Certainly not!!! Find out (from your county ag agent or a professional arborist) what it has and treat it!

As far as I know, no foliar fungus disease spreads from apples (or anything else) to roses. These organisms are highly specialized.

There was a paper from Poland that was in the ARS Magazine (recap column summerizing tech papers related to roses) a few years back that posited a possible link between apple trees and RRD. I passed the info on to Ann, but don't know if she was able to follow up or if there was even anything to follow up. But that probably wouldn't be considered a "blight" by the novice....In a very similar situation I ended up chopping down our apple tree after about 8-9 years of mess. It was a royal pain with the buggy fruit (I refused to spray insecticides), fruit drop, wildlife drawn to same (including tons of wasps), and the need to hire a chef to do something with the bushel baskets of wormy fruit it produced. And that doesn't even cover the shade it cast onto my roses. Fruit trees in a small suburban backyard call for someone who's hobbies and life style are far different then mine.

Roseberri, take some pictures of the problem on your apple tree and post them on the Fruits forum here on gardenweb. The experts on there can diagnose your tree's problems and tell you what you need to do to get it healthy again. It is extremely unlikely that any problems with your apples will affect the roses.

I do agree with Maryl that if you are not willing to take care of a fruit tree that you should get rid of it. Uncared for fruit trees can harbor insects and diseases that can increase pest pressure for any other growers of fruit in the neighborhood. But if you do want to keep the tree then it isn't a huge amount of work but you do need to research your individual problems. I love growing my own fruit and have a small backyard orchard myself.

Ever see this article on oranges in FL getting blackspot.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/07/tech/main6371478.shtm

Yes, i'd find out for sure whats on your apple trees.

opps, missed a letter in my link above.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/07/tech/main6371478.shtml

jim, you're referring to an altogether different organism.

"Citrus black spot" = Guignardia citricarpa

"black spot of roses" = Diplocarpon rosae

Plant diseases are named for their symptoms, but that doesn't mean that because two very different plants have similar disease symptoms that the organisms causing the diseases are necessarily the same. Citrus black spot only recently appeared in the USA, while black spot of roses has been here for a very long time.

Hi all thanks for the advice, I have had the tree for about 20 years, I had ten fruit tree altogether, gradually most of them have died mainly due to not having the time necessary to take care of them after I planted them.(Was young and gee, we have 5 acres we can plant stuff!!) The apple tree was supposed to be a dwarf, but I didn't keep up on the trimming and it got big. I try to garden organically so did not like to spray, went through the bouts of sticky traps, and even reluctantly tried "organic Horticultural spray". This is a burned look on the tips of all the branches it sort of looks like fire blight. But mainly, I have read of the close relationship between many fruit trees and roses and didn't know if this could infect the new roses.(Just planted 21!) One way or another we will deal with the tree.
roseberri

Yes, I knew that York Rose, I just wanted to share the article.
Guess I should of explained. Thanks for clearing up to others that Blackspot is different on roses than on fruits.
Sorry about that.

It's certainly true that apples and roses are both in the same plant family, Rosaceae, but they don't get the same diseases or pests. Fireblight in particular attacks a limited number of plants in Rosaceae not including roses - apples, pears, pyracantha, loquat, and maybe quince though I've never seen it on the flowering quinces.

Botanists like to say that it's critical to know what family plants are in because then you know what diseases a plant species will get, but I can think of lots of plants that are in the same family but don't get the same diseases. I think botanists say that just to try to intimidate horticulturalists.

Unless you want to get rid of the apple tree anyway, I wouldn't cut down a tree just on the off chance it might spread disease.

Hi roseberri, Don't panic. I suggest that you first do an extensive research on the disease on your apple tree. Cutting it down is not the solution for now. If the disease will not in any way affect your rose shrubs, then cutting it down is not the solution but the treatment for the apple tree. Besides, cutting a tree is not the best solution in any case. Treat your apple tree after thorough investigation of the disease.

"One who plants a garden, plants happiness."

~~ Rose Moore
24k gold roses
blue crystal rose

and hey, an apple tree, even a dead one, is a wonderful support for a rambler.

Apples and roses share Apple Mosaic virus (weeds share it also).

Here is a link that might be useful: weeds with apple mosaic virus