R. elganteria does get RRD. But it might be airy enough that the mites didn't drop on it.
Most years I loose two or three roses to RRD; one year I lost 2% of 500+ roses, about 12; that was the year that it got hot and dry and stayed so hot that the ground radiated heat after the sun went down. I think those conditions may make the RRD-vectoring mites more prone to leave their multiflora and move on to other roses. Does this fit your conditions this spring?

RRD is horrifying. I remember three years ago when my next door neighbor asked me to look at his sick NEW DAWN climbing roses. Yep, four huge plants growing along a white picket fence in his front yard and every one of them infected with RRD. The one closest to my house was so twisted and mutated that there wasn't a healthy leaf on the entire climber. That was the year I abandoned my "no pesticides" rule and sprayed my entire garden with Cygon 2E. I was so terrified that I gave up on the idea of growing tall climbers entirely. Yes I have climbers but they are on a trellis attached to the west side of the house, limited to 7 feet, and pruned to maximize air flow.

None of my roses developed RRD. I attribute that success to three things: prompt destruction of the sick NEW DAWNs, spraying the miticide, and the row of dense, 10 foot tall evergreen shrubs separating our properties.

Jean, you have my sympathy.

Patrick

Ann and others, I have a question. My neighbor has a rose (Dr. Huey ?) that I'm pretty sure has RRD. I suspected this last year and couldn't convince her to let me dig it out and destroy the plant. So with her permission I pruned off the suspicious limbs. Now I see more suspicious growth in the same area that I lopped off last year. I found Cygon 2E at the local feed store. Should I buy it and spray my yard? If I convince her to let me destroy the bush, can I replant a replacement for her in the same spot?
Ann, for your records, I live in Clay County Missouri. This isn't the first time I've seen RRD in my neighborhood.
Thanks.

Okay, I should definitely spray with Cygon 2E. Patrick and Ann...help with instructions on this? Spray the roses and the ground...spray more than once? sigh.....

Use a respirator for yourself. Spray the rose that's sick. Wait about 24 hours (Cygon is systemic and you want it to kill the mites) then as you remove the rose, bag it immediately. Because it's hot the mite population is probably growing; because Missouri is still wet (a friend just called from near you), the mite population isn't as big as it will be.
IF your neighbor has any doubts, have the neighbor call the Missouri Botanical Garden to talk to their answer people... the guys on the phones know RRD well and will support your removal of that rose 100%.
Wait a year to replace it. If RRD infected roots are left behind (it happens all the time when we rogue out RRD infected roses) RRD sick plants will emerge. You want to be able to see them and remove them. Late fall or early spring would be a better replant time, anyway.
Hope this helps, you're doing the right thing.

Ann, thanks. I shouldn't spray my yard? I don't have a respirator. I'll see if I can get one quick.

No need to spray your yard because the mites choose to be on roses. If they don't find a rose, they move on. And unless you've got roses immediately downwind of the sick one, yours should be ok. Do watch for odd growth, but minimal chemicals will keep the beneficials alive and chomping on the bad guys on your roses (so far, this has worked for me and my roses).

Some of my roses are about 50' downwind. I spray Bayer and Mancozeb routinely.

That's a far piece and I haven't seen that length of spread happen quickly in my garden.

But you won't be able to relax this year, sorry, but do keep watch.

This is an old thread, but hoping someone will respond. Rose rosette is all in my neighborhood. My neighbor about 100 or a little over 100 feet away has it on almost every bush if not every bush. I informed them, but it appears they will do absolutely nothing. I saw a rose bush that appeared to be covered top to bottom. I am watching my roses. Advice please. Yes I am spraying my roses.

It's terrible when people don't care about their neighbors concern of RRd. So sorry to hear of the battle in your gardens. I know it may hit mine someday, thankyou for your effort and sacrifice.

My sympathy is with anyone who must deal with the scourge of Rose Rosette Disease. I hope it never spreads this far. Mom's Cottage Garden, AnnTN6b maintains an online guide that has more information on RRD, see http://www.rosegeeks.com.

Jean has not posted on this forum in years. I miss her. She has an ironic sense of humor and a clever wit. My favorite was the story of moving the house. Literally. Is anyone still in touch with her? I'd like to know that her life is going well.

Rosefolly

First for momscottagegarden, there's nothing that can be done to force a home gardener to remove plants. The only reasons that plant removals work in Florida is interference with money crops.

Your garden might be protected by wind directions; if your roses are downwind of the problem, you might try planting some decorative grasses between (and closer to ) your roses and your neighbor. You want the grasses to be tall and to have thrips and predaceous thrips on them.

