uh-oh, I hope Heirloom Roses didn't goof on your miniature rose... I had a pretty scary experience with them with one of my baby bands... One was very healthy but very tiny only 5 leaves and 5" stem, the other was even shorter about 3" tall and in very bad condition (leaves were smaller than half a penny and completely yellow)... Baby bands should not have that film...Hope it didn't catch any illness from the nursery since your other roses are pristine...Nonetheless it seems usually everyone else is very! happy with their roses from them. Hopefully your DrammaticK will help it recover.

Oh, by the way, here are some full bush pics for you to look at... You asked for the actual full bush photos awhile back...I would have taken one of my other Lincoln, but it looks so silly! It sprouted this gigantic new thick cane that looks so goofy and sticks out like a sore thumb LOL!

Here are my piccies...(piccies are the British way of saying pictures--I copycat their slang sometimes.) They also say chuffed (delighted) and over the moon(in love with)...

Tiffany

The bigger Lincoln

Aromatherapy:

Forgot to tell you that that hideous, shriveled stalks behind Tiffany are from one of the Asiatic lilies.. They will die once they have finished blooming and won't revive until next year.

Very nice pics serenasyh! You can take a pic of Mr Lincoln if you wish, as I do not care if roses have a off balanced look them. All our roses are now getting stems sticking up higher than some of the rest of the plant.

My friend stopped by and told me it was powdery mildew on the new rose. I hate to spray fertilizer on a newly planted rose though. HuMMMMMMM. What to do? Only if I knew...LOL

serenasyh, Your rose bushes are very nice! Be proud of them!

JIM

My friend told me when he stopped today, that it was probably part my fault...LOL

I potted the rose when it arrived here, I sat it out on the picnic table, the next 3 days it rained. Where I had it sitting on the picnic table it was not getting enough air flow. We have large dogwoods close by and the morning glories.
I later moved it out into the yard, but, I think it was to late...LOL

Anyhow, I'll figure it out...

JIM

Well, it's raining again, so, I put the potted miniature rose on the front porch. Suppose to rain tomorrow and at times through the week. Some of the leaves are curling up on it, from the powdery mildew.
Where it is sitting it will get morning sun, (if there is any...LOL). I'll have to move it around, depending if it's raining or sunshine out. OOOOOh my aching back...LOL

JIM

Well, Jim you have a huge! pot for your tiny mini, Lol! poor you.. Now if I were to plant it in such a pot there's no way I would be able to budge it... By the way we had a horrendous thunderstorm that blasted away from 5:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (the wind was howling outside)... Did I get a single broken cane? Phewwww! you see Jim, my tree roses are in these big pots, but I've already had to make the painful decision that I can't bring them into the house until late fall... they have to stay outside and brave the elements" no thanks to my uncooperative BF...

Well, I found out from the other forum that powdery mildew starts on dry leaves, NOT wet leaves.
So, my porch idea is useless..LOL

LOL... on the uncooperative BF

JIM

Ok, my plan of action for the powdery mildew on the young plant is this:

Going to try baking soda: 1 teaspoon of baking soda and a few drops of soap in a quart bottle sprayer filled with water.

JIM

serenasyh, yes it's a big pot...LOL..Our miniature rose Bonfire will grow over 24" tall. I choose one of the taller and wider growing miniature roses.

JIM

This is sweet afton 19 days after it was planted this season.

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These are pics I took this morning. Sweet Afton looks alittle rough as I think bugs are getting to her.

