Garden

[Dazlin]

I'll start by saying basically everything is ok here, very thankful. As for the roses, I pruned just the thinner canes, moved and tied them all. The larger ones in un-moveable raised beds were also tied and trimmed. Everyone survived, but as the week goes on about 4 of them are looking bad with spotty leaves, some are wrinkled and dry, some spotty yellow, many holes in them too. Alot of the leaves are brown, dried out, and falling off. Its certainly not from dry soil, after a hurricane..My Fragrant Cloud has lost all it's leaves and are left with bare canes. Canes are green and healthy, but without leaves, I'm concerned. I sprayed everything before and again after the storm, un-tied and moved everything back in place the very next day. I let the soil dry out, and washed them down this morning, followed by a rose fertilizer and good watering. This afternoon...more ugly leaves. Would anyone know if this is weather stress, or did some fungus blow in? Why isn't the Bayer disease spray helping...and why are the others looking perfect? Are they going to die?

[IlliniGirl88]

@Dazlin- Did salt water get to them?

[Nonametoday]

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@Dazlin wrote:
I'll start by saying basically everything is ok here, very thankful. As for the roses, I pruned just the thinner canes, moved and tied them all. The larger ones in un-moveable raised beds were also tied and trimmed. Everyone survived, but as the week goes on about 4 of them are looking bad with spotty leaves, some are wrinkled and dry, some spotty yellow, many holes in them too. Alot of the leaves are brown, dried out, and falling off. Its certainly not from dry soil, after a hurricane..My Fragrant Cloud has lost all it's leaves and are left with bare canes. Canes are green and healthy, but without leaves, I'm concerned. I sprayed everything before and again after the storm, un-tied and moved everything back in place the very next day. I let the soil dry out, and washed them down this morning, followed by a rose fertilizer and good watering. This afternoon...more ugly leaves. Would anyone know if this is weather stress, or did some fungus blow in? Why isn't the Bayer disease spray helping...and why are the others looking perfect? Are they going to die?

NAT:  Roses are very superficially rooted, for one thing, and they CANNOT tolerate too much water.  We have had several flash floods this year, nothing like Florida, TX and LA got, but enough that several of my older roses have died which were not in heavily raised beds with lots of loamy soil. The ones in more clay or sandy type soil are struggling.  I have had fungi in them and insects galore.  They are loving the water.  Fragrant Cloud is a tough one anyway for fungus.  The fungus has caused your rose to lose its elaves.  Fungi do not have to blow in.  They are borne in high humidity, lots of rain and lots of hot.  Stress is also a problem.  I am not sure you will be able to save your roses, but try.  I cannot tell you if they are going to die.  I can say this.  My  husband sprayed over 300 of mine with Round-Up and I did not know it for several weeks when I wondered what was happening.  I realized he had used the wrong container.  I had a friend in Texas whose husband did the same thing with the Round-Up.  She realized it immediately and saved most of her roses by constantly watering them down.  Later, a hurricane hit her garden and she lost over 600 of her 1100 roses.  It's anybody's guess.  I guess that is what we have to accept.  I cried a long time because many of my roses had come from abroad and had been in quarantine for a year or two before going in the ground, plus they had cost a lot and I had to pay duties.  Many were roses which were hard to come by.  So, it is a big loss to love something you have babied and worked for.  We had over 500 at one time.  I have less than 2 dozen now.  I don't know if all of these will live because of the heavy rains.  Just do what you can using a fungicide.  Do not put a heavy fertilizer on them or it will stress them much more.  They cannot put on growth now while they are struggling just to live.  If you use fertilizer, let it be a composted natural fertilizer or a very dilute mixture of Miracle Grow.  If you see any webs forming, use a miticide (as you will have spider mites).  Spider mites like to follow a wetting and then drying out.  Keep us posted on how you do.  P.S.  If you have a local rose society, call the consulting rosarian.  I am a CR but CRs need to eyeball something before they make a definitive decision on treatment and there is no charge for them to do that.