The use of Wiltpruf hasn't been proved by the Professors, but Jean had some luck with it as did a gardener out on a mountaintop in Arkansas. The idea behind the wiltpruf is to so coat all the surfaces of the roses as to confuse them (the vector mites) and make them think they haven't landed on roses so they move on.

When we first met Jean she and her DH were involved in some dog rescues as well as house renovations and roses. Since then the dog rescues are a much larger part of her life along with her law practice. I think you can find her by searching for Big Fluffy Dog rescues in Nashville and her first name Jean. I'm trying to preserve her privacy, but she is easy to find (and if that doesn't work email me and I'll share her last name.

Is everyone reading my mind? I had actually read about everything stillanntn6b recommended. I am amazed at all the information in the ebook, and the photos! I am rereading it. Is most of the research done in TN? Texas? My cooperative agent says it is not in GA. I have also read many threads here. I am not taking a it is in my neighborhood so what attitude. I am working on informing my neighbors, and it is up to them to either help stop the spread or contribute to the spread. My printer is broken which is driving me nuts, I could passing out printed out fliers. I did post on our neighborhood website, but it fell on deaf ears, only 1 person responded. They cut their bush down, but did not dig it up. The saying goes you can lead a horse to water comes to mind.

Extension agents have a lot of responsibilities. Some do a better job than others.

It has been in Georgia for over a decade. It was in the Arboretum in Atlanta in at least four of their roses in 2000 and it took a lot of my efforts to get the arboretum staff to take out two of the sick roses. At that time it was in wild Multiflora northwest of Atlanta as well as being in a private garden east of Atlanta.

The current field research is being done in Tennessee. Virus designations come from the lab at the University of Arkansas. Work on R. multiflora was in Laura Jessee's PhD at Iowa State.

The current $$$ are in a USDA grant that is centered at Texas A&M and there are some tests looking for resistant roses. They may have found one. The protocol that's being recommended is to dig out the rose totally at first sign.

I stand by my "we who love roses see it very early and we can save some bushes by cutting off the sick cane". It's worked on some roses for me and it's worked for people here on GW . Not all the time, but sometimes.

OK, forget being a nice person. If you weren't dealing with RRD in 2000, you would not have seen the statement on almost all state extension websites that "Rose Rosette seldom infects cultivated roses."

I fought that statement. With pictures and places and the help of people on Garden Web sharing what they were finding.

I am northwest of Atlanta, near Chattanooga TN. This has been off my radar screen. I am sure most people don't pay attention until it happens to them. If anything people see it, and think it looks a little strange, probably nothing. I believe we may have exchanged emails? I really appreciate your answering my questions. I wonder if it effected the white house if anything would be done? What concerns me is the unsuspecting person purchasing what they believe to be the rose that will care for itself. This plant and forget about it rose gets infected, they do not know what the problem is, it dies and another is planted in its place. I am not picking on this rose, but it is mass planted by those who know little about roses, and even landscape companies. Well, I am not saying anything you don't already know. I thought I saw this at a drive through window. I want to get a closer look, and call that manager, but they will most likely ignore me. I do not normally stare at other peoples yards and gardens for lengthy periods of time attempting to inspect them. I have this week, driving creepily slow, and noticed some severe cases. I plan to knock on doors this weekend. I hesitate, because my mailbox was once broken for doing absolutely nothing, and someone's tires were slashed.

At the Rose Rosettte Summit, three years ago, I told the people that the level of interest was low. But that interest would rise when New England rose gardens became at risk and NE's ten Senators would feel pressure. Ten votes is a lot of votes.
Another high impact place will be the 9-11 rose garden where (if I heard correctly) there will be one rose for each death.

In places where decisions are made by committee, RRD /RRV will get established in major rose gardens.

Re the mass planted roses, what you will see a bit later this season is roses that look like two different roses grown intertwined. Close up looks show different leaf densities, different leaf colors, different time of the appearance of new buds, and different bloom colors. These differences aren't major, and some people don't see them. So the problems escalate and the symptoms get worse each year.

Heck, most people only look at the blooms and only notice if their rose stops blooming.

Momscottagegarden, I live in NE Georgia and RRD is here. I've had a few in my yard and I regularly see KOs in road medians or shopping centers with RRD.

Does this appear to be rosette. I can take more photos if need be. The sun is so bright this morning, maybe afternoon photos would be better. This is coming up in the middle of The Fairy. Otherwise the plant is fine except for some black spot. I keep second guessing myself. I will destroy the bush if need be. This is right in the middle of the plant. I do not believe I could effectively apply the one strike rule here, not in the middle of the plant. This is own root not grafted.