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I can't believe I missed out on your previous thread Jim. Again, you are doing such an incredible job with your soil and fertilizing... In my eyes Sweet Afton looks gorgeous and pristine! I am confused. What insects, what "rough"???? look at mine! you can see gigantic holes in mine, but do I mind? LOL! my garden is so messy it looks all the same raggedy, lopsided patchwork garden but I figure hey, the bees are safe at least, I can deal with all the holes, heheheheh and I can enjoy rose petal jam free of chemical insecticides and chemical fungicides (uh, at least for now--but I suddenly remembered, once fall arrives I may have a nightmare with BS because the sun will be more indirect and the blazing rays will lose their flower power)! Also about your Baby Afton, as I mentioned you are doing an awesome job--look how fast! it has grown... It's not from Heirloom Roses, right? Your other rose seems typical of HR's bands, kind of thin, not very much foliage but at least yours was better than mine. Mine had just 5 leaves on it and one stem! The other didn't count because it dropped all of its leaves within 2 days, LOL! But I think it was just a bad fluke...Most people are pretty happy with HR...I always go with Roses Unlimited instead because their roses are so huge and healthy and vigorous for being own-root.

Sweet Afton is from Heirloom Roses. LOL. All our roses are from Heirloom. If a baby band from Heirloom is planted in a location it likes, it takes Appx. 3 years for it to reach its mature size.
I'm somewhat patient, so, that doesn't bother me...LOL

Bugs were chewing on Sweet Aftons Blooms. Bad insects...LOL

Our miniature Bonfire in the big pot will grow over 2 ft. tall, 2 ft wide. It's a tall series of miniature roses.

JIM

Spent part of today pulling weeds and all that good stuff.
Took a few pics:

This is courageous

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Remember recently when I cut those entire bad canes off of Precious Platinum down to the crown (base) (pic below)

New basal canes are coming up from Precious Platinum from the crown (base)

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Trying to take a better pic of a courageous bloom, but, camera is not doing it's job today.

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Jeez, had to laugh at myself as I got my toes in the photo on the last shot and never noticed it until now. My toenails need clipped...LOL

JIM

My wife and I decided were getting rid of the 1 year old rose that was planted on a rock, then recently transplanted to another location. We are getting another different rose instead, since we have Precious Platinum a red rose and Courageous a red rose.
Can't talk me out of it as it is done and final...LOL
Here's a pic of the root system of a 1 year old Heirloom band rose.

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Jim, maybe you can give Courageous to a neighbor or friend perhaps...It just looked so healthy and has very pretty blooms... I need your luck and well wishes. I am needing to transplant Frederick Mistral this weekend to a pot. It has caught Queen Elizabeth's blackspot, but unlike QE, I am interested in trying to save it but I dare not put it into the backyard. Kansas is usually pretty windy and I don't want any spores spreading. I do blame the wind for carrying the BS to my Frederick Mistral. I may actually need to give it a chemical fungicide if the Serenade and the Greencure and brighter sun conditions do not save it. I have the wait and see attitude... The other idea is to maybe buy some DrammaticK as a foliage spray. I am of the philosophy that try, try, try one's hardest, but if a rose is in real bad danger, I will have to use the fungicide for that particular rose. I hate to lose FM because I've seen it at nurseries and really love it.

Courageous is staying. Precious Platinum is staying. Love's Magic is the rose that went Bye Bye, it was on the rock before...LOL...Nobody wanted it, I've been trying my best to find somebody and after I transplanted it to another location, the leaves all curled and fell off. It was to late in the season for transplanting, but, that rock was pushing it out of the ground, so, I had no choice.

JIM

I'll say prayers for Frederick Mistral being transplanted!
Be careful as I did a wrong thing when I recently transplanted Love's Magic. At this time of the year you need to keep the dirt intact around the roots when you transplant. I left the dirt fall off the roots and Love's Magic had naked bare roots. All the leaves died and fell off shortly after I transplanted her.
Best of luck! God Bless!

JIM

hee-hee, Jim I was just saying send luck my way, not prayers, lol! on a serious note, what I can have is your prayers for Rosemeadow-Gardener but I am sure you're already thinking of Rosemeadow too, just like me! Poor Rosemeadow is having some real concerns looks like. Need lots of prayers and blessings on that end...

