Question
QUESTION: I have a hybrid tea and a ground cover rose.  They are about 5 years old and have not had any issues.  About a month ago I noticed what I thought was black spot on both of the roses.  What I want to make sure of is that it really is black spot.  There are black spots on some of the leaves - large and small spots.  But mostly the leaves are curling and the leaf tips and some of the buds have black on them.  So if the black is on the edges and the very tips of the new buds, is this also black spot?

ANSWER: Hi Kim,

Are you getting alot of rain?  Black on the buds sounds like too much water.  Blackspot does not get on the buds.  Do you have a photo?

Please let me know.

Thanks,

Jay

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for getting back to me on this. We actually got no rain at all for the month of July. It was brutally hot (30 - 34 degrees C). And I didn't really notice the problem until the both plants were ravaged. All the research I did for black spot seemed to say (and show in the pictures# that it's always black spots. There were some black spots but mostly the black was on the edges of the leaves and the edges of the buds. The leaves were also deformed and curled and so were the buds. There was not much yellow at all. #There were also holes in some leaves presumably from bugs - again, not sure what type. There were tons of ants but it looks like ants don't eat leaves. I am always on top of aphids; I remove them manually and the soap helped keep them away.# That is new info for me that black spot does not affect the buds. I was worried about treating black spot if it wasn't the problem. The black was on the tip of the bud and the buds were falling off the stem. In any case, we have had a ton of rain all through August and now into Sept. As an update, I first sprayed both roses frequently with insecticidal soap, baking soda, and water. And I took off all the leaves with any black on them #probably eventually 75% or more of the leaves#. I found out in later research that doing that could kill the plant.... This was hugely labour intensive. I also got rid of all the mulch at the base of both plants and left only rocks. And got rid of any leaves that fell under the plants. The baking soda seemed to help a bit when I initially started spraying. Then I read about milk and also cider vinegar. I tried both intermittently. It seemed like the milk #half water# helped the most. I sprayed all the time #it rained almost every day and would wash off# and kept taking off the black leaves. Long story short, both plants have come back and the ground cover is blooming #the hybrid tea has several buds, but has not bloomed yet#. Black spots are still occurring on the ground cover leaves but infrequently, and I continue to remove them and also spray on a regular basis. But frankly there is not much black spot left. Unfortunately I didn't take photos although I was meaning to. I can tell you I was ready to pull both roses out and I have had no problem with them for 5 years with no special care at all and no protection during the Ottawa winter #- 20 degrees C). There was a point where there were probably about 5 leaves on each plant left, so I am really surprised that they came back. I find it so difficult to diagnose problems with roses because there are so many possibilities. The problem now is that I tried so many things I'm not sure what worked and what didn't.....

Answer
Hello,

I am surprised the amount of blackspot and where it affected.  But, there are many strains of blackspot.

Try Bayer All In One Rose and Flower Care.   It is a granular or a liquid drench.  It lasts about 6 weeks and will take care of bug and disease.

The treatments you mentioned work you to death.  Go to www.rosemania.com   They have a good reference for treating fungus and offer different plans depending on how much you want to spend in time and money.

Jay