This is a bright red cane on the base of the plant on an own root rose with a lost label. The rose may be Scepter's Isle, not positive. The cooperative extension agent said he believed it to be new growth, and not rosette. It appears to be turning green. It is near the property line, near known infected roses, but about 100 feet away from my other roses. I have about 3 or 4 on the property line. I am watching closely. Watching all closely.

For The Fairy, I think it's ok, that main cane has turned green already. When canes stay 'red' for eighteen inches.....that's a warning.

For the second one, give it a couple of days of good sunlight and the rain we just had and I think it will start looking less intimidating.

FWIW, it took me three years not to panic at spring's red growth on roses. For some reason the chlorophyll is slower to happen with early spring growth. Early spring being not so much a specific time of the year, but a kind of growing before the late spring heat hits.

That is relief, and I will watch extremely closely. I saw a photo similar, but more canes. At first they thought it to be new growth, watched, waited, and ended up being rosette.

Anyone know of a better handout that is 1 page and better than this one? I crossed out Texas in the first area and wrote the name of our neighborhood. I have gone through my neighborhood, passing this out to every house that has roses. One person dug up their roses already! No one I gave this to knew what rosette was. There are only 3 houses on my street with roses that do not show symptoms. It is across the street, behind and on each side of me. I put a message on neighborhood site, no responses. My local paper agreed to print an article, I am waiting and watching to see it. Anyone have any luck contacting TV and asking that they run a segment? One channel has the weather guy talk about his garden, maybe I can email them? handout

Momscottagegarden, what a great idea, and how wonderful that you are getting such good response! Believe me, this is much better than many have reported here.

I agree that the red cane does not look anything like RRD. The new growth of many if not most modern roses, is red exactly like that. RRD canes will be twisted and deformed as well as being red.

Rosefolly, I am second guessing my judgement and ability to tell the difference between new growth and disease. I see so much of it in my neighborhood that I am paranoid every time I see a red leaf on a rose bush.

Is rose rosette spread by clothing? While reading various papers put out by various universities, some say clothing, and hitching a ride on other insects. Here in my neighborhood, some roses are planted by utility boxes. People take walks, passing by these boxes. I live in a subdivision about 125 houses or so, not everyone has roses. Of those that do have roses instead of finding a few scattered houses that do have rosette, it is the opposite, you will find a few houses scattered that don't have rosette. There are some very advanced cases here.

When we first were following RRD in a rose garden (now gone), it was an hour drive from our farm and we washed the car and our clothes and selves every time we got home. We had been in (literally) the sick roses. Then Jim Amrine and I visited and I learned what his PhD student Kassar had found and I worried a bit less.

Both he and I noticed (comparing notes is a good thing) that RRD spreads along interstates well, and I had traced it along railroad tracks but it hadn't spread into fencerows away from the tracks readily. This was out in the country where there weren't roads good enough to support fast driving.

I think the suction of fast moving vehicles can carry the mites in their vortexes (? vortices) and then drop them.

It's only last year when I saw a mow and blow yard crew working a bed of sick Knock Outs that I had nightmares about blowers moving the mites around a garden. We just don't blow anything around. Our leaves end up in the next county across the river....windy hill tops have some advantages.

stillannbtn6b, You should have a documentary on TV! Seriously.

How long can this mite survive without food ( I assume a rose)?

I don't think that Kassar ever tried to starve this particular eriophyid mite. I do know that live eriophyid mites (other genera, but similar bodies and life styles) have been recovered from collections in clouds. That implies hours if not days.

These are extremely simple organisms: they breathe through their "shells", they don't have physical contact with any other insects/acarids, they can reproduce with or without a male of the species, and their feeding mechanism is a sucking through a very narrow tube.

Wow...!!

So this little menace can survive, bouncing or floating around from place to place for days, without landing on a "host"/rose plant.... that is not good....

This is a very interesting thread seeing as I also brought the subject up about a new rose. Thank you for the pictures and knowledge!

Are climbing roses more prone? I was reading about New Dawn being prone. Unfortunately I have a very small own root that I had ordered a few months back, still in the pot. I also have a Madame Alfred Carriere that I had put under a cedar tree last year, not so big because I thought my husband had killed with the weed eater and it was surrounded by weeds and I couldn't see it, so I just ignored it. Madame Alfred Carriere is isolated because it was within about 15 feet
from dead rosette infected bushes, and still live infected bushes. The
house is empty, the owner hasn't yet moved in. I have just recently fixed the spot, but I am rethinking. Last but not least I have 2 Clotilde Soupert that were transplanted and are bouncing back after shock. Would it be best to send them to the other side of the county, or use Wilt-Pruf? I plan to use Wilt-Pruf on everything. I have plenty of ladders. Right now it would appear my roses are prone to being a science experiment. I do cottage style, with lots of other plants thrown in the mix.