On transplants, I am just thinking that the sea tea is usually my favorite transplant media but unfortunately the soil is way too soggy from its old poorly drained soil otherwise I could really take advantage of my dilute sea-tea transplant shock formula. My Gemini lost 2/3rds of its feeder roots and 1/3rd of its anchor roots and! its soil did fall away too! The best thing I have found for these situations is to keep the soil very moist with very dilute nourishment. I just can't do the same with FM because there's too much moisture already in its roots and it might develop root rot so it won't have that miracle sea tea feeding that I normally rescue roses with.

serenasyh,

I like to experiment and learn...LOL... That's why when Precious Platinum had bad canes from rubbing, I whacked them completely out of the bush...LOL... Partly because they needed to go and partly because I wanted to see what would happen with growth. I completely cut out 4-5 canes.
Precious Platinum is my practice bush since it is the oldest....LOL... Within a short period of time new canes are growing from the base of PLatinum. Pruning roses has become much more clear to me and i'm learning what my bounderies are with pruning from watching how they grow.
Those 2 larger tall canes I whacked half way down on Platinum. I wanted to see if I could make the cane grow in the direction I wanted it to grow. Pruned 1/4 inch above an outward facing leafbud and sure enough, that's the way it's growing.

If I ever get blackspot, I will experiment until I figure out how to control it and with what product.
The Bayer product called Disease Control is suppose to be good for blackspot.
Starting next Spring I will be experimenting with Neem Oil used correctly on our rose bushes. I want to see if it does safely control the bad insects and blackspot. Not worried about worms as all research points to increased worm population and size of worms using neem oil. And honey bees/Bumble bees need to be sprayed directly with the neem to hurt them.
Good insects are not effected as they do not chew leaves.
The neem needs to be sprayed when insects are not active.
Early morning or evening, so, as not to smother any good insects with the oil.
Oil products can burn rose leaves, so, I'll have to be careful with that and spray very early morning. I had to be careful with the Drammactic K fish/kelp also as it contains fish oils.

But, for bad blackspot, I personally think the Bayer Disease Control would be your best bet to try in your case.
That's what others recommend on the forum to use.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=100375-24182-701250&lpage=none
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NEEM OIL ARTICLE:

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html

JIM

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Oh serenasyh,

Here's the 2 gallon pump sprayer I'm going to order from Planet Natural.
Can be used to spray fertilizer or neem oil or whatever.

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/sgc/Garden%20Supplies/Sprayers%20&%20Applicators
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DRAMMACTIC K fish/kelp

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/fish-kelp-fertilizer.html

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ROSE DEFENSE (NEEM OIL)

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/search_engine.html?page=2&prod_group=Natural%20Pest%20Control&category=Fungicides%20%26%20Plant%20Disease

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BAYER DISEASE CONTROL

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=100375-24182-701250&lpage=none

Thanks so much Jim for the links... When my Gardenville Sea Tea runs out, instead of getting 2 jugs of Gardenville, I'll get one Gardenville for the ground fertilizer and one DrammaticK as the foliage feeder. I am actually planning to use BannerMax if my Serenade and Greencure and sunshine fail to rescue Frederick Mistral, I will use it if 4 weeks bring no more improvement... When Bayer stops producing Sevin, I would be comfortable buying their products, but right now I won't buy anything from that company until Sevin is removed from their inventory. I am also very! frustrated about certain individuals trying to undercut the fact that Sevin is a bad, bad product. It becomes just plain out and out stupidity, in my opinion taking one fact and distorting it to something completely ridiculous... But I'm trying very hard to control my temper and hope that ridiculous thread won't continue and will "die out" on its own. I used to have a lot of respect for the individual who posted it, but it's being seriously tested right now. A single article from a gardening magazine can really distort the truth and should not be taken as "science" without reviewing years of previous scientific studies and research. It only displays a fraction of the issue with the survival of our bees. Also you have to consider that gardening magazines are sponsored and supported by chemical insecticide/pesticide companies who advertise their products! A magazine cannot exist without these paying sponsors.

