Family home is around 100 years old and the bush has been here as long as anyone can remember. At least 60 years old as my mother remembers it.

I recently got into gardening and roses in particular after picking up a few bushes for my mom on mothers day. Started redoing the backyard for her, and noticed the weird blooms on the big tree which turned out to be Rosette Disease. I had cut back dozens of bad spots before I knew what it was or how bad it was for other roses...

4 new bushes, but only two have been near this one. Lady Emma Hamilton is planted around 15 feet away, but established itself quickly. Also have a Mr. Lincoln still potted that was "sitting" in the vicinity around 20 feet away, but not in the ground... was only exposed for 6-8 hours by while pruning was going on with the big bush.

Also planted a Blue Moon in the front and a Wollerton Old Hall in the side yard. Those have not come into contact with the infected plant, but were trimmed with the same pruners as we had no idea about Witches Broom until afterwards.

The Mr. Lincoln was moved this morning to the side yard but is still about 20 - 30 feet from the Old Hall as it's the safest place at the moment as we just figured all this out last night.


Basically with the new bushes I'm assuming the best thing to do is just wait it out and see what happens? No sense in moving anything at this point?

With the old bush... is it possible to take a cutting from anywhere and grow a new plant that's not sick to keep the old beauty alive in some way? Trunk or base is close to a foot and while there's a lot of old/dead wood, there's a lot of green as well.

I realize it's going to have to come down, but still deciding when the best time is to do it. Any advice would be appreciated. Can take better photos if needed, but I'm 99% sure it's rosette disease.

Yikes. That does look bad. Perhaps someone will chime in with an experience of propagating from a bush that has RRD, but you run the risk that the cuttings will also be infected.

Before you dig out the plant, it is important to ask yourself if you or anyone else had applied any sort of pesticide/herbicide to anything in the vicinity of the rose within the last year or so. Roundup in particular can produce odd growth that looks very similar to RRD. Sometimes a weed and feed product applied to a nearby lawn can cause strange growths on roses.

Do you know what variety that rose is? It looks modern to me. If you have pictures of it from before it was showing virus symptoms (normal canes, leaves, blooms) then someone may be able to help you ID it. If it is still in commerce you could replace it, and not worry about cuttings.

Thanks for the quick response.

No idea on the type, just that its been here for at least 60 years. The photo of the bloomed flowers are the best I have, but snapped a few more of healthy-looking canes although they are probably infected as well. Have no idea what was cut from what cane as we were working on it for a few weeks before figuring out the "broom".

I know initially they pruned it, but the area around the bush has gone downhill around the last decade for a variety of reasons. This year I decided to finally clean it all up, and noticed some issues I was going to post about around the base. Had removed a large section of the tree growing next to it with hand saws and a hatchet before all this happened. The base seems to split out with a few large wooden-like canes behind the main mass.

I've never used roundup or anything else on it since I've taken over, and know my mother didn't use any chemicals so that's out to the best of my knowledge. I had thought of that, but assumed that wasn't the case as it seemed to be on almost every cane from what I remember.

Is this a climber? The blooms and foliage look like my New Dawn.

Have you researched about the use of Roundup beyond the property? It can have that kind of effects from quite a distance . It does look like a weed killer more than RRD. just by the photos. Has anyone else have RRD in their near by yards? The disease is spread by the wind carrying the infected mites. Are there wild stands of the invasive R.multiflora around that could host the disease in abandoned /uninhabited near by plots?. For the time being we don't have RRD as this far south but who knows when it might appear. We have the full collection of the other fungal diseases...
Arturo

I saw the exact same growth at small public rose garden today where I am volunteering. Part of the growth was normal with normal blooms and smooth stems, and then there's super-thorny growth with flowers still in bud on the same bush. Bush should be removed? A lot of other bushes were deadheaded around it using the same pruning shears without being disinfected! On the other hand, if the virus is carried by wind born mites, seems like it would be hard to prevent it or keep it from spreading.

That is definitely New Dawn. I have one that's almost 80 years old the base can get huge. Regarding rrd I couldn't tell you. Oh, if you do decide to take it out I would be happy to send you cuttings for postage.

