Question
jay, i have 95 roses on my half acre home. tree, bush and patio roses. what would you use to spray roses for the orangey dots on the back of the leaves? the leaves look a lush green and suddenly turn an ugly mixture of yellow plus colors. i live in so calif. we can now have temps in the low 80's followed by overcasting till noon. i use 15-15-15 fertilizer and alternate with bayer for roses. any info would be helpful. thank you. linda

Answer
Hello Linda,

The east coast has black spot and the west coast has rust.  Rust is what you are describing.

Funginex is the best chemical to use for rust. It is best mixed in a hose end sprayer that mixes the chemical and water at the correct proportion. It is easily found at the large home improvement stores. Just make sure you follow label directions.

If your 15-15-15 is a granular, then that should do it for the granular fertilizer.  However, to give them a 'kick' you could use Miracle Gro for Roses about every 2-3 weeks.

There is a product called Plant Nog that is really good for all plants even vegetables if you do not mix it with other chemicals before using it on vegetables.   Rosemania has that and some other things that you may want to look at.  The Plant Nog helps with foliage color and flower color.

The Bayer is good to use as well since it contains an insecticide.

Let me know if you need anything else,

Jay