I would be cutting anything like that down to the base immediately and watching it like a hawk. Have you sprayed any round-up Or has a neighbor sprayed Recently questioned? It doesn't exactly have that look of round-up though..

@Vaporvac Z6-OhioRiverValley.

There has been no Roundup sprayed to my knowledge but I cannot be certain. I just went outside and cut off the branch as you suggested. I did cut the entire branch but here is a closer look at the area of concern.

Thanks!

ilikefriday, those canes really remind me of when my Queen Elizabeth had RRD many years ago. The canes were soft and less dense than normal canes, grew very fast, and had lots of irregular thorns and elongated leaves. My gut says it's definitely RRD.

That sure does look like the typical symptoms of RRD, I’m sorry to say. If it’s not some especially valuable variety, I’d dig it out and dispose of it.

@windowsill_gardener

@BenT

Thanks. If it is RRD and I dig it out is it ok to immediately plant something different in that spot that is not a rose?

I might wake a Wait Wait a week or 2But probably no reason. You can plant a rose there also unless you know where the rose rose is coming from and it's a particularly bad spot for it. If you are digging it out I might suggest sprain it 1st with To mobilize the mites Try not to carry it Open castle roses. Sorry

Yes, you should be fine to immediately plant anything that is not a rose. If you clean up the area , you are pretty safe even to plant another rose after a few months.

That looks like classic Rose Rosette Disease. Act fast.

Carefully, slowly, and gently cut small branches of the infected bush, starting at its top, and place then into a heavy duty plastic bag right there next to the bush. Make sure the bag can contain all the bush's branches easily and is heavy duty enough not to rip or tear. As you work your way down the bush making as little disturbance of branches as possible you will reach the crown of the bush with the lowest branches removed, make sure they are flush cut with the crown.

After you have removed all the bush's above ground growth to the collection bag, dig up the roots/all below ground parts of the bush that you can reasonably dig up, and place in the collection bag. Double bag the bush if needs be, seal it tightly, place it in household trash to be removed by your sanitation workers.

I've had RRD, and I know the heart break you are going through. It killed a magnificent, venerable (to me), Lady Ashe, climbing HT - Austin look alike with none of the Austin faults. The old girl spanned about 12' atop a 4' high chain link fence. Her flowers were cast iron, bolt upright, and great for cutting during the second flush where laterals would reach 30"+ with single blooms. The first flush had shorter laterals 12", with 3-4 blooms per cluster.

That same year, 2022, a venerable, 12 yr. old Quietness got hit along with Lady Ashe, right near her, a bush removed. These were the only RRD infected bushes then, and none since,,which will make 2 yrs. disease free come this fall, Lord willing.

I have hunches about how I got RRD, never having had it before, but nothing conclusive.

BTW, I would wait until spring to plant a new rose in the spot where your diseased bush grew.

Again, sorry for your having such troubles, but in a way, you are truly initiated into being a more knowledgeable rosarian.

Moses

“two branches“ raises liklihood it’s systemic, and thus dampens hope that vaporvac’s approach might salvage the rose. But it all depends …

Too bad there’s no photo of the 2 branches in situ, clearly demonstrating their origins, and relationship to each other.

And if the cuts are not made flush with the crown, Moses …..?

It may be harder to dig out, being a six year old rose, and the canes left attached to the crown, even if short, may puncture the collection bag. Heavy duty is often not that, heavy duty. When the bag is closed tightly, you don't want mites searching for an exit through even a small puncture hole. Mites can crawl considerable distances as well as be carried in air currents. Matt, of High Country, told me that the Eriophyid mite that infects roses with RRD over winters on the soil below rose bushes, so they know how to get around on terra firma as well as aura.

When I discovered that one of my Quietness bushes was infected it was late summer and I got rid of it immediately. Come late fall, a remote small lateral on my Lady Ashe showed RRD symptoms. I removed it and toyed with the chance that the virus was possibly just localized.

However, it being fall, all the sap had proceeded in a root ward direction and probably had infected the entire bush. So even though the symptomatic growth was at least 8' distance from the trunk' I severed all growth that emerged from the 'trunk' flush to it, leaving a trunk, 8" high above soil level, full of cut scars, and it itself was 4" in diameter. Remember Lady Ashe was a pretty large climber at her death.

All the severed branches were removed the following spring, and as predicted, heavily symptomatic RRD shoots emerged from the trunk of Lady Ashe, just about from ground level....what under normal circumstances would have been vigorous basal canes. I immediately sprayed the diseased growth with weed killer, and within days it was all dead.

(to be continued tomorrow, due to go food shopping in the morning, must go to bed!)

Back.....

In conclusion, there is more to gain by removing an infected bush than by attempting to 'save,' it through judicious pruning.

Moses

It amazes me how knowledgeable some of you are. Three years ago I posted a photo of what was determined to be new growth. I went back and compared that photo to the one I took today. There are lots of differences...

I will take some time to properly remove the bush this weekend.

I really appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. It will be heartbreaking to remove the bush.