To my eyes, it's either 'New Dawn' or its sport-parent 'Dr. W. Van Fleet'. The difference would be that 'New Dawn' repeats while 'Dr. W. Van Fleet' doesn't. So don't despair about replacing the rose -- it'd be safer to start with a new one than to cross your fingers and hope that any cuttings that root won't be infected and spread the disease to your other roses.

You may want to spray the rose down with soapy water followed by miticide, so that any mites on it won't be shaken free to infect your other roses. If you're against miticides, just go with the soapy water -- use a hose-end sprayer with some dish soap and thoroughly soak the rose. Then start cutting it down. Next comes what to do with the removed rose -- if it's really large, you'll have to snip it up small and put it in a garbage bag to be picked up with regular trash. If you're in an area where you can burn it, that's even better. And if you're not, you could probably throw it piece by piece into a bbq grill.

But if I were you, I'd avoid temptation and go a year before you buy any new roses. You'll want to be sure that none of your others got infected but haven't shown symptoms yet -- otherwise, you'll end up having a repeating infection cycle going on in your garden. So watch any new growth on the others, and if by next Spring none have shown symptoms, proceed to expand your rose collection.

:-)

~Christopher

Where do you live? Has RRD been reported in your area? I would take a sample of the rose and bring it to the agriculture commission to have them determine if it is RRD or not. I would do as Christopher suggested and either use a miticide or soapy water to wash off the rose and then also sterilize your tools. For me, I would prefer a positive diagnosis from an expert before I started cutting down any bushes. Witches broom can appear for a number of reasons, not just from RRD.

Mustbnuts said:Where do you live? Has RRD been reported in your area? I would take a sample of the rose and bring it to the agriculture commission to have them determine if it is RRD or not. I would do as Christopher suggested and either use a miticide or soapy water to wash off the rose and then also sterilize your tools. For me, I would prefer a positive diagnosis from an expert before I started cutting down any bushes. Witches broom can appear for a number of reasons, not just from RRD.

I would definitely want a positive diagnosis in your situation. It will be well spent money and allow you to decide your further gardening once you know what you are dealing with.
Arturo

hampartsum said:Have you researched about the use of Roundup beyond the property? It can have that kind of effects from quite a distance . It does look like a weed killer more than RRD. just by the photos. Has anyone else have RRD in their near by yards? The disease is spread by the wind carrying the infected mites. Are there wild stands of the invasive R.multiflora around that could host the disease in abandoned /uninhabited near by plots?. For the time being we don't have RRD as this far south but who knows when it might appear. We have the full collection of the other fungal diseases...
Arturo

My closest neighbor with roses or flowers is across the street, everyone else is further away so our bushes really aren't close enough to catch overspray in my opinion but you never know. Have a hedge row in the way as well. Wish I had a better photo before I cut as it was identical to photos I've seen online of broom, and we've had more "rosettes" or unopened buds over the past few years along with wilder growth.

I have seen a few wild roses pop up over the years that resemble ours, and one side of our property borders an overgrown lot the city owns and rarely cuts. Now that I know what it is, I could easily see a mite like that drifting towards the from the direction of that lot.

Mustbnuts said:Where do you live? Has RRD been reported in your area? I would take a sample of the rose and bring it to the agriculture commission to have them determine if it is RRD or not. I would do as Christopher suggested and either use a miticide or soapy water to wash off the rose and then also sterilize your tools. For me, I would prefer a positive diagnosis from an expert before I started cutting down any bushes. Witches broom can appear for a number of reasons, not just from RRD.

I'm in East Tennessee, has definitely been in our state and I've seen flowers with that same look out and about over the years... just didn't know what it was like most people.

Tools were all sharpened and cleaned this afternoon, and I marked everything that had broom on it after doing more cutting. Cleaned it up more in general, filled a bore hole or two, etc... It's been cut back like this before, so I have no doubt it will come back, just don't know if the broom will come with it.

I put plastic bags over the two closest bushes while I worked on it as well, but if it spreads, it spreads at this point.

Definitely not going to destroy it until I know for sure as I've seen a couple of posts of people claiming they've been able to stop the spread, but most got lazy with treatment. Lots of dated material it seems.

Thanks for all the tips and advice, hopefully my next threads will be happier questions about caring and pruning my new bushes instead of dealing with this. Zone 7A, haven't got around to finishing my profile yet.

