Thank you, Thornton, I value your input. Nematodes hadn't crossed my mind, I'll do some looking into that. I know they are present in NorCal soil as it is a consideration when choosing a rootstock for grapes, but I'm not sure what their presence is here in San Francisco. This rose came looking like that last week, luckily I snapped a picture before I planted it, and was able to identify which of the six to dig up and get a better picture today.

A downside of the internet, self-diagnosing issues.

Nematodes are everywhere in California
Carla in Sac

This is the picture that made me question if it was crown gall.

Here's a band with severe crown gall I got from RVR last spring for comparison.

My goodness! I have never seen a band like that. I hope they gave you a healthy replacement.

They did eventually but no apology or communication except to just send the refund after several email inquiries and photos sent. I hear they have more help now, so hopefully it will all get better over there.

Update: the horticulturist for Edmunds believes it is crown gall and they are shipping new plants. It's unfortunate, but I appreciate they are trying to make the situation right.

Nick,

Crown gall with all those root nodes? What do you think?

Thorntorn

Thornton,

I don't have enough experience with this to know, but I'd guess they are acting more out of an abundance of caution than anything. I agree those nodes going down the roots seem to weigh heavier towards nematodes damage. Most of the pictures I found on crown gall look similar to sultry's, and the nematode pictures appear to have damage on most of the root vs being concentrated on one side. Having said that, I don't know the length of exposure or size of the infestation, I assume the pictures online aren't showing mild cases of either. To my novice eyes, this plant looks own root, but Edmunds’ doesn’t specifically list it as such. It would be interesting to know how many plants get destroyed by CA growers before they are sent to the suppliers due to nematode damage though. I suspect the amount isn't high enough to make it cost-prohibitive to continue using non-nematode resistant rootstock in CA.
Thank you all again for your comments, I genuinely appreciate your help!

In reading on Crown Gall, apparently nematodes can spread CG.

I order some roses from Edmunds for spring shipping this year. Can you all tell me if I should worry about nematodes infested rootstock like shown above planted in my garden zone 6 in PA? Should I ask for replacement if I receive plants like shown above?

You might want to send that sample to your university plant pathology department for testing. I had a rose from Edmunds in Wisconsin that got crown gall, sent to the lab for testing and after digging out I had to wait 3 years before planting there. Just an option. I’m sorry you received it in that condition.

Karen,

This experience hasn’t frightened me away from Edmunds’, I’d order from them again. I‘m a bit of a newbie with roses, but more than anything, I now know going forward to give the roots a good look over before planting it. I wasn’t trying to scare people away from them.

Thanks, Nick! I just wonder if nematodes survive and spread in my zone and clay soil conditions..,

I’m not an expert, but I would venture to guess you don’t need to worry about getting nematodes from a vendor. I don’t know a lot about them, but they are more of an issue in sandy soil. If your new plants don’t have gals or wart looking growths on the roots, they should be fine. The gals on mine were a bit smaller than the size of a pencil eraser to give you an idea. Not all nematodes are bad, there are some beneficial ones too.

The beneficial nematodes need soil temp range 42 F-95 F. I wanted to use them for midge control before, but it could cost too much just for one season. They won’t make through the winter up north.

Summers oh, I have read in at least one scientific article that the nematodes have very little effect so be glad you did not waste your money.

Thanks Vap. I wish there is an organic way for midge control. The Canadian Niagara parkway rose garden used it one year to get some blooms back, I think they have government support. I have to revisit there this spring to find out what they are using now. They can’t use chemicals over there.

There is an organic way for midge control which I have found very effective. Fasten blue (or any color) Solo cups to a stake or 2-3' twig coated inside and out with vegetable oil. Aerosol is convenient but I dunk them for the sake of the environment. Midges are attracted to it, get stuck and die.

Cups can be recoated from time to time. Search 'blue cup' on this site for older posts on this subject.

Thanks barbarag for mentioning about cups. I can’t use cups since I have so many roses, and they make the landscaping looks bad, I’d have over thousand cups in the yard. :-)

Yes, Barbara, and landscape fabric also works well from experience, but limits underplantings. I don't find that it looks so bad and it really helped knock back the numbers, but must be used every year at least in the spring to early summer as a pre-emergent and then to prevent any successful maggots from pupating in the soil. Fall use can also be helpful in keeping them from making their winter cocoons.

Summers, I'm going to be talking to a couple of folks on Monday, hopefully about studies with Spinosad and another low-impact spray that's suitable for food crops until the day of harvest and does not affect bees. I'll report back if there is anything useful to mention.

Thanks Vap. Good luck with the testing. I have tried soaking mosquito dunks in water, and then spraying the roses with it. It didn’t work.

Bumping this up, because I got a rose from Regan's that looks very similar.

I'm wondering if I should destroy the roses it came packaged with as well. Any advice?

I wish I could be of help ac91z6, but I'm rather clueless when it comes to this topic. The first rose Edmunds sent me a rep told me their horticulturist believed it to be crown gall and to destroy the plant. They shipped new plants, and the new rose had similar roots to the first, I sent them pictures of the new one, and this time their horticulturist called me and told me this was normal for Francis Meilland's roots, and to not worry about planting the rose. I am not a horticulturist, so I took his word at face value and planted the rose. I'm not entirely naive, and created a paper trail with them should I have a problem down the road given the conflicting information they gave me. Out of the 80+ roses I've planted in the past three years, FM is the only one with roots that looked like that. My advice would be to reach out to Regan, offer to send them pictures and see what they say.

I sent them an email yesterday using their site's contact form; I'll try calling on Monday as well. I meant to call Thursday, and then yesterday, but I got busy and forgot until after hours. Doh!

At the very least they need to know which supplier they need to be wary of.

Called Regan's today (internet went out yesterday and I didn't have their number!) and they're refunding me for 'Cherry Frost'. They're sending me an email to send them a picture of the plant, and then they'll contact the grower. They said it might be Monday before they hear back about whether it's safe to plant the other two.

For now, I'll get them into some nursery pots (because they've already been in the soaking bucket several days!) and my poor, much anticipated 'Cherry Frost' goes into the trash.

Hard to "like" that one ac91. : -((

Why not pot it up and see what they say?

Several roots on 'Cherry Frost' are wrapped around each other - I have doubts that it would be a good specimen even if it isn't nematodes. I see where the name 'root knot' came from! I'll try to post a pic when I get home, but there's definitely something wrong with it. If it is nematodes I'd have to trash the soil it goes in too, and with stay-at-home orders I don't know when I'll be able to get more.

On the (slightly) bright side, that's one less hole I HAVE to dig this year! And if I end up having to demote 'Lady of Shalott' from climber to shrub, I'll be moving her from that tower and I'll have to think of a different combo anyway. This is year three, so we'll see! Hopefully this fall/next year more vendors will have 'Cherry Frost', just in case there's an issue with this particular grower's fields.

Edited for comments since Houzz is uzzlezz when posting from a tablet...

Here's a better pic than the ones I had