sunnyvalley said:Lyn, thanks for the advice - much appreciated - I will not drench with bleach! Don't want to kill the 'goodies'!

Had a little time to research this morning. Galltroll is an Agrobacterium radiobacter (Strain K84) and has not been approved by the EU (or Switzerland), pity, so my only option is exchanging the soil because the other solution would be steaming to 80C which is not practical or possible in a private garden. Will dig a bigger hole and buy a couple of bags of soil.

That may not work at all. Sorry to tell you that. What I meant by "it's in the soil" is that the bacteria is probably was in the soil at the producers growing site. It may be in other sites where they produce soils for gardening use.

I know this is your best choice, but what you can do going forward is to make sure anything you plant in your soil has been treated and has no wounds. You can soak the roots of bare root roses in a weak bleach solution before planting and that will not kill off all of the beneficial bacteria in your soil. In other words, small changes to your planting practices can protect your plants in the future even if you can't cure the problem in your garden soil.

Thanks for the comments Lyn. I gathered as much when I was searching the internet on the topic. Changing the soil in the immediate vicinity is my best option, short of refraining from planting a rose there again, and my general planting practices already include a soak in a 10% bleach solution. Seems like I just had bad luck and I hope it doesn't happen again. I will definitely be more vigilant. Another lesson learnt

This year has been so hectic that I never got around to digging out the Hueys. Now a couple of them are blooming again, making me wonder if one that is labeled William Shakespeare 2000 really does have part of WS still on there? The bloom isn't as double or as deep a hue as it should be, though. We've had a lot of rain, so is it possible Huey does rebloom?

I get an occasional repeat bloom from my older Dr Hueys - so maybe...

Sharlene ...

I have been talking to a few other friends in the industry here and have found out some interesting information.

The gall bacteria has been in the growing grounds in southern California for decades. The production since WW II was such that budders had a quota to bud 5,000 roses per day each. When the roses were harvested they were treated so that the bacteria was not spread throughout the US.

Once the growing fields were sold and production moved to other locations, the new producers did not know to take this precaution. Recently, it was discovered that the roses they were shipping were infected. These are responsible people. They stopped shipping the roses and destroyed over 150,000 roses and have changed their production methodology to treat plants before shipping in the future. So, I am not naming names.

I do not know if nurseries that received infected plants before the problem was identified destroyed their stock or shipped it back to the producers or sold the roses. I know the nursery up here did not. However, the guy that owns the nursery up here is unethical that way. I never buy anything from him.

Your second line of defense is not to plant the rose immediately, but to quarantine the rose by planting it in a container. When you feel it is safe to plant it into the garden, then that's your next step. Since Galltrol is banned in Europe, that might not be a bad idea. Of course, it depends on how many roses you add to your garden in a given year ...

How long would it be necessary to observe a new rose before deciding whether it was infected?

PP ... I really don't know. I've never had a problem and I've gotten different answers. There are just too many variables. Climate, type of soil, root stock, ph ... and more. I guess it's always a judgment call.

Please forgive me if this is a duplicate..
Still trying to figure out this system!

This is my Lady Schlott rose showing off!
Vancouver, WA

It's fabulous! Please add your photos to the database:

English Shrub Rose (Rosa 'Lady of Shalott')

She looks just as good as she did in the June thread - worth repeating.

I was just going to say that: Fully worth a double posting.

totally worth a double posting - that full bush shot is gorgeous.

@RoseBlush1- shipping infected plants must have been quite a scandal.

@porkpal - the rose in question was a potted rose planted in August last year and so far it is the only rose in that bed which has been affected. I don't know if it was infected before I planted it or if only got infected afterwards

Sharlene ...

I think they caught it pretty early, so it didn't get out of hand. Like I said, the people involved are responsible people. If they only had to destroy 150,000 plants, that is a very small portion of their potential production.

Gorgeous rose Jackie and set off especially nice with the blue/purple blooms!

Jackie: That's the most impressive rose bush I have seen in many days. Thanks for posting.

Jackie, your LOS has such a gorgeous range of rich colors- absolutely stunning! I agree that the purple is wonderful with it!

Black magic, I was givin this rose as a cutting and I got it to root and this year I got a bloom👏🏾👏🏾

Congratulations on getting your cutting to root! Are you questioning that it's actually Black Magic?

The first flush here in Sunnyvalley is coming to an end - still a couple of pretty blooms in the garden. This is an orange Kordana rose which I haven't been able to identify - planted out in the garden in 2013. Just love this intense orange!

Mark and Sharlene, those are exceptionally striking roses!