Help DLB, ET AL! Brown spots!

[sunmountain]

So, I admit it I love my rose bushes now...I know, I know...I used to hate the things, but these roses simply have me besotted

If this helps, it has been in the 80's during the day and we've had 1/4in of rain this month. There are brown/black spots on some of the leaves. I've been following the advice to prune right above a five-leaf branch(?), but I've also been pulling off/pruning anything with the spots.
Any more advice?

[Chanley]

This is pretty common for roses. It is called (so aptly) black spot. Gosh who are the intelligent botanists who name this???

It is a fungus. The only solution I can offer is to get a spray. It is pretty hard to keep them from getting this.

I would also try to make sure they are getting enough nutrients and such.

Another handy thing with any fungal problem is to make sure you dont get water on the leaves. When you water your bushes try to only get the base wet, not the plant.


I am sure others will be able to offer more natural solutions.

[sunmountain]

:LOL
Water my bushes? I don't even dust my house!
(maybe I should just pay more attention to them, my house plants are doing great...: )

[dlb]

Hey Sunmountain--

There is a product made by Safer, that is basically just diluted liquid sulfur, You can spray that on the new growth to help prevent the fungus from spreading to it, but the leaves that are already affected are doomed, so it is great that you are removing them.

I don't really always take the time to remove the blackspot, just if I happen to see some affected leaves while I'm picking flowers. Kinda haphazard, like my life . Pretty much I just make sure that my soil is happy, that makes the plants strong enough to survive blackspot, ect... I guess the concern is that a rose bush could be defoliated, and not build up enough energy to get through the winter. But with happy soil, the plants seem to rebound eventually in my garden, just like a very healthy person can fight off a cold without meds and such. And if any of the roses are going to be weak and fussy, they get culled.

Hope that helps, didn't mean to get all preachy soundin' with plant philosophy. Sounds like you are doing a great job!

I am so flattered that you named me as a "rose" person in this post! Cool.

DLB

[sunmountain]

DLB, girl, ya got 175 of the dang things, if you ain't a rose person, who is?

Thanks for the responses, guys. At least I know I'm not doomed