New photos below, still learning about roses as I go, but there is a lot more old/dead wood than we thought once we cleared out all the ivy hedge around the base. Need to figure out how to get that tree out or stabilized that's next to it, but I'm done with it for this year unless what's left starts witching out on us.

Definitely not picking up any more roses until this is settled, but am still interested in trying a cutting in a pot to see how that goes. Have read about a few products and sprays along with the "Sick Tree Treatment" I read about in a thread online.

I have had RRD in three of my bushes previously - a red carpet rose, a chestnut rose, and a R. multiflora.

I detected RRD in the carpet rose when it only affected one cane. I cut that cane to the ground and RRD never reappeared in that bush. I kept an eye on it for the next three years before I moved.

I detected RRD in the chestnut rose when it affected about 1/3 of the bush. I cut the entire bush back to the ground and the rose came back from runners it had sent out and those runners were unaffected. In fact, I transplanted one of the runners to my new house and it has been in fine health for the past six years.

I detected RRD in the multiflora when almost the entire bush was affected. I cut it down to the ground and hit the stump with roundup. It was not worth trying to save.

At the time, I had over 400 rose bushes (I'm now down to 160). Trying to save the affected plants did not cause a major outbreak in my garden. Your mileage may vary.

If that was my New Dawn, I would cut all affected canes to the ground and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, you can always dig it out later.

Here are some links you might want to check out.

https://garden.org/ideas/view/...

https://roserosette.org/

https://www.nurserymag.com/art...

http://entoplp.okstate.edu/pdd...

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd...

This is a link to a rose disease e-book & includes info about RRD

Barry - that's great information. We don't get RRD here...yet...hopefully never. But, first hand knowledge like you have is very helpful!!

BarryBoyd said:I have had RRD in three of my bushes previously - a red carpet rose, a chestnut rose, and a R. multiflora.

I detected RRD in the carpet rose when it only affected one cane. I cut that cane to the ground and RRD never reappeared in that bush. I kept an eye on it for the next three years before I moved.

I detected RRD in the chestnut rose when it affected about 1/3 of the bush. I cut the entire bush back to the ground and the rose came back from runners it had sent out and those runners were unaffected. In fact, I transplanted one of the runners to my new house and it has been in fine health for the past six years.

I detected RRD in the multiflora when almost the entire bush was affected. I cut it down to the ground and hit the stump with roundup. It was not worth trying to save.

At the time, I had over 400 rose bushes (I'm now down to 160). Trying to save the affected plants did not cause a major outbreak in my garden. Your mileage may vary.

If that was my New Dawn, I would cut all affected canes to the ground and see if the problem goes away. If it doesn't, you can always dig it out later.

Very helpful, thank you and thanks to everyone who posted links as well.

I had read the e-book and about everything I could find, but thought it just seemed extreme to destroy a bush this old and don't have the heart to do it. It's obviously been cut back drastically, but we've cut it back that harsh before.

Took several cuttings to try as well. We have a few spots on our property that are downwind and overgrown so we may try a new one there just in case the it comes back sick next year.

Either way, aside from cleaning up the base and figuring out how to get that tree out of the middle, we're leaving it alone for this year. Will be interesting to see how it does next spring however as it will have gotten more TLC this year than it has in the past 20.

I would cut it down and make sure it was completely dead. Soak all tools in 10% bleach after cleaning them. I am sorry for this, but it will not be your first loss if you do not eradicate it all.

Hi there! I'm not a rose grower, but I'm studying virus diseases in plants, so I clicked through when I saw your post. I'm not certain whether that is rose rosette or not based on pictures, but if it is, please do not try to propagate those cuttings. RRD is a virus that infects a plant systemically--the virus is everywhere in the plant, not just the part with visible symptoms. Any cuttings will also contain the virus.
I'd also remove the plant, rather than continue to put the other roses in your yard and the surrounding area at risk. At minimum, you should use a miticide on it regularly to reduce the risk of spreading the disease. If you want to wait for a positive diagnosis (understandable), I would use the miticide in the meantime.
You can try contacting your extension office to see what kind of diagnostic services they offer to the public. The UT page says they have plant pathology specialists in Knoxville, and they also have a distance diagnosis program. https://ag.tennessee.edu/EPP/P...