Welcome, Melinda. I see that this is your first day on the forum, and I hope you come to be as fond of it as I am.

You need to determine if what you have is RRD or possibly something else. Why don't you consider posting some pictures, giving us dates of when you first saw the symptoms, and what products you use in your garden. We should know how you rid the garden of insects, weeds, grass, or exactly what you put on your roses.

Sammy

Sammy thank you for responding so quickly. I was a member of the Gardenweb several years ago and enjoyed it tremendously. For whatever reasons just got away from it. Sammy I have been gardening for more years than I care to say and have had extensive experience growing roses and have no doubt that the virus is what's killing my roses. I am a no spray garden, other than an occasional home remedy now, but no chemicals, no herbicides, etc. I don't have any photographs of the disease in progress. I don't mean to sound or come off as a "know all", but I have seen too much of the destruction from this virus and have watched the roses die one by one, but now it seems to be two by two. My concern is what happens if it doesn't go away, do I have to stop growing roses? I can't seem to find that answer in any research I've done.

Melinda

Does your lawn get treated by a professional lawn care company?

Melinda, if I were you my first step would be eradicating all sources of the virus. If, although it doesn't sound like you are, not removing the roses and letting them die slowly, you are helping spread the virus not only in your garden but to others. The second step would be to help figure out where the source of the virus is. Have you seen it around your neighborhood? If you are right outside the city, I doubt you have farmland around you but sometimes roses are used along highways and they get infected. For example, I live near Penn State and the acres of land they own is in my backyard so I am constantly walking through there to make sure I don't see any infected multiflora. If you can't figure out the source, then we need to figure out other things such as wind currents to see why your roses are constantly getting infected.

I know there are people who spray with a miticide to get rid of the mites but that is also expensive. However, there are people that live in areas of high high exposure to RRD that do live on. Rose gardens that get replanted as mixed rose gardens that also take other precautions. People find ways to enjoy their roses. Don't give up.

As for your coneflowers, do they get green like flowers? It sounds like they might have yellow asters disease which is also spread by an insect. The only time I have seen it is on a newly planted coneflower I bought but if you are seeing it after eradicating the source then I am leaning toward thinking that your land is in a wind pattern that drops a lot of the insects such as the mites and leafhoppers and that is how you keep getting infected.

Are any of your gardening neighbors having the same problems? Can you tell us what you have tried already? I know many people on here such as Ann have been able to keep their losses to a minimum. Hang in there!

No Henry it doesn't.

mcdreyer, you answered so quickly that I was not able to revise my question to include do your neighbors utilize lawnservices.

I second the comment about if you leave a diseased plant it will help spread the disease. When you first notice the disease on a plant, I recommend cutting off the brach to ground level. If the branch comes back diseased, I recommend removing the whole bush. Something suggested (but not backed by controlled tesearch) is to spray the neighboring, so far not infected roses, with something like WiltPruff. The "hope" is that the "foreign" coating will "fool" the mites to look elsewhere.

Another untested "suggestion" is to add a silicon solution to your watering. In another thread I state: "I wonder if adding a silicate to the rose's water will "encourage" the rose rosette virus carrying mites to go elsewhere.
"The most widely accepted mechanism for the action of silicon in increasing plant resistance to insect attack is reduced digestibility and increased hardness and abrasiveness of plant tissues due to silica deposition, mainly as opaline phytoliths, in various tissues, including ... "
(see link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: silicon thread

I do dig them up and dispose of them, but perhaps not as soon as I should. I become to emotionally attached to the roses and wait until I know there is no hope but to get rid of it. I know, as I am typing this, that I have two roses at home right now that showed the very early signs this fall of the virus. I have become very good at spotting it. These bushes are at least 7-8 yrs old. It has only just shown up on them this fall. Do I just dig them up at this point rather than wait for the virus to progress?

As for the coneflowers, yes, they get the green buds on them and usually do not come back the next year, or if they do, they are very weak plants that don't last through the summer.

For my neighborhood, I am literally the only "gardener" in possibly the entire area until you get further out into more rural areas. There is one other lady at the end of my block that has a smaller garden and has only one climbing rose. Otherwise it is mostly people that do the usual misc. annuals, hanging baskets, etc. When I moved to NJ from Louisiana some 13 yrs ago and broke out my tiller and starting transforming this patch of grass into a perennial and rose garden, my neighbors thought they had a real "nut case" on their hands. But they have all since come to love and enjoy my garden as much as I do and I've made quite a few friends in the area because of this!

For the life of me I can't imagine where it can be coming from. I have walked around the area and have not seen it in my immediate neighborhood, but have seen it on roses at a shopping center that has planted lots of shrub roses, and at a display garden at a small nursery not far from us (which I don't buy from by the way because of this). There are areas not that far from me that are undeveloped and overgrown (NJ transit rails, etc.) that could easily have the multiflora.

