ROSES

jolatacqce

Hi all,my roses have been destroyed with blackspot,mildew and rust,even though,I have been spraying them with 'roseclear'.I'v removed all the affected foilage from the bushes and raked up and binned all the fallen leaves.I'v read somewhere,that it's good to soak the soil around the bushes with Jeyes Fluid, to kill any spores which may be in the soil.Now my question to the more knowledgable gardeners on this forum:- Will the Jeyes Fluid do any harm to the Tulip and Daffodil bulbs which are planted around the base and between the roses? Thanking you in anticipation,Jolatacqce.

moceri

It is recommended that roses should only be sprayed with Jeyes fluid during the dormant season. The spray will help control spores over-wintering in the soil. Bulbs are not damaged.

Blackspot will rarely kill a rose bush.

Some gardeners use baking soda solution sprayed at weekly intervals.

This summer has been exceptionally wet; Blackspot & mildew are rife.

jolatacqce

Thank you for reply,I'll wait 'till Nov-Dec.,would you happen to know the mixture ratio of jeyes to water,and also the baking soda solution?

deelite

I'm not a gardener but when I bought my house years ago there was a beautiful Rose bush / tree in the front garden - my next door neighbour said that every evening previous owner used to pour dishwater over the roses - water and washing up liquid. My father now puts water and washing up liquid in a spray type bottle and his roses are beautiful - he doesn't use any special treatment. Hope this might help.

Oldtree

It always struck me as strange that people would apply Jeyes fluid to plants or soil as it is a strong general garden disinfectant.

http://www.jeyes.com/en-gb/our-products/jeyes-fluid/

I have seen a vegi garden where the owner was enthusiastic about using Jeyes and the soil was dead, merely a growing medium.

To my mind soil is a living organism full of insects, microbes, fungi, etc and an integral part of the garden that is necessary to keep alive and healthy and (as regards my vegi patch) well fed on compost and chicken manure, with the occasional worm picked up off the tarmac when its wet and given a new home.

I read a report some years ago that when a field had been poached (animals left on it when wet and their hoofs sink into the soil destroying the texture and structure of that soil) nothing was effective in recovering the structure and texture of the soil other than worm action and weathering, and that took 15 years.

As mentioned baking soda with a drop of liquid soap may help, i would add a drop of liquid seaweed to aid the plants defences with micronutrients. But if your garden is very prone then disease resistant roses or older varities is the way to go.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=270

Spores are bound to blow in on wind-blown rain from elsewhere, so once you start with chemicals you would have to continue to spray.

jolatacqce

Oldtree,I take it you are not a fan of using Jeyes fluid in the garden,and to be honest I thought the advice to use it strange,for all the reasons you mentioned in your post.However,after spending a lot of time and energy spraying and removing the affected leaves , feeding with farmyard manure,last year,I now find they are twice as bad this year,(wet weather).This is why I was considering the Jeyes, I'm rather desperate at this stage. Thank you for all the advice, Jolatacqce.

Oldtree

I try to avoid chemicals or any intervention unless absolutly necessary. To be honest all I use a bit of roundup on creeping nettles close to the path as the kids can get stung badly (tried pulling it up for years but wasnt effective), and generally let the plants get on with it diseases and all. I look at things like blackspot as asthetic damage and don't worry about it.

If spraying a specific blackspot spray didnt work then as suggested on the RHS site you caould use different sprays in a sequence, but if the neighbours have blackspot then there is no real way of spraying your way out of it, then on to resistant plants in a different location in your garden.

If your plant is badly affected then maby time to look at it as a planting opportunity and to plant somthing else, not a rose.

jolatacqce

@ Oldtree,thank you again,I started about 40 yrs.ago with a couple doz.bushes,and built up to approx.100,buying the most disease resistant and taking cuttings as the yrs.rolled by.Now I can't see myself planting anything other than roses,I'll just have to put it down to the weather, (we always blame the weather),TOO HOT,TOO COLD,TOO WET OR TOO DRY. I'v a couple of small brls. of seaweed fermenting at the moment,when its ready I'll give them a good spray of it. Thank you again. JOLATACQCE

Oldtree

Better picture of it now, ohoh.... bigger problem than I thought. Your garden must smell devine though.

My favorite rose (along with dog roses)

http://www.rosesuk.com/rose_locator/roses/hybrid_tea_spiral_bud_form/572_barkarole.php

got a few spots on it every year but seems to muster through

Poulgorm

It's been a disastrous year for roses. Simply too wet and not enough sunshine. I have 40 of them and many of them are riddled with fungal infections - some of them have lost almost all their leaves. Funny enough, 3 roses that I bought in ALDI are proving to be the most disease resistant.