Well, enough with personal frustrations. I hate all these yucky feelings. I'd rather talk of happy things and hopeful things...It's been hard times with Paul Zimmerman and I was sad to read about Rosemeadow's hard times too and am definitely wishing and hoping the best for them. And that is important to focus on hopes and good wishes instead of all this negative bad, bad, bad. So I have to quickly turn around and put in the feelings that do count! anyway, thanks always for all the fun and happy tidbits you bring to our forum Jim! It keeps us all happy and makes us remember to enjoy our roses and have a good time!

serenasyh, every subject in the world will be debated by humans with different opinions and sometimes our pets do it too...LOL.. It's not worth worrying about.

I have read 2 different posts where people that once used Sevin, are not using it anylonger because of your article.
I made a copy of your post and gave it to my sevin using neighbors, they agreed to not use Sevin anymore.
Focus on these good things and forget that other crap you can not control...LOL...

I see your going to use the heavy stuff (banner Max)...LOL
Whatever works, go for it! LOL

Yes, Paul Zimmerman and Mikes family is in our prayers.
And Rosemeadow and family are in our prayers.

I forgot that Bayer made Sevin...Sorry about that!

JIM

hee-hee, Jim, again many thanks! hurray, I am so glad you got your neighbors to join in against the Sevin. It's giving me quite a bit of heart-burn, lol! I just worry that people will look at that awful article and be misled by the truth about all of our bees' struggles. They have so many strikes against them and everything we can possibly do counts!

And thanks so much for praying for Rosemeadow and family and Paul Zimmerman and family. I wish I was not! a newbie and had a collection of rare roses or one of the roses that Mike Lowe had, otherwise I'd send my rose of well-wishes to them. Perhaps one of yours may have had a Mike Lowe strain? Platinum does not sound like a standard hybrid tea. I am still researching which rose he bred. One of them is Autumn Sunset, so I'm going to talk with Boxofrox about one of his roses and having it sent to Mike Lowe's family by "virtual reality".

Here's some pics of our new baby band miniature rose (Bonfire) and Marigold flowers.

By the way: The powdery mildew is leaving the Bonfire rose.
1st and 2nd days I sprayed it with the baking soda solution. And the 3rd day sprayed it with neem oil. It's looking better now.

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Careful Jim with the Neem oil! check, reread the ingredients... Neem oil takes 4 hours to dry so be sure to spray only around 8:00 p.m. or whatever time the sun fades and it starts getting dark! If you were to spray at 5:30 a.m. for example the neem wouldn't be safe until 9:30 a.m. and bees are very hard workers from crack of dawn until the sun sets. And whatever you do, don't spray into the blooms. If you reread the section on Neem it does admit this "What happens is that the bees carry contaminated pollen back to the hive and feed it to the brood. In the small hives some of the new bees could not emerge from their cells (Schmutterer and Holst, 1987). What neem does is that it makes bees very sluggish and disoriented. Again, Neem won't wipe out the hive but it does make some bees unable to function properly. I am assuming that you have pure Neem oil and not Neem with pyrethrins. Neem with pyrethrins will kill a bee on contact. Double check your label just to be sure and let me know.

Jim I am not sure why you even need Neem. Your roses look beautiful, the foliage is very healthy and looked gorgeous even before your started spraying. You only need to spray roses when you start having significant infestations... That is, if! you want to go the truly organic way. If you don't than that's fine, it's always a personal choice. Some people like me can live with tons of holes in our roses, others it would drive beserk.

But what I do is the camera test. If you take a photo of your entire rosebush and looks very green and healthy/vigourous, and you can't see any holes from that view, then no need to spray. With organics you will never! get a flawless garden. In order to attract ladybugs and beneficial insects they need insects to eat. It's like a give and take principal. But organics is definitely not! for a lot of people because they can't stand to see holes in the leaves. My philosophy is let the camera be the decider. If the roses still look beautiful then there's no need to spray.

