Black Spot on My Roses

August 14th, 2007

Black Spot on a Rose LeafI’m no stranger to fungal infections on roses, it seems every year in late summer I get powdery mildew, it usually doesn’t cause too big a problem though and does hit all my roses.

This year, I’ve not been so lucky. I had a massive attack of black spot that affected almost every rose bush I had. I tried to take the high road and not use a product to combat it hoping the roses would be fine, but finally I had to take action. You see a few of my roses were at death’s door, I’m talking near total leaf drop and only a handful of (infected) leaves left.

I have some Daconil (topical fungicide) anyways, and I was trying to treat it with that, but it just wasn’t working.

So I went to the store and bought some Bayer Advanced All-in-One Rose & Flower Care which includes a systemic fungicide, in addition to some other stuff.

I bought it, I used it, the roses almost immediately (the next day) started looking chipper, and now, a week and a half later I’ve got new blossoms on plants that I thought were terminal. So consider this a glowing product recommendation.

Also, despite close proximity and infected bushes on all sides, two of my roses escaped the fungus, does this mean they’re immune? I don’t know, but it would seem they are atleast resistance to the strain of black spot I got. The first is “The McCartney Rose” which is a pink hybrid tea, the other is called “Eden” and is an old fashioned climber.

Now, for those reading this blog post, wondering how to prevent black spot and other fungal diseases, you’re supposed to practice the following techniques:

Never water the foliage, only the root zone.
Prune the plant to allow good air circulation.
Pick all all debris around the plant base.

I do 1 and 2, 3 not so much, but even if you do all of these things, it is said that if you grow hybrid roses, you will get fungal diseases, they’re just that susceptible. So don’t feel bad if it happens to you.

One Response to “Black Spot on My Roses”

  1. v. Morleand  Says:

    I also use the Bayer product. with the humidity here in NW FL we don’t have to water at night to get blackspot……………….or any other fungis, the humidity handles that for us.

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