Hi boxofrox, have you done any kind of spraying? Rugosas do not like spraying at all!

(Congrats on your structure being done.)

I was wondering about that. They are mid-bed and I'm sure I've gotten them wet watering the plants behind them. The only thing other than H2O that would have been sprayed was Miracle Gro for roses.

Well they certainly don't mind the rain - the ones grown in the park up the street subsist primarily on rain water alone and seem to be thriving. Home irrigation may be a different issue however, as it tends to be applied heavier than most rain falls. And it's never a good idea to get much water on rose foliage - even with rugosas it can lead to disease problems. Personally, I'd 86 the MG for Roses. You'll get much better results from all your roses if you apply something like Dr. Earth or Terosa in early spring and mulch with a good quality compost.

It would help to know what, precisely, you mean by '@*#&'!

Blackspot? Mildew? Bug chewing? Yellowing? What?

It's true that rugosas resent chemical sprays of any kind. Mine always just turned yellow and defoliated when accidentally sprayed. Plain water would not have the same effect. Never tried foliar feeding on the rugosas but I expect it would have the same effect as other chemicals.

Overhead watering might increase disease problems but would not cause yellowing and defoliation.

So it all depends on what exactly '@*#&' means!

Yes, what does "@*#&" mean? Are they brown? And/or dry and crinkled? Or eaten?

Beyond that, when did you plant the rugosas? If recently, the rootballs are dry.

I would still be using Terosa if you could still buy it...unless you know something I don't? I bought all the bags Minters had left this spring because they warned me it was going away and I ran out long ago, man I loved that stuff. I just went to the MG/Roses to get me through the rest of the season and all my other roses are fine.

Yes, @8#& was referring mainly to yellowing and defoliation. I just assumed that rugosas needed the same things as all my other roses. The two I'm having the worst problems with are in front of a row of alternating "Livin Easy' and 'Easy Going' and they are fabulous. I'm training them on a block wall and they are all full of gorgeous blooms and perfect foliage.

BTW, Pam that 'Brandy' I bought from you has been stunning. I cut about ten of them and made a bouquet for Brandy's daughter and took it to her at work. Her face lit up and she said they reminded her of her mother :-)

Glad the rose was a hit, Glenn. It's beautiful although not the easiest one to grow well here.

The garden supply distributor that owned the rights to Terosa went out of business earlier this year (sold to another company) and so the stuff was hard to get for awhile. AFAIK, the new guy is the only distributor of this local fertilizer and is building up stock. And the smaller sized bag has been discontinued. We do have some if you are desperate :-) IMO, Dr. Earth does just as good a job and at about 1/2 the price.

OK, yellowing and defoliation can be a few different things.

Yellowing and defoliation of the older leaves can be: old leaves dropping off naturally; nitrogen deficiency; too much water; too little water; spider mites; blackspot.

Yellowing and defoliation of newer leaves from the top of the plant could be downey mildew but that's rare. However, weather conditions have been perfect this summer for DM!

Rugosas are much more resistant to common rose ailments, but they are not immune. The main cultural difference is you can NOT spray them with anything.

Are they newly planted? some yellowing and leaf drop is normal. Make sure the root ball gets water, not just the general area. And no nitrogen until spring if they were planted this summer.

Terosa is gone?? I love that stuff! pricey though. I've been using Happy Frog from Top Foods garden department. Love the name. The roses seem to like it well enough but an $8 bag only does a few roses. I think one bag did my 12 roses once.

I have added some rugosas to my garden this year. Never having them before. If they do show signs of ailments how are you to treat them? Mine aren't showing any signs but I'm just wondering how to do it if I need to treat them for something in the future. Thanks ~ Adrienne

I'm thinking based on what I've heard thus far is that it had to be the Miracle Gro sprayed on the foliage. My other roses have no probs with this and I make sure that I do it early enough in the day to allow it to dry. If anyone saw my water bill and the way all the other plants in my landscape look, they'd know the root ball is getting enough water.

I did accidentally trip across Terosa yesterday at McLendon's so I plan to give them some of that and use care not to spray anything on the foliage.