I would be willing to try a miticide if there is a chance it could stop the spread of this mite. Could someone recommend the best product for this purpose? Trust me, I don't want to give up my roses, but I also don't want to grow them only to lose them right about their prime either.

I am open to all suggestions!

Henry I only know of one two neighbors that sometimes use a lawn service, one of which happens to live directly across the street from me. Exactly what they use on it I'm not sure, but I could certainly ask.

Thanks again for your response.

Are the two plants showing signs on multiple canes or one cane? If it is in one cane I would think cutting off that cane and monitoring will be sufficient. If it is on multiple canes then the entire plant is most likely infected and needs to be taken out asap.

As for the infected bushes you are seeing at malls, at the nursery, and other places, if I were you, I would get in touch with mall management and express to them that they are putting all roses for acres and acres away in jeapordy. People are usually pretty good about responding once educated. They are just not aware of the problem.

The only miticide that has been tested for the mites carrying the virus that I know of is AVID. Someone else might know of another one possibly.

My general article concerning rose rosette virus is at:

http://home.roadrunner.com/~kuska/rose_rosette_disease_virus.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: my link

Sometimes I see odd growth that does not fully meet the description of RRD. Those are the cases where I have questions since I do spray Round Up on the paths near the roses.

However, if I had the case you had, or if I were to have one rose that definitely met the description of RRD, I would pull out that rose immediately, plus any roses near it. I have done that in the past, and would not hesitate to do it again. Considering the amount of roses that you describe, you might look for other vendors or vendors online.

Good luck.

Sammy

Melinda, have you read Ann Peck's ebook on RRD? You might find it very informative. She's incredibly helpful and was one of, if not the first person I remember sounding the alarm about RRD. She fights the disease in her own garden and has done tons of research.

Thank all of you so much for your kind replies and suggestions. It is so discouraging to encounter something like this that you can't just take care of and move on.

The two bushes that I saw the growth on this fall was only on one cane on each bush, but that is usually how it starts out. I lost a Graham Thomas this Summer that I had to finally dig up and toss. I had planted it at least 8 yrs ago. It started out on one cane and I cut it away, but it eventually spread to the remainder of the bush and finished it off.

I have bought the majority of my roses either from the Antique Rose Emporium or David Austin English Gardens which are shipped out of Texas.

I think what I will do is when I cut them back in March is watch for the new growth, maybe let them have their Spring bloom, and at the first sign of the virus again, dig them up and get them out. I just don't know that I can bring myself to dig them up now, but if I did, I could get replacements ordered for them and have them in this Spring for planting.

Henry I will check out your article and Ann Peck's ebook on RRD, but unfortunately it sounds like there really aren't too many options for dealing with this.

Thank you again.

Mcdreyer, here's a thread in the Antique Roses Forum of GardenWeb from earlier this year with a discussion about possibly resistant species roses, including reports from those who have had RRD in their gardens and which roses did better/worse.

So perhaps a change in which roses you grow might help.

Melissa

Here is a link that might be useful: RRD Resistant Rose Species

When I commented on the vendor, I thought possibly that you may have purchased the roses from a small town vendor who sold a little of this and a little of that.

Your vendors are big time, and I do not see that they would seel diseased roses. I use ARE year after year. I am afraid that this is a problem that many of us have with those terrible mites.

Goodluck,
Sammy

I have a Google alert set up for new rose rosette articles. This was posted Dec 23, 2012.
http://peonyseedings.blogspot.com/2012/12/rose-rosette-disease-no-cure.html

The only statement that I disagree with is: "(However, RRD affects only new growth, whereas an herbicide will affect both old and new growth.)"

This is not a general correct statement with modern herbicides that act as growth hormones. For example for glyphosate (Round Up), the University Of California article "Roses: Cultural Practices and Weed Control" the following is stated: "Roses are also very sensitive to glyphosate (Roundup and many other trade names), which can be absorbed through the green stems in addition to the leaves. Glyphosate damage may appear at bud break the following spring after a summer or fall application that contacts leaves or stems; symptoms include a proliferation of small, narrow shoots and leaves."
http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7465.html

Here is a link that might be useful: link to the U.Cal, Davis article cited above

"I do dig them up and dispose of them, but perhaps not as soon as I should."

You might want to get more aggressive with this. The longer you keep infected bushes in your garden the more likely your own bushes are infecting mites that then spread it to your healthy bushes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Peck's RRD site

To be blunt: Get rid of the plant the minute you spot the RRD symptoms. Every day you let it live in your garden, you are exposing the other roses to RRD. You are spreading it in your own garden by letting the RRD plants continue to live in your garden.

