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What has happened to our rose bushes? #805905

Asked August 11, 2022, 11:54 PM EDT

We hope we are wrong but this looks like rosette virus. Are there any treatments for this disease? This particular rose bed is 60 feet long and was built this February, with new soil and amendments, along with bark dust, for climbers and tree roses. The roses were bare root from two reputable companies, Jackson and Perkins and Witherspoon included. The first round of blooms in June were fine, but since dead heading the new growth looks like this. The last photo is of a tree rose in another area of our garden, in an established bed with several other tree roses and miniature roses. We have over 100 roses in our garden, all lovingly tended, and perhaps 20 of them show signs of this disease. As you know, the weather this spring in western Oregon was wet and chilly. The rains didn’t stop until July, which hampered the first bloom cycle. The rain was followed immediately by a week of 95º+ daytime temperatures with uncommonly warm nights. Could this disease be a result of such a strange change in the weather? Thank you so much for any help you can give us in solving this problem.

Polk County Oregon

Expert Response

Thank you for your question, Jeena.  First, I'm going to show you a similar Q/A answered by our best plant pathologist:  https://ask2.extension.org/kb/faq.php?id=309943
Do you know whether Roundup was applied nearby?
Your plants appear to have other problems:  yellowing (chlorosis) from a nutrient deficiency; leaf tip browning, usually from too little water; and leaf spots, which I cannot see clearly enough to identify.  Although the following was written for Central Oregon, its advice is applicable to roses west of the Cascades:  https://catalog.extension.oregonstate.edu/ec1624/html
I hope this is helpful.
An Ask Extension Expert Replied August 12, 2022, 12:05 PM EDT
Thank you for your prompt response to our question about our roses.  All of your suggestions were relevant, so we’ve upped the watering, especially since these roses have only been in the bed since February and do not have established root systems yet.  No Roundup was used nearby, although we applied dormant spray in late February.  

We have removed the damaged leaves and stems, and they do look better.  We will keep an eye out for new growth, especially as the weather has been much better for our new roses after that bad spring and early summer.

Thank you again for your help!  We appreciate the advice.

Dean and Jeena Huntzinger
The Question Asker Replied August 14, 2022, 10:46 PM EDT
Always here to help!
An Ask Extension Expert Replied August 14, 2022, 10:53 PM EDT

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