Neem is actually a step above insecticidal soap. Have you ever heard of Integrated Pest Management? It's when you use the least toxic means of killing one's insects and then gradually increase to stronger levels. Neem is way too strong. I would stick with Safer's Insecticidal Soap first! before I would ever consider Neem. Safer's Insecticidal Soap is far safer than Neem when it comes to bees.

Talk with MichaelG. He can really help explain the concepts of Integrated Pest Management. He is one of the most knowledgeable people I know. He understands both! synthetic and organics pesticides.

Me I haven't yet decided on using synthetic fungicides. I have a wait and see approach... I plaster my FM with both! Serenade and Greencure and allow at least 4 weeks before I will do any synthetic fungicide. Again this is my version of integrated pest management. Trying the least toxic way before I step up the battle. I only resort to other means when my rose is in...

The neem oil was sprayed at 8:30pm only on the potted baby miniature rose that was infected with powdery mildew. Neem is very good to stop powdery mildew in 24-48 hrs. Did not spray my other roses out in the yard. Potted rose was on the front porch.

Anyhow, there are alot of bees on our Marigolds today. I counted 25 + , awesome to see, just awesome!

Marigolds, the plant itself repels most insects, that's why you will see no insect damage on foilage, and the foilage stays green all season. WE love Marigolds here...LOL

We have bugs ruining our rose blooms serenasyh. Out of 5 blooms on Sweet Afton, only 1 was decent, the others were chewed up bad, same is happening with Courageous and now Precious Platinum blooms. The foilage has a few holes in it, but, not worried about that.

Maybe i'll plant Marigolds close to our rose bushes next season. In the ground or in pots? They naturally repel insects.

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Effects of Neem Oil on
Honey Bees and Beneficial Insects

Does neem oil hurt honey bees and other beneficial insects?

Insecticides kill insects. That's why they are called insecticides.

Usually pesticides make no difference beween pests and beneficial insects.

But neem oil is different.

As explained on the page about neem insecticide, neem oil is not really a knock down, kill-on-contact insecticide like the chemical poisons. Neem must be ingested (eaten by the bugs) to be effective.

If bugs don't eat leaves they don't get hurt. Simple.

In reality it is a little bit more complicated than that, but the fact remains that neem oil is impressive: it really does hurt bad bugs while sparing the good bugs.

Researchers have looked at it and found that neem oil is non toxic for example to spiders, butterflies and to insects that pollinate plants.

Scientists looked especially at how neem oil affects honey bees, since bees do eat plant matter, the pollen.

That's why reaseachers studied what happens if flowers get sprayed with neem oil.

And what they found is very reassuring. To see any effect the scientists had to use very high concentrations of neem. They used a lot more than you would ever use for pest control.

Only if they constantly hit the flowers with a very concentrated neem oil spray did they see an effect, and only in some small hives (medium sized and larger hives were still unaffected.)

What happens is that the bees carry contaminated pollen back to the hive and feed it to the brood. In the small hives some of the new bees could not emerge from their cells (Schmutterer and Holst, 1987).

Weekly use of a neem oil spray at a normal concentration (0.5& - 2&) will not hurt honey bees at all.

You can also rest assured that while neem hurts aphids, whiteflys and the like, it does not harm ladybugs and other predators that eat the aphids, or the tiny wasps that are parasites on many pests.

In one field trial researchers collected and counted aphids and their parasites and predators from fields. In the neem treated field there was the same amount of predator activity as in the untreated fields, and the aphids carried even higher numbers of parasites!

As I already mentioned above, the reason is that the beneficial insects don't eat the leaves and so never consume enough neem to be affected.

But you still need to be careful when you spray neem oil in your garden.

Any oil spray can smother and suffocate insects, and in that respect neem oil makes no difference between good and bad bugs.

So when you spray neem oil, please do it first thing in the morning or late in the evening, when the good bugs are least active. That way you won't hit any bees or other beneficial insects directly. The neem oil spray will dry before they land on the plants, and only the insects trying to eat your plants will die.

