Larry,
I agree with you. I am guessing that you have far more disease pressure in Alabama than either Zuzu or I have in our California gardens in that we don't get any summer rains. Zuzu's garden is more likely to have bs than mine as her garden is more coastal than mine.
I have removed the roses that defoliate in our wet spring and do not get new foliage in time to get through the high temps I have during the summer months. There are plenty of roses I can grow without that problem.
For me to be happy, I need to have a healthy plant. Not only that, but a healthy plant has a better immune system and can fight off disease. Like Zuzu, some of my roses can get bs in a wet spring, but after the heat hits, I don't have any problems. I can tolerate some disease during that period as long as the plant is clean for the rest of the season.
Time management in my garden is a big issue for me because I have to garden on five different levels, so if there is any task that is unnecessary for plant health, even tho' it is recommended on several sites, I am going to skip it.
I started mulching twice a year in the beginning simply to build my soil. Finding out that this cultural garden task inhibits pathogens was a bonus.
A lot of what you see, even on the university sites is distorted information because there is no way they can compensate for all of the variables in our gardens when they create a study. No university can test for all of those variables, climate (humid vs arid), heat tolerance, cold tolerance, type of soil, alkalinity or acidity of the water used and more.
All of the variables I mentioned above and the "more" impact the health of a plant.
Any plant disease, insect infestation or lack of water and improper watering of plants that causes a rose to defoliate will kill the rose. So the quote above could apply to a severe spider mite infestation, saw fly infestation, grass hopper infestation, mildew infestation, drought, etc.
Smiles,
Lyn