Yes, I know the agony. I don't know which was worse--digging up the 15 year old Golden Showers or digging up the nearly brand new Austin climber (I've forgotten the name) that had bloomed only once before it got RRD. Both of them came down with RRD about the same time, one right after the other. Where did they get it? Probably from the infected hybrid musk about 20 feet away. I knew it was putting out strange growth but kept trimming it off and hoping the problem would go way. By the next spring that plant had infected both my Golden Showers and the Austin climber. I learned my lesson! Belatedly got rid of the hybrid musk and then got rid IMMEDIATELY of the Golden Showers and the Austin climber--the minute I spotted the odd growth on them. Since then, I've had no odd growth in my garden--but I'm always keeping an eye out, just in case.

Good luck. I felt terrible about ripping out Golden Showers and the Austin climber without giving them a "chance" (as I used to say), but I'm so glad now I did that. No new outbreaks of odd growth in the past 6 months.

Cross my fingers for luck!

Kate

Bustopher: I have not so far read anything about aspirin and roses. I would like to hear more, how did you choose aspirin, how are you using it?

There was some information posted on this site regarding the use of aspirin. The idea was that when plants undergo some sort of attack, they produce salicylic acid as an immune system response. Aspirin is a salicylic acid derivative. Also, since antibiotics are ineffective against virus infections, the virus has to be fought using the plant's immune system just like in animals/people. The asprin is supposed to provide an extra level of immune system response. That is at least the theory that I have been working from in treating the affected plants. I went back through my records for this spring and summer to see what I did and when. I had been giving each affected plant the equivalent of 1 regular 325 mg aspirin in 1 gl water monthly except for the worst cases where I doubled the aspirin. I dropped off the spray regimen and aspirins when the temps got into the upper 90s and 100+ ranges in summer. It was horribly hot this past summer, and the drought is still ongoing. We are at least 17 inches of rain short for the 2012 year. Things don't look good here for this next year either so far. Because of the weather stress, I could not keep the spray and aspirin regimen as rigorous as I would have liked. When the weather cooled off, all the latent blackspot came out, of course.

Again, some plants had to be taken out, and one died but was not showing any rosette symptoms at the time. It just started dying back like it had canker. I don't know what was wrong. It was one of my beautiful red climbers. Yet others seemed to recover and do not show symptoms at the moment. The varieties that did not make it were Vavoom, Orange Flower Circus/Orange Veranda, South Seas, and Too Hot to Handle. The rose with the mosaic that seemed to recover with an aspirin treatment was Pink Parfait. Surviving varieties are Cardinal Hume, Pat Austin, Blythe Spirit, White Lightnin', Bubble Bath, Mme. Pierre Oger, and General Cavaignac. I have been treating the remaining affected plants now for 2 growing seasons. I have yet to remove a Dr. Huey rootstock that still has the virus. That one will be hard. I don't know what else to do other than what I have tried. Perhaps this next year will tell more of the story as to what happens with the surviving plants. I don't know if this treatise will help or not, but this is what I tried.

I'd like to hear updates, this is interesting. RRV will slowly spread, it has to, since many gardeners are unaware and affected plants just stay untreated in the garden. Anyone that is doing what you are doing may be part of the answer for all of us. (So thank you).
Henry, have you seen any recent research on this?

Apparently the previous virus aspirin threads in this forum have scrolled off.

Here is a 2011 aspirin virus scientific article:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00425-010-1308-5?LI=true#page-1

Try downloading the full PDF copy.

According to Google Scholar, the above paper has already been cited by 11 newer papers. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=2036591017486793417&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=0,5&hl=en

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above 2011 aspirin virus article.

Thank you for the article Henry.

This is very interesting, and could potentially make a huge difference to a lot of rose growers, if aspirin really can combat RRD. The_bustopher, could you tell us, on the ones that seemed to recover, was it that actual, affected parts of the plant (ie, witches broom, skinny red leaves, etc.) seemed to become "normal", or did you cut off all the bad looking stuff but new growth was ok? Also, you mention watering with aspirin water and spraying - was the spray also aspirin water? And if so, how much/what concentration?

Thanks so much!

Well this has been very interesting. Unfortunately I really don't see anyway around what is necessary to try to try to stop the spread of this to this in my garden. I have two that have just shown the very early signs of the disease. I will pinpoint the canes and cut them off. If the disease continues to spread, the roses are goners. I was tempted to try using Avid to start fighting the mites that are carrying the disease from one bush to the other, but I really don't want to take this route.

I am going to do some research on introducing more beneficial insects into the garden in hopes of combatting it this way as well. I want to enjoy my roses and my garden, not be a slave to it. I have gardened now for more than half of my adult life and I'm certainly not going to give up roses completely. I finally realized that black spot isn't the end of the world and the roses do survive it, but I never expected to have to battle a virus!

Thank you all so much for your suggestions and for your genuine interest in how I might handle this.