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[Dazlin]

I live about 15 miles from the ocean. I couldn't say if salty air blew in for sure. NAT, thank you for your lengthy reply! Yeah, maybe they got hit with an abundance of water, more than they can take up. I'll add, it's still very hot here, in 90's, and I checked soil with a metor yesterday and it was at a 5, or lower, on a scale 1-10. So definitely drying out. That's why I watered and fertilized today....figure give them a boost. Maybe I did wrong? I feel for now, I did what I could...unless someone knows what else I can do. I do believe they need a rest, and not more tampering with. I'm just picking off sickly leaves when I spot them. Should I spray for disease again??

[gizmogal]

Too much water!!! Stop treating them with Bayer. They're not diseased, they're over watered because of the hurricane drenching. Let them get dry superficiallynand thru their roots. Let Nature's rain supply their needs.  All that leaf spotting and holes is a water reaction. They don't need more water.  It's not what you see on the top surface of soil, it's what's deep under the roots. It's wet. Don't supply more water.  Let them recover. They will. 

[JustJazzmom]

I agree, leaves are turning yellow due to the overabundance of water they received. It's not a disease so do not spray the roses. Salt water can damage plants too. Check at the root zone how wet the soil is because they could be sitting in too wet a soil to survive. When soil is overly saturated, the roots cannot get the oxygen because water has filled those holes from where the roots get their nutrients or oxygen. I learned there is even ozone damage that can be seen on leaves too.

https://www.ars.usda.gov/southeast-area/raleigh-nc/plant-science-research/docs/climate-changeair-qua...

[Nonametoday]

I can tell you what I would do.  This is a homemade remedy.  The soil needs some beneficial nutrients, but I would not add chemicals.  They need treating for fungus but Bayer has done that and that is A MIGHTY HEAVY DOSE for weak roses (which they are at this point).  Do you know what corn meal is?  Being from the south, I do.  If you have corn meal, take some corn meal and put around the base of your roses.  Don't let it touch the plant but around the drip line.  I have used corn meal to supply small amuont of nitrogen which the flooding has soaked up and treat fungus before. I called a university which specializes in agriculture once when I had fungus in my grass from too much rain and was told to use corn meal, the reason I tried it for the roses.

It is not a sure-cure for fungus but as it slowly adds nitrogen to the soil, it will push  on new leaves that no longer have fungus.  Then hopefully the sun comes out and all together the fungus goes bye-bye.

The best thing in the world anyone can do for soil to amend it is puting as much coffee and tea grounds as Starbucks can provide in the soil.  Worms love coffee and tea grounds. The best treatment for soil is worms.  Worms keep your soil irrigated and loamy.

There is nothing they love better than coffee grounds.  There are 3 sizes and types of worms that irrigate your soil for the 3 types and levels of soil, and coffee grounds will summon them all.  If you have sandy soil, you need to add a little clay.  If you have clay soil, add some sand.  Then add the coffee grounds (and if you have composted materials, add that).  

In the meantime, do not put any more chemicals on them unless you see webs (in which case you miticides).  I would use the corn meal around the drip line.  Just my humble opinion and worked for me several years ago when we had a flood that came into my house (I live on a hill).  

About adding heavy fertilizers other than what has been mentioned.  Think of your plant as a baby in NICU.  The baby almost died.  Then someone came along and gave it too much water, and the baby lost all its nutrients and then someone fed it steak and banana pudding, and ....guess what happened.  It cannot handle either one and you know what the ultimate outcome will be.

[candys mine]

@DazlinThanks for updating. I was wondering how you were.   Glad you are O.K.!  Knowing nothing much about roses my first thought is that the poor things have been through the wringer and need time to recover.  Hope they do well for you!

[Dazlin]

Appreciate all the knowledge here, and the kind thoughts of concern for our safety.

[Dazlin]

Jazzmom, thanks for the link...i read it, and it looks like there may be some ozone damage as well. Some of the leaves have black spot too. I have airated the soil in the pots, and raised beds after the storm. I will say, they're all in well drained pots, and high beds. Hopefully the roots are not too damaged as you explained. I'm taking all the advice here, and have done enough...i agree, they need rest now. I'll report back to let everyone know how they're doing. Thank you everyone!!