Read more:...

serenasyh, I posted the above article in the main rose forum to get responses from MichaelG and others. I just now posted the thread at 4:30pm Sat Aug 8th.

I'll see what type of feedback comes out of all this...LOL

Until someone or something changes my mind, my opinion differs from yours on neem oil.

Lets see what MichealG says: He is very smart and educated on this stuff. Who knows he may change my opinion...LOL

JIM

Jim great idea about the post. And great idea about spraying only late in the evening I was really worried that you were spraying in the morning as well... Jim what I do for my blooms is only spray hot wax pepper spray on the buds, then when they open, the bees can get into the inside of the flower without getting "spiced out". Protecting just the outside of the buds can help tremendously against thrips. Usually if you just heavily spray just the outside of the buds, the flower usually comes out pristine. Spring is a little more of a struggle but towards fall, I can have roses with very little damage. But actually I still think insecticidal soap is better than neem on the petals. On the other hand if neem oil does work without harming bees, I'd be very interested and hopefully people will use this instead of the more heavy-duty synthetic pesticides.

The disadvantages of hot wax pepper spray is that the bee may not want to visit if they encounter a spicy flower if the hot pepper it gets inside the bud.

Here's MichealG response:

Not bad considering it's an industry-funded puff.
Neem oil, like any oil, can smother beneficials such as good mites and ladybug larvae that don't come and go like bees.

The risk of bees from polluted pollen would probably be limited to whole neem oil and not products like Rose Defense that have had the insecticide (azadirachtin) removed. These latter may not be significantly different from corn oil or mineral oil in the garden.
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Drammactic K fish/kelp has fish oils, so, I have been careful when I spray it. Remember that...LOL

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I would never use pure whole neem oil. I don't like using pure anything...LOL... Too strong.

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Ok, I guess I do agree with you on whole pure neem oil.

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The rose defense (neem) must be a much weaker product?

JIM

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Where do you get Hot pepper spray??? If that works I won't need to use anything else.

JIM

If hot pepper spray works for blooms, I can try that and set potted Marigolds close to the roses.
I'm not worried about foilage. Just sucks to get no good rose blooms...LOL

JIM

Jim, check out Mike Lowe's thread!!!! You've got to leave a comment on those gorgeous roses!!!! they are amazing! what a tribute!

Bonide Hot Wax Pepper Spray is sold in tons of places. All you need to do is just heavily spray the buds when they first appear and as they grow larger, keep spraying. Once they open-start to unfold though, don't spray anymore. It usually helps tremendously! Unless! you have a white or very pink rose (your Sweet Afton). Then your damage may be just a little more. But it cuts down on the damage quite a bit. You've seen my Gemini, they look great! even though they get nothing but that Hot Wax Pepper Spray.

Something cool happened today. I was standing at the back glass screen door watching our hummingbirds feed from the feeder, which is about 10-12 ft away.

The little bugger flew right up to the glass back door and scared me to death...LOL
He did that about 6 times, he would hover only inches from the back door and just look at me...LOL

Then, I realized something, I was drinking milk from a bright red cup...LOL

JIM

I never knew we had a bat problem in the United States.
Some type of fungus is killing them. We have had a family of bats living on our back porch since 2007. I'll try and get a pic sometime. Once in awhile they hang on the back porch or just sit there...LOL...They have never bothered us, so, I let them be.
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BAT ARTICLE:

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/vermont/files/bats_timesargus_06_05_09.pdf

your hummingbird conjures up the image of a ruby-throated hummingbird searching for its ruby colored drink-- it's associating your drink with its ruby-colored feeder, lol!

About the bats, poor bats... Tons of girlies think they're ugly but I think they look like tiny mice with webbed wings. It is interesting that the article also says that the bats' immune system and ability to feed is also affected by pesticides.