Mcdreyer

What I did was to cut off the diseased growth below the point on the cane that it appeared on. Any new growth from that cane has not shown any more symptoms with the exception of General Cavaignac. It was asymptomatic for a whole year but started showing it again. I cut it off and watered it with more aspirin, and it has been okay. I am suspecting a reinfection rather than a relapse because it is close to the infected Dr. Huey.

I have used an aspirin spray. I have used one 325 mg pill per 3 gallons of water, the size of my tank sprayer. I do have to watch it carefully because I have seen foliage burn on some of the plants doing this. There is increased blackspot resistance from this treatment, but again foliage burn can be a risk. I have also been using the harpin material for good blackspot control, but it does not appear to have much influence, if any, over rosette. I think that early detection and treatment is a key help for this problem, like cancer. If it gets too far along, the plant will probably be lost. I am also wondering if an interferon-like material would be a good treatment option if it could be either sprayed or maybe watered into the ground. I hope these observations help this situation somehow.

Another possible approach?

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11104-012-1255-y?LI=true#page-1

Here is a link that might be useful: fungus Fusarium equiseti and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus Glomus mosseae induce systemic resistance against Cucumber mosaic virus in cucumber plants

I stand corrected that all aspirin threads have scrolled off. I should of looked at more forums than just the rose forums. This was posted in the organic gardening forum on SEPT 11, 2012.
( http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/msg0917363211015.html?13 )

https://sites.google.com/a/wilsoncountymg.org/www/Home/news/temp-aspirin

Here is a link that might be useful: link for Aspirin For Your Plants? Try it!

A rose virus aspirin specific thread:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/msg1111200517803.html?8

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

Melinda, I do not have RRD and hope never to have it, but I have noticed in other posts by people suffering with it that many feel it helps to figure out the wind patterns on your property and to not put roses in areas where the prevailing winds would drop the mites from infected plants upwind from you. Do a search on both the rose and antique forums and those posts should come up. Many have also investigated whether there are infected roses near them and when possible eradicate them or notify nearby owners that they have the disease. Every little thing helps.

I can relate.

I had over 60 roses at one point.
As of today, I have less than 10 that are virus free.
My husband and I spent New Years Eve pulling out rose bushes roots and all. We had a huge bonfire to burn the plants.

I know where my RRD started. One of the sources is a new subdivision where the landscaper had planted about 75 knockouts. All have RRD. I talked with the landscaper and he knew what RRD was and assured me the roses would be pulled up and taken to the landfill.
That was almost a year ago and the roses are still there.

Another source was a Drift rose that I bought from a local nursery. It showed RRD within a month of planting it. I went to the nursery where I purchased it and found roses with RRD. I discussed it with the owner and he admitted losing a tea rose to RRD the previous spring. I no longer shop there.

The third source is that we are in a rural area with lots of multiflora roses that have RRD. Th owners I have spoken to show no concern.

I have decided to plant Dahlias and other flowers where the roses used to be planted.

This post was edited by lsst on Thu, Jan 3, 13 at 15:20

'I have decided to plant Dahlias and other flowers where the roses used to be planted.'

I suspect this would be the route I would be going down too. The world is full of marvellous plants - I could easily transfer my affections to paeonies, primulas, deutzias, alpines.......I absolutely know I would have neither the fortitude or patience to do battle with such a dispiriting disease as RRD.
Moreover, I believe that we are going to be seeing more and more plant diseases now that we live in a global economy so at the very least, it makes sense to maintain as much diversity as possible by not allowing one speciues to dominate our planting choices.
Sympathy and admiration for those of you who refuse to be bowed but merely strap on your metaphorical gauntlets and swords and battle on (I would be the one playing possum while the enemy rampaged).

You're absolutely right, Suzy. I too have lost many roses during the last two years to RRD. I decided I was sentencing roses to a death sentence when replanting them on the western slope, so it is now a conifer garden...filled with heaths, heathers, grasses, and dwarf conifers. There are so many endless possibilities to just limit yourself to one pretty face. I still have 250 roses, but I'm done with buying and having them fall victim to RRD. It's too disheartening.

I realized in my post I was not very optimistic.
I have not given up on roses. I am just taking a break until something, someday will eradicate RRD.

I have also lost plants to pine voles and other critters and this time last year I was quite disheartened.

My plan is to enjoy what roses I have left. I will try to keep them as healthy as I can.

I am concentrating on other plants and I am convinced that someday there will be a solution to RRD. Too many people love roses and somebody, someday will come up with a solution. I have to keep the faith!

I ordered 12 roses from Chamblees, they will arrive in a couple of weeks. I think no more rose ordering after that, I have zinnia and wildflower seeds and am starting some perennials. I think y'all are right about not putting all of one's eggs in one basket, so to speak, and instead making one's garden diverse so that one always has something to nourish the soul.