My pink rose has browning petals and none of the blooms will open up. My other roses are perfect. I'm stumped. Please help!

The abundance of rain and lack of sun are probably the culprits. Some roses are more prone to disease than others, and especially those with a high petal count struggle in this cool wet weather. Hopefully it will do better when summer finally arrives.

That's pretty normal. I have them too.

Pale colored roses can suffer from thrip infestations. You need to peel back the petals to see if you can find thrips. They are tiny, about 1/20".

I don't think it's thrips. Most of the roses in my garden look like this after the unexpected days and days of rainfall in May.

That balling and failing to open is typical of the behavior of roses with lots of petals in wet weather here.

Given the wet weather, I'd have to suggest it could also be a fungus starting. There are several that simply looovveee cool, wet weather. Botrytis is the biggest among them.

There are several anti-fungal treatments out there. I'd try one of them as a just-in-case maneuver.

Darrieb said:Given the wet weather, I'd have to suggest it could also be a fungus starting. There are several that simply looovveee cool, wet weather. Botrytis is the biggest among them.

There are several anti-fungal treatments out there. I'd try one of them as a just-in-case maneuver.

Yeah, I saw some fuzzy stuff on a couple of the stems so I hosed them down with neem oil. Seems to have knocked it out on those areas but the blossoms are a loss.

Neem Oil is my go-to whenever I suspect a fungus-amongus. Unfortunately, it won't help save the flowers, but, maybe the rose will give you more soon?

Sulphur over neem-oil for flowers; greet the reward. It'd fix your issue too.

You may want to keep in mind that people in Florida or unknown countries aren't aware of So. Ca. weather patterns or growing.

Personally, before spraying with anything, I would try either:

1. Peeling off the outer petals, and seeing if the buds will then open naturally . . .
2. Or, worst-case, breaking off those buds, and making the rose start over in danker weather.

And have faith that warmer, drier days are ahead -- Even for CA's central coast. (And, yes, I do know these conditions. I am in Camarillo, on the lower end of that climate range -- and I know you've had a lot, LOT more rain than I have had.

See this outdoor photo of rose vendors at the recent Rosalia in Sebastopol, CA:

What I want to know is how you Californians stole our weather, and what ransom do I need to pay to get it back? Triple-digit heat and drought in May is NOT what we're used to.

I am glad you're no longer in drought, though I wish we had some prospect of rain. WU says we might get t-storms, but it was supposed to be on 6/2, then 6/6, and now it's 6/7. I think they're stringing us along, because a 10-day forecast with no chance of water falling from the sky is a source of wonder and despair.

I'll be checking tomorrow to see if our drought is still moderate, or if it will be "upgraded" to severe.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu...

Don't bother with the ransom note; I'm pretty sure I can't pay it. I'll just hope that you'll get tired of our rain, and return it safely.

Virginia

Northern California has gotten a lot of rain this season. Abnormal amounts. And the Sierras have gotten loads of snow.
Down here in SoCal -- Not so much. And in my little valley even less than the rest of the area.

But it was enough that they have declared us out of drought.

Never mind that the aquifers are not replenished (the reservoirs are, but MY water comes from a somewhat depleted aquifer) and that the drought WILL come again. We are "officially" out of the drought.

But, Virginia -- I'm surprised you are still lacking rain! So many areas are, literally, drowning . . .

jerijen said:Personally, before spraying with anything, I would try either:

1. Peeling off the outer petals, and seeing if the buds will then open naturally . . .
2. Or, worst-case, breaking off those buds, and making the rose start over in danker weather.

And have faith that warmer, drier days are ahead -- Even for CA's central coast. (And, yes, I do know these conditions. I am in Camarillo, on the lower end of that climate range -- and I know you've had a lot, LOT more rain than I have had.

See this outdoor photo of rose vendors at the recent Rosalia in Sebastopol, CA:

I peeled some petals off and the whole blossom fell off. Good news however, I found cooties! Now I know how to fix the problem. Currently at Lowe's buying ammo.

scvirginia said:What I want to know is how you Californians stole our weather, and what ransom do I need to pay to get it back? Triple-digit heat and drought in May is NOT what we're used to.

I am glad you're no longer in drought, though I wish we had some prospect of rain. WU says we might get t-storms, but it was supposed to be on 6/2, then 6/6, and now it's 6/7. I think they're stringing us along, because a 10-day forecast with no chance of water falling from the sky is a source of wonder and despair.

I'll be checking tomorrow to see if our drought is still moderate, or if it will be "upgraded" to severe.
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu...

Don't bother with the ransom note; I'm pretty sure I can't pay it. I'll just hope that you'll get tired of our rain, and return it safely.

Virginia

Texas has seen a much wetter year than normal, in a lot of the state. Just not here.
20 - 30 miles to the N. they've gotten 8" to 10" more rain, than I have, this year.

I made promise to myself, years ago, to NEVER complain about the rain.
I'll admit, I have felt like it several times over the years; but NOT VERY OFTEN.
I have a pretty good memory, and I don't have to think all that hard to remember when we "desperately" needed rain (for months and even years).
As an insurance adjuster working all over the U.S. for the past couple of decades, I have seen "Really Bad" stuff, so I can't fault anyone for wishing the rain away. But I try not to say it out loud.

I'll just put it this way. From now on when I pray for rain; I'm gonna be more specific about asking God to send rain "to my place".

I hear you about not complaining about rain! Even when we've been inundated in the past, I tell myself that it's better than drought. I haven't ever had to deal with actual flooding, though, so my bias is based on ignorance.

This little drought is nothing compared to what Californians experienced for years, but OTOH, when I plant things here, my emphasis is on plants that can tolerate heat, humidity and rain; drought tolerance isn't what I look for, necessarily. And I amend soil to improve drainage, not water retention. Hopefully, that means that whatever survives this weather will be able to cope with the rains that should accompany tropical storm and hurricane season.


Virginia

Virginia -- What scares me is -- we're in a transitional time.

ALL of us, in our various regions, are experiencing extremes of weather we never planned for. And we don't know what's coming next.

I am pathetically grateful for the relatively wet spring we've had, because it's allowed us to experience the sort of spring bloom we've almost forgotten. I don't know what the next few years are going to bring. I guess right now, I'm just thinking that I'm glad I'm not in the parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Ohio where tornadoes have devastated whole neighborhoods. Whole cities -- or along the banks of rivers in flood stage.

A woman came to my front gate the other day (looking for someone else) and told me that she could smell the roses all the way down the Lane. I'm grateful as all getout that I've had this spring to "smell the roses."

I do have to laugh about stealing the rain. We have had a whole 4 inches above average in my zone. That is a lot to us. We do measure rain in tenths of an inch here, but now we're in "May grey...June gloom" mode , so Traces are more common. That being said, it has messed with our normal gardening a bit, but summer will get here, and roses will bloom normally...with a little care.

I live in Michigan. High humidity is our normal state. I often have problems with roses balling and not opening. Particularly the whites and paler colors and roses with many petals. The way those outer petals are crumpled and cripsy is from the balling, not thrips.