Yea, I seen that in the bat article about pesticides. Just think if there were no bats, we would be plagued with insects and disease. The human race would then become in trouble. Bees and bats are very much needed.
So, are worms.

JIM

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I was going through my posts and missed explaining something back in July.
I ordered (2) Sweet Aftons (2) Courageous (1) Precious Platinum from Heirloom and they were delivered and planted on May 15th 2009.

Then, I discovered this forum and seen pics of all those different types of roses people were putting in threads.

So, I dug up (1) Sweet Afton (1) Courageous (1) Precious Platinum. The sweet afton and courageous went to my sisters house to be planted and I gave my friend Bob the Precious Platinum to plant for himself and his mother who is ill.

So, WE have (1) sweet afton (1) courageous (1) Older Precious Platinum and of course the potted miniature (Bonfire).

Next Spring we will plant a few more roses, all different ones this time...LOL... and possibly will pot a few more roses.

JIM

Another thing I have left out is that my wife has severe MS (Multiple sclerosis) amoung other illnesses, so, she can not actively take part in caring for our roses or plants outside. She is 48 years old and has had this disease for over 7 years now. Things became stable for awhile, but, now getting worse again. Please say a prayer for her. (Sue).

JIM

oh, no, Jim! I am very sad to read about this. Many hugs to you and Sue. I didn't realize she had MS. What a trooper she is! Seven years' illness...I am keeping many prayers for her. And I truly hope that again her fighting spirit and health will again make another successful comeback...If I am lucky enough to get another full and abundant rose blooms from Gemini I'll dedicate that to Sue and Rosemeadow. To have MS starting at only 41 years is a very sad thing. I just wish I had Boxofrox's gorgeous displays, then I could do my bouquet well wishes right away!

Jim, I too have had 2 by 2 by 2's lol! 2 Lincolns, 2 Special Occasion Roses and next year 2 Sutter's Gold. I may call up RU and try to make a substitute. I haven't decided yet. Also RU has Lady Jane Grey for just $4!!! I've seen pictures of it and it looks so pretty. I saw it on sale and was soooo tempted.

serenasyh, I seen your old post on the main rose forum about Heirloom roses...LOL...Things got heated on that thread...LOL...Someone brought it to the top, I posted pics in it...LOL... Funny how some people have trouble and some don't... Guess that's life though.

HERES A PIC OF THE SUN HIDING BEHIND A CLOUD AND GIVING IT A COOL OUTLINE.

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THEN, THE SUN CAME OUT AND BLINDED ME...LOL

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THIS IS MY SON MIKES HOCKEY TEAM. HE IS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE BACK ROW. 3RD FROM LEFT OR RIGHT SIDE. HE WILL BE STARTING HIS 2ND YEAR OF COLLEGE THIS MONTH.

hee-hee, well that thread was a bit embarrassing and man I was shocked that it got brought back up! sheesh! I was a newbie at the time and I was pretty furious when I received my sick baby band; all my baby Heirloom leaves ended up dropping right off and the band was in dying condition. Under normal conditions, the band would not have made it, and indeed to this day I believe it would not have survived had I not babied it so carefully with that Gardenville Sea tea week after week. But! what I should have realized at the time is that a nursery can make a mistake-we are all human and are capable of making an error; and when one's rose finally lives to flourish, that makes up for all the struggles and frustrations. On the other hand, I feel that Heirloom's bands are too small compared to Vintage bands. I've seen Vintage bands and I like how they look--they are very healthy and have got several leaves on them unlike the miniscule bands I received so few leaves! and the leaves were tiny, tiny! Your bands were giant skyscrapers compared to the ones I received. If I were to order bands I'd order from Vintage. But those who've had success like you, Heirloom then is a good vendor. The end product is what counts.

Man, that sun really blazed a trail. Your son is growing up to be a handsome young man! I wish and wish I had kids, but it's too late for me now it looks like. We've already been trying for over a year now. But at least there's my fur baby Eluane.

Keep me updated on how Sue is doing. When will be her next checkup?

