Question

Floribunda Leaflets   QUESTION: Hello! I live in College Station, Texas (about 45 minutes west of Houston), and I have recently planted a hybrid tea rose variety and a floribunda variety in separate large pots(16 inch I think). I have given detailed description of my planting process and additives, as I suspect it may have much to do with my problem.

I planted the hybrid tea first, using a mixture of the following: "miracle grow moisture control" brand of potting mix, Miracle grow brand "enriched Canadian sphagnum peat moss, and a table spoon or two of organic bone meal(6-9-0) mixed in. Once planted, the tea rose grew new leaf growth rapidly at first, mainly only one side of the plant, and then ceased growth. The new leaves were much larger than the previous growth and quite a few of the leaflets grew curved, with the central vein bent and some of the margins curving somewhat underneath at the ends. A couple of the true five leaflet leaves grew with their stems twisting, and the terminal leaflet does not want to stay up right but turn over.

About a month or two after planting the Hybrid tea, when I planted my second rose, I mixed in the top 4 inches of soil an "Espoma" brand soil acidifier according to instruction as well as a "colorburst flowering plant food" brand fertilizer with a 15-30-15 value. A few weeks after this was mixed into the soil, new leaf growth began forming again where it had ceased and it appears that some of the new growth may be curved as well. There has still been no bud growth for my Teas.

As for my floribunda, I also planted it in a 16 inch large pot except I pulled off the roots that were circling inside its growing pot before planting. When planting this time, I mixed the potting soil, peat moss, bone meal, acidifier, and 15-30-15 fertilizer all together uniformly before planting. This rose already had several buds present when I purchased it so I'm thinking it might have been older. No new dramatic and immediate leaf growth occurred as did with my Teas. My floribunda's buds have all expired (I left them attached to try and grow hips), and now new leaf growth and new bud growth has begun and it appears that quite a few of the new leaves are also growing deformed like my hybrid tea's new growth. Some of the leaflets have also grown fused to each other. this is previous growth I believe.

Well, my question in all of this is that I am not sure what is causing the deformed growth. All the answers I have found for curved leaves has to do with pests and I am pretty sure that I have none. Also, there are a few of the leaflets that are browning and cracking along the margins. I suspect that all this has to do with a mineral deficiency or a mineral overload. Please help! Thank you so much for your time in reading my very long question! :) I greatly appreciate any advice you can offer in identifying the problem and corrective actions you might be able to recommend! Thank you again!

ANSWER:  What worries me is the distortion of the leaves and even the leaves that are fused together. These symptoms are usually from a rose virus and I hope that isn't your problem. Roses which have a rose mosaic virus do not always show the tell tale yellow markings in the early stages. Some roses can have all the signs of the virus and never show any signs at all. It would be a wisdom to check where you bought the roses as most reputable garden centers would not want to carry any supplier of diseased roses. There is no cure for rose mosiac virus and the plants should be destroyed. It doesn't infect any other roses but the plant will struggle all it's life and if the yellow streaks show up, look sick in the garden.
That is the worst scenario for the Hybrid Tea rose. Lets go on to another possibility.
Because all your roses have re-acted the same way, let us just assume that what you did to the soil has caused it. I am a little concerned about using fertilizer on new growth in the soil. The rose has to make tiny white feeder roots to take up the water and nutrients before it can put on any growth. If these frail little roots are damaged in any way, the rose will either stop growing or new growth can looked damaged. Soils don't need any acidifier they really are not fussy as to what soil they are planted in as long as they get the right nutrients. There is a possibility that the acidifier could have caused the problem as peat moss is quite acid. Because the roses are not doing well I would start from scratch again and this time just plant them in the MiracleGro peat moss. Keep it moist but not wet. When you see new growth coming top up the pot with potting soil and only use a house plant type fertilizer at half strength every two weeks. If the roses are normal they will start to re-grow with proper leaves. If they continue to put out distorted leaves then they may have the virus but I honestly think it is the acidity of the soil that has caused your problems with the roses.

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QUESTION: Thank you so much for your help! I will try as you suggested and begin again only with the peat moss. Would you suggest that I prune the deformed leaves or would leaving them intact be best?

Answer
Roses need green leaves to survive. I would leave the deformed leaves on and then you will be able to tell if the new ones look different. if the plant still produces the same type of strange leaves, you will have your answer. But if the leaves are normal then that is a good time to get rid of the poor ones.