I have been spraying my roses since the late 1980's. I have NEVER had an issue with it. I've been using the Bayer product for several years now. I don't wear a Hass MATT suit but I do wear long pants (most of the time) and a long sleeve shirt with my Bush hat. I use a LOT more then you will end up using (124 bush's). I mix my spray and when I'm finished, I clean everything up. Go inside and take a quick shower and go about my day. Later that evening, if I want I'll cut some roses and bring them inside. Once it is dry, it has absorbed into the foliage and is harmless. Let me make this very clear. I am NOT a purest. I do what is necessary to keep my plants looking good. There are a lot of folks on here that have their own opinions about spraying and you will probably hear them. I look at it like this;

Don't spray and live with what they look like.

Spray and enjoy what they are capable of being.

Dig them up, toss them and grow something else.

I know that sounds hard but when push comes to shove, that is what growing ANYTHING boils down to.

Over the next 10 years there will be a lot of new rose varieties that will be disease free. Until they are proven to me and I enjoy the bush and flower, I'll spray every two weeks.

Thank you Ken!

As long as it doesn't kill me with carcinogens and Lord knows what. I wore gloves and mask but I am always afraid the slightest breeze might redirect those fine droplets towards me.

It's probably mostly psycho-somatic, I am just freaky about chemicals, carcinogens and the like.

At the same time, a rose eaten by Blacks Spot, losing most of its leaves, is no longer functional. t's just that simple. BS is a serious issue in the South-East - the main reason why they are difficult to grow here. That was the reason why I was convinced for a long time that nobody grows roses around here, except those KO-s.

I also remain skeptical about the advice "just buy disease-resistant roses that grow well in your area and you won't have to spray." Yeah right.

I did and they still BS. I don't think there is such a thing as a disease-resistant rose for the South-East. The only one I own that has held out well this summer without spray is Easy Does It.

Then again, it is still a small band in its first season and it could happen in the future.

But this is by far my favorite rose so far. I thought it was Belinda's Dream, but nope - even she BS-ed some. EDI was the only one who didn't budge in the face of BS this summer. It has gorgeous shape and color, a sunset-y mixture of beautiful orange and coral pink that fades to something dreamy; long lasting bloom, lush foliage, excellent disease resistance, at least so far - and all this in the hands of a novice. Apparently it does deserve its name without any compromise in the attractiveness department (unlike the KO-s).

If my potted EDI ever gets to look even 30-40% of below one day, I will declare my undying love.

Otherwise, I must spray. Even if it that means I end up looking like an idiot when I do it, holding my arm out as far away as possible, with my head half-turned, ready to run away any second. LOL.

People mean alot of different things when they say "Bayer". And Bayer changed their branding for garden stuff quite some time ago. No need to remind people about WW2. What is in your product?

It's this one:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NCUW6M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So Tebuconazole is the active ingredient. This is the latest health related scientific paper that I could find in a quick check of Google Scholar:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048357520301668

Well, sure...all of these chemicals are going to do something if contact is maximized.

henry_kuska

32 minutes ago

So Tebuconazole is the active ingredient.

”So”. It’s the end of the world as we know it.

Have you used sulphur? That is what I usually see recommended and used to be commonly used for BS.

I don't spray for black spot mostly because I'm lazy, but I always assumed that the biggest danger of spraying was the likelihood of breathing in aerosolized droplets of the chemicals. On the few occasions I spray spinosad, or lately sedgehammer for my nut sedge invasion, I'm more concerned about masking up than I am anything else. Although I do typically wear pants and sleeves...

I wear a respirator. I always wear pants and long sleeves in the garden for chiggers, mosquitoes and such.