Over the years, I have given up on Roseclear etc - I find that make little or no difference. I find that the best option is the blight spray that the farmers use for potatoes - Dithane. Although many farmers have lost the battle with blight on the potatoes this year.

I have heard about the washing-up liquid thing before. Must try it next year. But with 40 roses, there is no hope I will be able to it every evening.

jolatacqce

I had forgotten about the Dithane,I used it some years ago,I'll have to give it ago again,thank you all for the helpful advice,maybe the weather will improve in the coming weeks,and the new shoots will remain disease free,and produce some blooms between now and christmas.

joseph brand

deelite wrote: »

I'm not a gardener but when I bought my house years ago there was a beautiful Rose bush / tree in the front garden - my next door neighbour said that every evening previous owner used to pour dishwater over the roses - water and washing up liquid. My father now puts water and washing up liquid in a spray type bottle and his roses are beautiful - he doesn't use any special treatment. Hope this might help.

Washing up liquid kills greenfly. I don't think it's for mildew or blackspot.

lasvegas100

deelite wrote: »

I'm not a gardener but when I bought my house years ago there was a beautiful Rose bush / tree in the front garden - my next door neighbour said that every evening previous owner used to pour dishwater over the roses - water and washing up liquid. My father now puts water and washing up liquid in a spray type bottle and his roses are beautiful - he doesn't use any special treatment. Hope this might help.

Exactly, I often do like this for my roses. Why can you try the way? I think it make you amazed.

deelite

joseph brand wrote: »

Washing up liquid kills greenfly. I don't think it's for mildew or blackspot.

I just know the fathers roses are lovely and he swears by the washing up liquid maybe his roses never had mildew or black spots to begin with.

Oldtree

Washing up liquid kills insects like aphids, by suffocation, whose sticky sappy residue left onto the leaves is a perfect foundation for all sorts of diseases, cloging up and damaging the leafs mechanisms. Perhaps by using the washing up liquid your father has eliminated this avenue of damage to his roses.

The down side is that it would kill benificial insects too, like ladybirds who eat aphids. Aphids have a two week life cycle and ladybirds have a six week one, so if you start spraying you have to continue ad nausium as the ladybird population will never take off. If you can wait 6 weeks then the ladybird population will take off and eat the aphids with damage declining from then on.

I do not like to kill anything in my garden, everything is a food source for somthing else, but I have 6 special roses and for those first six weeks i keep a close eye on the roses and as the aphids tend to gather at the tip of shoots (the more tender growth) they are easy to squish. They tend to drop off as a protection measure, so squish with one hand in a gentle upwards pinching motion so as not to damage the shoot and have another hand underneath to catch the jumpers. I keep an eye out for most of the summer anyway and about once a week I have a small job in passing.

It is virtually impossible to avoid a wind or rain bourne disease/virus.

Northclare

Armillatox is your best bet for soaking the soil.
It has a lot of uses,we use it on our roses beds sometimes during damp weather.

Rose clear at 200 mls to 10 liters every 2 weeks from May till Sept is as good as anything,as long as its used early in the morning and late in the evening.
It's not good for the bees or the local honey industry lol

Never use armillatox on the plant itself only use it to soak the soil around the rose.

Make sure the bed is weeded first to enable a good penetration of the chemical into the soil.
It won't matter if you hit the stem of the rose but try not to hit the leaves either.

You can also give a summer prune to your roses.

IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO ALWAYS CLEAN YOUR SECETEURS WITH MILTON FLUID AFTER DEADHEADING AS YOU CAN CAUSE CROSS CONTAMINATION FROM A SICK ROSE TO A HEALTHY ROSE

jolatacqce

@ Northclare,will armillatox do any harm to the tulip and daffodil bulbs,which are planted around the roses?

Northclare

I'll be honest with you and tell you I don't know.

Maybe if you Google the manufacturer and find their customer care contact details,and either call them or send an email.

I think that would be your best bet

Elliottsmum79

Just to ask, any recommendation for a natural solution for rust and blackspot? I have some 2 year old climbing roses and David Austen roses and I am very hesistant to use pesticide/roseclear as there are toddler in the house/garden and we try to live as chemical free a life is possible!.....thanks in advance

lazybones32

I've heard some baking soda, diluted in warm water and sprayed/brushed on the leaves is effective against blackspot.