Question
QUESTION: Just discovered this site...WOW!  I have all but given up on roses. I have japanese beetles, black spot, yellow leaves that fall off.  Everything looks beautiful for only a short time. I pulled everything up and started other plants in that area. Where I lived in Mich. had a gorgeous rose along a north wall(yes, north) it was about 4 ft tall, smaller leaves with reddish new growth and the flowers were a small double ??hybrid tea?? type of the most gorgeous velvety red black. I think it might have developed into a climber.  My mother-in-law thought it was a "volunteer" rose...she didn't know how it got there. I like the smaller leaves, reddish shading, very dark red.  I also like these colors: lilac-bluish, salmony-pink, deep purple...no white unless they are super clean and can tolerate shade.  Does smell have anything to do with the japanese beetle prob? ( I use a bucket of soapy water) What to do?? what to do???  please help!!

ANSWER: Heloo Karen, thanks for your great question!  I can, with a 98% certainty, identify the red rose as 'Dr. Huey'. It's very commonly used as an understock to graft hybrid tea roses onto, but it is a rather nice rose in its own right.  I have several of them, and they're nice because they'll grow just about anywhere and require almost no care.  The red is an intense velvet black red.  Sometimes, 'Dr. Huey' will send up suckers right along side of the rose that's grafted onto it, and I get lots of letters from rose-lovers asking why their 'Peace' rose also suddenly has red flowers....It also happens that the grafted rose dies completely and I get letters from people swearing that their rose has suddenly changed bloom colours!

On the jap.beetles, scent doesn't appear to have as much effect as colour does, on their eating habits - which are voracious! The lighter the colour, the more beetles.  Also, you're doing great on control - the soapy water in bucket is about the best.  I also use a neem based spray in an ultra-fine horticultural oil.  The neem stops them from being able to feed and the ufh oil smothers to death the rest.  No bug can survive suffocation.

On the black spot, keep your roses pruned - crossing branches that rub each other first, then inner, older canes - so that they get good airflow, making it harder for fungus diseases to settle in. Also, clean up all fallen leaves and flowers from under your roses!! Bugs and diseases thrive in leaf litter.  Black spot won't kill your roses, but it is unsitely and can lower your roses' immune systems so that another disease or pest can finish it off.  Feed your roses compost, and other immune-boosting foods.  If you'd like recipes for these organic foods let me know.  They are in a few of my past answers in the Seedling and Propagation category.  If you'd like me to recommend some roses for your property, also, just write.  When I came to America from N. Ireland, I went to Univ. at U of Toledo, so I know Ohio gardening pretty well.

Hope this was of help, and feel free to write back anytime!
Have a great gardening year!
Eirinn

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

QUESTION: Eirinn,
Thank you so much for your suggestions.  I would love to have some recipes for organic foods (for the roses, not me).....also your recommendations for roses for my area would be very much appreciated.  I just LOVE this site!  I am so afraid of hurting bees and other beneficial insects that I don't use anything. My father was a beekeeper so I am well aware of problems in that area. I do a lot of pruning and try to do it according to the almanac...do you think that is very important?  I have had good luck with planting, etc in the past when paying attention to the calender closely (got that from my grandmother)
I have access to horse manure from my neighbors but don't know if it is okay to just bury the "potatoes" around the roses...or use manure tea made from it.  Do you have any further advice on that subject?
Your suggestions and advice are very much appreciated, thank you.
Karen

Answer
Hi Karen!  Try the following fertilizer recipe for faster, healthier growth: 1 Tbl. liquid or dry kelp/seaweed (save money by going to a health food store and buying powdered kelp. It's very inexpensive. Just mix it with water until it's the consistency of thin buttermilk.), 1 tsp. Blackstrap molasses, 1 Tbl.willow tea, 1 gallon of water. (The willow tea is made by taking a twig of willow - any kind - and cut it into 1 inch bits.  Soak it in boiling water for a couple of hours or at least until it cools completely. Strain out the twigs.) Put the fertilizer into a spray bottle and spray the plant's leaves, both top and undersides. You can water your seedling with this mix, as well.  The kelp has high amounts of nutrients, natural plant growth hormones, trace minerals and has been found to make plants more pest and disease resistant. Willow contains natural plant growth stimulating hormones. The molasses contains iron, sulfur and simple sugars which nourish the plant.
    Horse manure is one of the few which doesn't really have to be seasoned or composted for a year, since they're herbivores and have a simpler digestive system.  It's still a good idea to mix the 'black gold' with soil, or compost, side or top dress your roses, then water them in well.
     You are following rich and important traditions by doing your planting, pruning, etc. by the calender & almanac.  Do keep them up! They aren't based on "old wives tales" and are great traditions to pass down through your family!!
Well done, Rosarian, and be sure to post photos on the web of your lovely garden & let us know here!  Hurray for Organic Gardeners!!
Eirinn