If you don't want to use a insecticide, DON'T USE BAYER 3 in 1!. Bayer makes many other products, as do other companies. Some of them must be only fungicides, and made for use as drenches. I would go to the largest or most knowlegeable nursery in your area and ask for advice.

Jackie

I’ve had a hard time finding any Bayer products that aren’t combo products. I know they do make them, but no one seems to carry them locally. Since you mentioned that your problem is with several roses, maybe you could try a fungicide spray first. I don’t get blackspot, but a couple of my roses are just covered with powdery mildew. I’ve tried about everything except spraying to no avail. I just broke down an bought some “Spectracide Immunox” yesterday. I’m going to try it out today. I don’t know how well it works yet, but it does seem to be “safer” than many other product out there. Lisa

I have a half dozen different fungicides leftover from the days when I did spray. I would spray if I had any leaves TO spray which is why I wanted any opinions on using the fungicide as a soil drench. I guess I will try it and hope for the best.

Ikaye,

Sorry for not staying on target and answering your question.

I would not use a foliar fungicide as a soil drench, unless there are label instructions to do so. Too many unknown consequences may occur, particularly since it is not known how much solution to use per bush and how many tablespoons per gallon (solution strength), to make. You may do more harm than good.

Fungicides are often broad spectrum in nature. The beneficial fungi in your soil could be adversely affected by a soil drench. The fungicide in the Bayer product is in the same class, an -ole, as athlete's foot fungicide.

Moses

"Aspergillus fumigatus is the mainly leading cause of invasive aspergillosis associated with significant morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. However, triazole resistance in A. fumigatus has increased dramatically throughout the world nowadays. The emergence of triazole resistance has aroused growing concern."

" This strongly implies that conventional application of tebuconazole for plant protection will cause resistance of A. fumigatus to triazole medicals in agricultural soils."

See:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971833211X

You can still spray a fungicide if you don't have leaves (believe me), There are blackspot spores on the canes, and you want to get the protection on the emerging leaves.

The other problem with using fungicides as a soil drench is that it takes time for the product to be taken up into the plant and become effective (if at all), as much as 6 weeks depending on the size of the plant.

Ikaye,

Don't beat yourself up for your black spot infestation. Even diligent rose gardeners get behind the game and have black spot outbreaks. Almost every year I drop the black spot battle ball, and boy do I have one excuse after another for doing so. I mortify myself for spraying faithfully so long, and suddenly, oops!, a lapse, and all that faithfulness and the spotless foliage goes spotty overnight.

Hey, we're only human. Just get back onto the saddle and move on.

In the mean time, I hope you find a successful approach to your BS issues.

We are living in a time that is changing regarding rose gardening and its disease issues, a change for the better. It started with the shrub roses, the Knock Outs, and is slowly moving into the choice hybrid teas, grandifloras, and floribundas. Minis and minifloras are way behind the new trend in black spot immunity. These two classes torture me with their floral beauty, but with their associated extreme disease issues.

I am now starting to think differently, and plan to concentrate my future rose purchases to no-spray roses, like the ADR winners, which are just about black spot free. An added bonus with ADR winners is that many are winter hardy for me without protection.

I may end up with only a handful of black spot free varieties, but with multiples of each of them. In a way, that scenario looks better and better to me, because I hate spraying for black spot. It takes a chunk of the joy out of my rose gardening.

Moses

Moses, you are so right: " I hate spraying for black spot. It takes a chunk of the joy out of my rose gardening." I feel the same, and in fact do not spray ANYTHING anymore, as the people at the Bierkreek nursery advise. It's a wearisome,tiresome, exhausting and...well,dangerous job. There are already too many chemicals, poisons, etc. around, about which we can do only a little at a time (presssure on politicians, etc). So many supposedly "safe" products have been revealed to instead be quite deadly (Roundup comes immediately to mind).

What's more, I think that spraying is in a sense ineffective. The roses become dependent on getting their "fix" of fungicide,so how can they ever develop any kind of disease resistance? I do realize that many garden in places with bad fungus issues, of course. In my own garden I do get both BS and PM when the weather is conducive to it and the roses are tiring themselves out by blooming in their spring flush,but I think some are improving in general health over the years as they mature. Some always have issues: Climbing Old Blush, for example, always is practically denuded after it's spring flush. The fact is that it never goes completely dormant in my climate; it keeps leaves all winter usually, so by the time the spring flush is finishing, the plant is tired and needs to rest. But I love it too much to get rid of it (I have four!). I hope some days to grow, say, clematis montana up through them,so the clematis can "cover" for them when they are going through their ghastly phase.

I used Bayer 3 in 1 , granules and not the drench for the first time this summer while I was away on vacation and couldn't spray . summer is our rainy season in FL , so a drench wouldn't have worked . over all , Black Spot was in control with only a few roses partially defoliated .

Please. Don't use a product except as instructed on the label. If you kill all the microorganisms in your soil you may find that it is so damaged that fertilizers will not break down properly, not to mention eliminating earthworms and other beneficials.

The best way to deal with blackspot in the garden is to eliminate susceptible varieties. Takes time and is expensive, but so worth it.

I feel strongly that it is wrong to pollute/destroy the environment for the sake of pretty flowers, even roses.

I’ve got agree with Barbara here. Never a good time to use a soil drench; it will kill millions of microorganisms that take a long time to build back up. Protecting your “microherd” will go much further to make your plants more naturally resistant than any chemicals (synthetic or organic) could. Removing diseased material and heavy mulch can make a big difference in soil and plant health. :-)

I, too, agree completely with Barbara: "I feel strongly that it is wrong to pollute/destroy the environment for the sake of pretty flowers, even roses."

Thanks for all your comments. I'm not sure that using a soil drench once or twice a season only on affected roses would be any different than 'spraying to the point of run off' every 10-14 days over 3-4 months on the entire garden. But advice well taken.

I feel that the concept of dead soil is worth reading about. Here is one link:

http://ozturners.com.au/podcast-dr-elaine-ingham-talks-soil-microbiology-dead-soil-dirt/

Of course Google will locate many others.

WHICH FUNGICIDES WOULD YOU RECOMEND TO PREVENT ROOT ROT ON HEALTHY CHINESE ELM IN PHOENIX, AZ WITH 100+ TEMPS?

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=DRY TEMPS