My advice would be to: get a magnifying glass, and read the entire label, completely, several times. If you must spray, do whatever it says to do on the label. Personally, I would be inclined to find roses that can thrive in your climate without any spraying at all, period. Check out the "Earth Kind" roses.

Jackie

I've been told that many times as well & the only rose that doesn't drop diseased leaves on its own in these parts is Knock Out. That's why they're planted everywhere, but my mid June the top halves of the shrubs are green and the bottom portions are all yellow and black. I made a decision long ago to grow what I wanted & spray a little. Disease conditions are different from region to region; right now I'd normally be under high disease pressure but odd weather patterns are giving us a break here in Central Illinois from blackspot. It's been wet, but it's been generally too cold & out of the optimum range of temps for blackspot pressure.

I spray just a few times a year, redsox. Once early, and then I wait.....if things appear to be okay, I don't just keep spraying. If I notice some disease, I might make another round. I think I sprayed 4 times last season. I don't get overly concerned with coating every leaf. I just want to make sure I don't lose all the leaves. I'm not gardening roses for the lollipop on a twig effect. I only have 40 some roses right now, and I still use a hand held spray bottle.

It's basically a personal thing based on what you can tolerate, what your experience is, and what your sacrifice/benefit trade offs are.

Here's a couple of other ideas for disease control--

Bayer 3 in 1 Disease Control gives pretty good control of insect, mite and blackspot. It's available in a drench or granular form. It needs to be reapplied every 6 weeks.

If disease pressure is intense in your garden, you may want to supplement the 3in1 with a spray.

For the supplemental spray, I recommend using a product chemically unrelated to the fungicide used in the Bayer -- to prevent building up resistance to the fungicide.

My preferred sprayed is the Gilmour Professional hose end sprayer, which is the best sprayer you can buy for less than $20. It's powerful, light weight and versatile -- provided you have a hose and decent water pressure.

I rarely recommend x-in-1 products, especially those that contain insecticides. Kills off all those nice worms. Your mileage may vary.

With the larger plants, I do the best that I can, I don't even try to cover all of them. I try to hit all of the leaves on the outside, and poke the wand inside of the plants to get as many as possible inside, but I'm not obsessive about it. I figure I get the bulk of the leaves.

The Material Safety Data Sheet for Garden Safe (Neem seems to be the active ingredient) indicates that is can be harmful on skin, so I would still wear protective clothing and goggles.

Let us know if the Garden Safe works for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Safe Material Safety Data Sheet

Hi, Diane. Long time no talk! Are you hitting the leaves on the outside for ease or for a practical reason because it is easier than poking inside?

I do wear glasses so I don't wear goggles. But, do I still need the mask?

Hi Deb! Both! I'm been incredibly lazy about spraying the past couple of years, and I pay more attention to the exhibition roses, but I do try to get to the others. I've found that if the fungicide is good enough, I don't have to coat every surface of every leaf to get good control.

I would wear the mask. I think neem can be irritating if inhaled.

redsox, what I do is as soon as the roses leaf out I spray them very well. Once they get really big, it's hard to make sure you get every leaf, so I then concentrate on the newer growth (while still covering the rest of the bush). I do have an extended wand, so on the larger roses, I just stick the wand inside the bush and try to cover it all on the inside. And I always do the underside of the bush.

I no longer remove most of the branches in the middle of my bushes, but I do remover very low branches where the spores may splash up and get on the leaves.

I'm not familiar with Garden Safe. I use eye protection and gloves when spraying with the Bayer and don't spray on windy days.

I have the Stihl backpack sprayer and I love it. I can do all my roses in one load. It did spring a leak the last time I used it, but DH was able to fix it with a .85 hose clamp and a .52 o-ring from Ace Hardware.

Spray day here is every other Monday ... weather permitting. I use Honor Guard (generic alternative to Banner Max, which has the same mode of action as the Bayer Advanced). I use a 12-gallon Mantis sprayer, which has cut my spray time considerably because I don't have to refill the sprayer as often.

I wear long pants and long sleeves, glasses and a mask.

I answer a lot of questions from folks about spraying their roses for fungal diseases. Here, fungicide is essential for most roses (I have a few that don't require it). It is safer for me to use a systemic product and spray at the required interval than it is to use a potentially-irritating organic product more often. Less exposure for me and less cumulative time spent spraying. When I explain it like this, people get it.

I also caution against the combo products, especially ones that must be poured on the soil. We strive to have a soil that is alive with organisms, and these products contain chemicals that work against this. (It's the same with human medicines for me ... if I have a runny nose from allergies, I take an antihistamine ... not a combo runny, stuffy, headache, and cough medicine.) How much of these drench-applied products are actually taken up by the plant and how much stays in the soil? I want my product in place where it's needed, and spraying accomplishes this.

As far as the actual mechanics of spraying, I do like Diane does. I move the wand up and down all around the plant, and I stick it inside the bush in a few places, and I call it good and move on to do the next one. If I miss a spot, I'll probably hit it next time I spray. I have WAY too many roses to worry about each one individually.

Connie

You can't wait to spray until you see blackspot - it's already too late.

IMHO, Neem oil is worthless for blackspot. If that's what Garden Safe is using ... I used to rotate with Compass, but the price is overwhelming these days and large volumes do not keep well. BannerMaxx probably doesn't count as a rotation with Bayer, since both are "-azoles." I've used regular old Funginex in rotation before and probably will again, but that's a pain because it's only good for one week. Manzate is good, but it has no staying power (contact killer only). Daconil is excellent in early spring (gets Botrytis, which is a major -azole weakness), but burns everything it touches when it gets warm. I tried Cleary's a few years ago, but it seemed to burn pretty easily, too. We need something else from the market or a price/volume break on the Compass!

Yes, I try to cover every leaf and spray the undersides when I can get to them. Spraying every leaf only becomes an issue when the rose gets taller than I am - but the undersides are easy to get to then. I have a Rosemania SpotShot sprayer. Yes, it's expensive, but it's the best money I ever spent for roses - 6 years and not a hiccup ( a few batteries gone by, though). ;-)

Connie, I like the explanation! I'm going to reuse, if you don't mind. Thanks!

I use a spreader/sticker also in my 2 gallon pump up sprayer . I also add one TBS fertilizer. My S/S claims to be good for 30 days, rain or shine. This year has been all shine in the Houston area! I switch between Daconil, Consan, copper and Fungenex. I realize those are bad chemicals but then so is coffee, butter and salt to name a few. ;-))