Don't sweat it with the Heirloom article...LOL...I've read the same type of comments on Daves Garden reviews about Heirloom with the very small bands that should not of been shipped out.

Not sure what you bought from them, but, if they like there planting area (soil/sun/rose care), they will reach mature size in the 3rd season.

The Heirloom Roses I gave my sister are not growing well, so, they are lacking something. Could be sun,soil, or rose care... I'd vote for the latter...LOL

My friend Bobs are growing real good.

We are waiting for my wifes doctor to call today. After things get set-up, home nursing will come for 1 week and give her treatments through an IV. Takes a couple hours each day.

JIM

serenasyh, here's that damage to our roses I was talking about.

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Opened up the outer rose petal and found little tiny worm like creatures crawling around...LOL

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My friend is going to take a sample of this insect over to Penn State Unv. tomorrow to see what it is and what can be done to control it.
These little worm things have wiped out all 12 of our rose blooms on Precious Platinum and 4 blooms on Sweet afton.

Next year i'll start out using hot pepper spray on the closed blooms and see if it helps, then go from there.
Our poor blooms :(

JIM

Jim get Safer's insecticidal soap and they will die! they're much easier to treat than thrips, because thrips will fly away. Those buggers should die immediately when insecticidal soap is applied to them. Soft bodied larvae like what you've got die immediately with those kinds of applications.

My heirloom roses: one was 3" with eight tiny yellowed leaves about the size of 1/2 a penny and a yellow stem, and the other was 5", had a healthy green stem, and had 5 healthy leaves on it. Both were my Special Occasion Roses. The Gardenville Sea Tea and the Potting soil with Rosetone helped them to be the healthy plants that they are now. Sometimes when a plant is weak you can't plant them into the ground straightaway as Heirloom's instructions specify. You just have to baby them before transplanting. Before it's too late tell your sister to make sure her baby roses have very moist soil with a super dilute solution of watered down DrammaticK. Maybe lend her a small bottle (pour out some into one of those tiny juice bottles). Your sister's roses are undergoing transplant shock right now, it's nothing to do with rose care I believe but the condition of the roots when re-planted. Younger plants usually have more problems with being re-planted. I think your DrammaticK has the same dosage as my Gardenville Sea Tea. Mine is 4TBS. per gallon (2 oz.) What she needs to do is put a teaspoon of Drammatic in a gallon and drench the soil around it. Keep the soil very moist but not soggy and feed any excess to a different plant. Moisture helps bathe and replenish the traumatized roots. Again, your sister will need to use her observation and instinct with her new roses. Usually the dilute Drammatic K needs to be continued for about 2 weeks until the plant re-establishes itself, then regular feedings can be resumed.

Jim, I am praying and wishing for a very successful treatment for your wife Sue. Does the IV treatment last just for that 7 days' time? What medication are they giving her? I wish my brother could help but his specialty is actually in a completely different field. He graduated from Harvard Medical School, undergraduate was at Stanford.

Today I looked at the Mayo Clinic site and saw this about MS treatment... My guess is that she has Secondary-progressive MS (SPMS)? is this right?

treatments for multiple sclerosis and other information tabs

Again, many hugs and prayers for you and Sue. I am keeping my fingers triple crossed and Ellie too will be keeping her puppy paws crossed for you too!

I'm alittle upset with my sister...LOL...Went down there today since really hot weather has set in here. 90 degrees with very high humidity.
Her roses looked awful, just awful! After I scolded her...LOL...I gave them a deep watering and then I spread some mulch around them to keep them moist.
Our last fertilizer date here is Aug 15th, so, I held off on that. Plus, they needed water bad. Can't apply fertilizer on those roses anyhow in the shape they are in. I did add some sea magic to the water though...lol
The roses have been neglected! Pure and simple!

My friend Bobs transplant I gave him is growing and blooming like crazy...LOL

My wife gets treatments of steroids when this occurs. It brings her out of it usually.