I do not see any signs of RRD, I also think your plants are not far enough along to tell. Please post pics a few weeks later if you are still suspicious, but for now I’d say the plant is OK. I can understand your concern, I used to live in city where RRD was rampant, I looked for it every single day.

Thanks for the feedback Ben - you've been through this so I appreciate the insights. They're another week or two into growth after this so I'll check on the growth and get more photos posted. It seemed like when it was definitely RRD in the fall, that the growth started out gnarly in the spring, got better in the summer then was truly aberrant in the fall.

Still as I say, I'm no longer objective. I appreciate the feedback from you folks!

Cynthia

Cynthia, Pillar Extraordinaire of the Roses Forum, how my heart goes out to you. I want to say the right thing that would give you relief, if not freedom from the RRD dilemma you have so bravely faced. What is staring me in the face is that in spite of the valiant irradication you undertook, there is no guarantee that RRD will no rear its ugly head in your garden again.

All you can do is be vigilant, but please train your mind to not obsess... just go gently and relaxed with flow of growing our marvelous love of growing roses. Take it easy, stand back and peacefully let things unfold, good or bad, because along with the good, bad will surely follow.

We are at the front line in the battle against RRD, an enemy so wickedly sly in its destructive behavior to seem almost to become a personal foe. Don't let RRD overwhelm you. Try to detach yourself emotionally from the situation, relax, do what has to be done on a day by day basis and place yourself above the circumstances.

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

I think it is too soon to tell if the stems you photographed for us are RRD infected. I would isolate the suspected bushes, give all the roses a regimen of a good miticide, and unwind your thoughts, taking things as they come, going with the flow. There are things beyond our control that we should relax and let God intervene, and see what happens next.

Moses

They look normal to me.

Cynthia, I know you've been through the grinder with RRD, but please, calm down, lol. I don't see anything that on its own points to RRD. IF the incidence of close intenodes were caused by RRD, every internode ABOVE that would also be affected, and yet they seem to be normally spaced. Those multiple sprouts are coming at the base of a twig THAT HAS BEEN PRUNED. Pruning causes dormant buds to sprout. That's one of the main reasons we prune! I could be wrong, and it may be riddled with RRD, but until it shows THREE, INDISPUTABLE symptoms, do not panic. Three.Indisputable.Symptoms. Remember that.

And until it fully leafs out, you're not going to see three, even IF the two things you are worried about truly are symptoms. So grab a cup of tea and a good book, and WAIT.

They look normal to me but it would be good to keep an eye on them. Cynthia, I have emailed you at the email you gave me and it must not have gone through. You can private message me through GW if needed. I have three plants for you and if I don't hear from you about when to ship, etc., I will have to do something else with them.

Very good topic. You’ve identified an interesting behavioral phenomenon. I was aware of how my own RRD judgements were altered in the weeks and months after my first case a few years ago. I bet many here have been similarly influenced.

I agree with the general consensus. They look normal, but keep ane eye on them.

You are all such wonderful, knowledgeable, caring rose friends! Please accept a virtual hug from me for your thoughtful and helpful advice. I'm extra glad that the advice was a positive reaction about not being RRD, but I would have been happy simply to know how to handle this.

What helps me the most is the factual information to help me understand the science of the growth process. I have made a file of BenT's & FigInsanity's wonderfully simple 3 judgments for RRD, but since those are judgments they have natural elements of human error. After a while everything looks abnormal or excessive (or preliminary leading up to excessive), and its hard to get a handle. Rifls - nice to know it's not just me getting lost in judgments. As Ben says, I'll need to check for it every day, but it helps to have a non-human fact metric for what makes a border between OK and not OK in early stages.

Ann, your incredibly clear and informed statements about bud growth and canes were exactly what I needed. I knew that buds could come back from the same node if one was snapped off, but I'd never noticed that multiples could grow at the same time till I started being extra vigilant. Looking for this pattern repeating up the canes would be what's behind the "witch's broom" growth of RRD.

And the kinky canes being that one side is growing faster than the other now makes sense to me. So many of the kinky canes are on robust shrubs that have rapid growth, vs. the long straight growth of HTs that (in my zone) put on gradual growth. Watching prickles and abnormality that moves down rather than up is a good metric to keep an eye on too.

Erasmus, thanks for your insights as someone who has extra reasons to be vigilant about RRD in many kinds of roses. I got your email and responded, with a note about my usual email. We can correspond from there.

John, your reminder to breathe and have a cup of tea (non caffeinated I presume) is very timely. I'm trying to stay ahead of ID of RRD so it never gets away from me again, but you sent very good reminders that I can't be premature. Ah yes, of course pruning promotes growth farther down the cane - remembering the candelabra effect which has to be the multiple canes from a pruned spot. Again, how useful is fact-based reasoning to settle anxiety. Ahhhhhh. huhhhhhh - breathing now...

I appreciate you chiming in with clear and positive judgments Sheila & Rosefolly. Your exquisite skills in rose growing help with years of experience making these kinds of decisions.

And Moses, dear Moses - you are incredibly sweet as always and way too complementary for reality. I'm in and out of this forum way too much to be a pillar, but I'm happy to be a basal cane like everyone else here on GW roses. You give a wonderful testament to balancing faith in ourselves, God's nature, and the process of rose growing, and that's a terrific reminder of what's important. I spent too long previously believing "it looks weird but it'll be OK" for my favorite roses, only to watch gradual and indisputable RRD develop and last for years on Edgar Degas, Savoy Hotel, Jack's Wish, Forever Rose, and all the rest. I've got to find a new balance where that doesn't happen again.

I have no doubt that I removed some roses in the Great RRD Purge of March 2023 that didn't have RRD, and I mentioned that at the time. Grandmother's Hat never showed a smidgen of symptom, but it was near a Grand Central of RRD infections including a huge Madame Alfred Carriere. My dearly beloved Heart 'n' Soul might not have been infected, but it was chafed on all sides by clearly infected (and also dearly beloved) Erfordia and Firebird Citiscape. I just couldn't risk leaving a Typhoid Mary of infection after all the others. All three of those latter roses are on my irreplaceable roses list that I'll post tonight (I promise - I tried a few days ago but Houzz didn't post it).

Again, many many thanks for chiming in so readily and knowledgeably. You are a great treasure in this wonderful rose community.

Cynthia