Rose plant disease

I have seen many rose plants suddenly dying in the last few years. Any rose growers here that have noticed the same. Looking to figure out what is causing rose deaths. Does anyone know where to send plant material for disease testing?

The ones i lost were very robust, strong vigorous plants

  1. leaves would droop and turn yellow like its not getting enough water

  2. Then over a few weeks, several big/small branches would just die. Cutting back does not help

  3. i checked the roots, ther is nothing but woody dead roots . The plant would go grom helathy, thriving yo dead within a period of 1- 2 months

  4. i removed one plant from the ground and planted it un pot with fresh soil. Remove all dying/dead branches and cleaned the root in some hydrogen peroxide. The plant survived. If I had left it in the ground, it would have been dead by now.

I thought rose rosette was bad, this is far worse. I suspect nematodes to be the cause. Or even possible rose replant disease?

I will need to sent the plant and soil for testing. This quite sad for me for I love roses and I have over 200.

But now i am afraid of planting in the ground.

The roses lost, madame anisette ( this plant can grow to the size of smal dogwood tree), kordes roses(
Landlust, Savannah, earth angel, crazy love) etc several more
Pic is of rose leonardo da vinci…currently the process of dying.

Do you have any photos of branch interior for branches which still look healthy and green, but with leaves dying?

1 Like

None, but once the ground defrosts…i have 2 plants that are dying. Will be able to get pictures then…more snow this week. We havent seen this much snow in Richmond VA for a while now

What root stock are they on, or are they bare root?

Some are own root( big plants like over 5ft) and others are bare root dr huey, fortuniana and mutiflora

Further research gives me some pointers like nematodes, rose replant disease etc.

My guess is nematodes and fortuniana is resistant to them.
I’d bet the ones on fort. are your best performers. I had nematodes and replaced all of my plants with grafted plants on fort. Had the best plants ever.

2 Likes

i have a friend in oregon who has grown roses for major companies and makes or breeds new roses he gave me a blue rose for my mom . she lost all of her roses to a bug that would get into the cuttings and drill down to the root killing the root . he came out and told us to put Glue elmers or ? in the holes and it would kill the bugs . the next yr they all came back .

1 Like

Yes, i have been using special plant paint to use on pruned areas. Before that wa loosing the plants cane borers

1 Like

Thank you, i am thinking the same, will get soil tested to confirm. I do have a few fortuniana, so far dont remember loosing fortuniana grafted roses. The ones I have are mostly from K&M nursery, have done well for me.

1 Like

this may sound funny to you but have you tried to feed them 1% milk ? 1. Mix 1 part milk with 1–2 parts water. it kills powdery mildew and give plants a huge boost .

I thought milk was only applied on foliage to help keep powdery mildew down? Wasn’t aware plants can drink it and have the same effect. Also in their photo, it doesn’t look like there’s powdery mildew though i could be wrong

1 Like

Maybe they’re getting so big that they need more water than what’s being given?

1 Like

One way to tackle this problem is by spraying diluted cow milk on the affected areas. The reason why milk is so effective is that it contains lactoferrin, a potent bactericide, and fungicide . Use 1 part milk and 2 parts water to spray on roses once a week until the problem persists. 4.

I see no evidence of powdery mildew from the photos. To tackle any issues, the actual issue must be identified first before trying to come up with solutions.

1 Like