IMO, the problem with New Dawn is that it becomes this mass of canes and that is an approaching perfect air foil for the wingless mites to drop into. In so many gardens New Dawn was the first rose to get sick with RRD.
That said, I'm growing New Dawn. And I'm keeping it to few enough canes that the wind goes through it. (Having top soil that's about three inches thick with a massive clay underneath it does make for shorter less dense roses; never thought I'd appreciate not having fifteen inches of good soil.)

Here I have been complaining about the hard as a rock clay, and how we should do this and that to make it better. I have to wait until after it rains to use a shovel. I was talking with my husband this morning in tears about sending more roses to my brother in order to protect them from this wicked disease. I am unable to force elimination of this disease around me. I have attempted to bring awareness, and have been watching, waiting to see if people take action.

I think big roses are more susceptible, just because they have more area that can be infected. I lost my Reve d'Or that was on top of an arbor (although I had other big roses next to it that were not affected) and also on another tall rose I have. And now I think a rose that was large, that I dug up had RRD because there are suckers coming up where I dug it that are showing signs (although the mother plant does not).

Moms, don't get stressed out. Just be vigilant in your yard. I have had success twice with taking out canes at the first sign of trouble and the roses have survived. For the clay, are you mulching? If you mulch the clay it will stay more supple underneath and you can dig in it. I've also been using a product called Perma Till that is little pebbles of expanded shale that is supposed to help with heavy clay.

These photos were taken from my back yard. There is a backyard fence and side of house lined with this. I watched as lawn care was performed, fresh mulch applied, but not one attempt to dig up the first rosette infected plant. the wind blew many of these infected petals my way. I have been outside spraying the ground. Petals from an infected plant landed 1 foot from my rose bush. The bush is small and unlabeled. I contacted this neighbor more than 2 weeks ago, asked nicely, shared many printouts from universities, but it has all been ignored so far.

This is to give an idea of how tall these bushes are. These are Knock Outs.

Does the American Rose Society have recommendations on rose rosette? I found articles on their website. When contacting the local society, it would appear they believe there are large numbers of herbicide damage being mistaken as rosette, and there is just no way to tell attitude. I was hoping to find someone besides myself, and the local extension to confirm to others that what is present is actually rosette. I thought if there was a rose expert I could recommend to my HOA to consult with maybe they would wake up. I viewed pictures of herbicide damage, and it looks different. The local extension agent knows the difference, and has seen the difference. My fear is others may take the it is just herbicide damage no worries here attitude.

Another resident removed diseased bushes, I wanted to cry when I saw it, because I was so happy someone actually paid attention. Anyone know if you can get arrested from taking photos at public places considered private property such as shopping centers?

Safe digging practices? If rose bushes are planted where call before you dig is marked, what is the solution? I am attempting to find out how deep the underground utilities run. I suggested cutting to the ground then using herbicide provided they have no intention of planting another rose in that location. I personally do not think it is the best option, but do not want anyone busting utility lines.

Around here we call one day, and they begin arriving the next. If you want to remove a rose, remove it to the ground, then use your "digger", and go down, cutting roots as you go. Or just let the roots die away.

The flag person can tell you how deep the utilities or wires are. Cable is often close to the surface here, and electric is deep. You can always ask them to let you know when the flag person arrives.

Sammy

I called the call before you dig people asked them if they can tell me how deep. Their response was we can tell you where they are, but not how deep, and to call each utility provider. I called each utility provider, and the water and sewer can be as shallow as 1 foot, the others averaged 18 inches to 3 feet in my area. I even called a landscaper to ask them how they deal with underground utilities. I called call before you dig 2 years ago and took photos for future reference. I am just giving unwanted advice to my neighborhood, by asking them to dig responsible when removing diseased roses, thinking that could be a possible delay as to why the roses were not removed. I am trying to be patient as I can. I have seen much yard maintenance, but little removal of diseased roses. I saw a large dead rose bush with tell tell signs. I am trying to be respectful of people's privacy, but now I am thinking to do drive by photos and crop out the houses.

These 4 bushes were trimmed this weekend, much of the witch's broom removed. The owner believes these bushes to be healthy and that nothing is wrong with them. I have started a photo diary. This is only a group of 4 bushes. There are many more, some worse, some not as bad yet.

Do eriophyid mites attract spiders? Where the witches broom is, I am noticing spider webs on many infected bushes. I know these little evil monsters are small, but I hope the spider webs I see can catch some of them and eat them. These are not my rose bushes but rose bushes I am able to observe. Besides tall ornamental grass, will other plants and trees provide the same amount of protection to slow down the spread of nearby roses?