most of people don’t have a lot of roses. Pray for you two.

That's a great idea! I have to say this is one reason I'm glad none of my neighbors are into roses and why I've been a bit reluctant to interest them. There is RRD around, but mainly in preserve's multiflora. I've only seen it once in a residential yard not too far from the infected multiflora.

From property management point of view, any plants or trees in neighbors yard are their properties. If nice talks didn’t work, try a nice meal, cooked or baked goods if that don’t work, offer replacemeant cost might do the trick.......

There are not many roses in my suburb and the countryside neighborhood . There aren’t many rose nuts around me. Lol

Be thankful my zone 6 friends... in the south Knockout Roses are as common as grass... maybe more so. Where there is Knockout there is RRD. My neighborhood is unique for the area and has eliminated most KO roses, primarily because the landscapers and lawn people are wise to the problem; in addition, Dallas is zoned so no commercial around me. I rarely see a Knockout rose in Park Cities but still I had to remove 3 plants last year.. it really is a huge problem and one that causes much stress. . I was thinking of a robot dog that lifted its leg and peed roundup. If we can have driverless cars surely a robot peeing pup would be easy. :))

Someone must be growing them around here because that's all they have in the stores. I guess I'm just lucky with my neighborhood.

Austin,

My friend and I were just joking if we could train the neighborhood rabbits to regard RRD shoots as delicacy. We have a million rabbits around our parts, RRD could be eradicated overnight.

Sorry about your roses! I didn't realize it was air borne as well.

JJP, the virus, per se, isn't air-borne, but rather the mites that carry the virus.

Oh I see. I must have misread the original poster comment. Thanks for clarifying. Anyone know if it is true that we don't get it in colder climates? One year I thought my roses were affected by it. There was a lot of weird growth and I just pruned all the new growth out. It seems okay after that. I realized it may have been the abundance of rain that year.

Well, it's definitely in Z5 Ohio! It is also possible to take out infected canes before the virus has infected the root, so perhaps that's what you did. Most just remove the whole plant. Of course, it could just be the weather. If it happens again be sure to post a pic here as some people really know how to ID it.

The RRD map shows it extends all the way up the Northernmost reaches of both Eastern and Western Canada, sorry. The North Pole does appear to be totally free of it.

And probably free of roses too! Lol! :-)

The Great Salt Lake, Mt Rainier, the Pacific Ocean, Death Valley, there are many other places where you don’t have to concern yourself with RRD.

Many years ago, I did have a plant with really weird growth. That is when I first started to grow roses and I didn't know what it was but it did looks very spiky with weird growth. After it died the following winter, I didn't think much about it. Sometimes I wonder when we buy roses if the virus is already in a certain plant along with japanese beetles and other "wonderful" things.

I've definitely bought roses with midge! I think there's some discussion over the incubation period for RRD. Of course, it could pass unkowingly from cuttings, but this would be less likely from completely greenhouse grown plants such as those sold from HCR, for instance.

I remember this same sadness when fuchsia mites took my whole great collection. It wasn't until the last plants died out in the neighbors yards that I had a chance at growing them again. I was only 16 and couldn't afford a greenhouse and wouldn't use sprays harmful to hummingbirds.

Oh beautiful Texas! How sad this is. I hope theres an end to this rose plague someday. Maybe make up flyers and circulate them to get the word out. I'm sure most people don't know.

Kittymoonbean, glad to see your post again. If I remember it right you posted some most beautiful pool and roses photos in the past, but I couldn’t find them on the rose and antique rose forum. Would you please post them again? :-)

I just lost this 20 year old LaMarne to RRD. I thought it might out grow it,

but alas it's toast.

Oh no. That was beautiful!

Rayrose - so sorry - it was gorgeous! I’ve noticed other people have mentioned losing large roses to RRD in various different threads - guess there Is just a lot of surface area for the mite to land....

Yikes, ray rose, what a gorgeous specimen to lose. I actually think a huge plant, with all the area it covers is more likely to get RRD. So what used to be only happiness for a big happy well grown plant now also comes with increased worry that it’ll catch RRD.

refresh my memory did I not read that century old climbers traveling up and over rooftops on historic buildings were discovered with the beginning of RRD. I seem to recall reading they were working with the RRD college researchers attempting to save the climbers as they were as historic as the buildings they covered. Importantly they were not located where they would cause infection to others. I may have misremembered the details here.

Henry and others who are not located in a HOT ZONE-- If you live in an area where RRD is running rampant the odds of the distorted growth symptoms being the result of Roundup or similar is nothing but wishful thinking. When it hits us, we all wish... but in our heart we know. The key is to remove fast to prevent loss of healthy roses and killing the mite if you approve of spray. Any article written later than last year is partially or completely out of date; so In researching RRD be sure to check the date. This is similar to the AID's epidemic when it first raised its head, old news is old news and ill informed. Do not mean to put down your post, please do not take this in that way. I

I applaud everyone who posts their opinion on any thread on this site as it helps us all in one way or another. I am totally appreciative of all the info I have gained here. I thought I knew a lot about roses having grown them for so many years but still have so much to learn from others experiences.

Rayrose that is so sad! I'm sorry you lost this beauty.

My condolences, but thanks also for posting a rose that gets little press. it make it doubly hard to hear. I accidentally killed my two nicely rooted cuttings this winter, but seeing your gorgeous speciment, I know I'll try again.