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Followup To
Question -
Hi.  I do not know much about gardening at all.  I live in Hawaii.  I've had my rose bush for about 7 months.  I give it a lot of water every day and almost every day it gets a full day of sunshine. About 2 months ago  the leaves started getting holes and falling off and it wasn't blooming.  It didn't have any black spots and the leaves only got yellow when they were about to fall off. I saw some ants and aphids and sprayed insecticidal soap, and that worked for awhile.  There was new growth and the leaves stopped falling off.  We were gone for 3 weeks and had a neighbor water every day but now it has practically no leaves and dead blooms. I currently have it in a large pot in potting soil. I plan to put it in the ground but am not sure how to go about doing it.  Can you tell me what's eating my rose bush, how to stop/prevent it, and give any advice on planting it in the ground?  Thanks!
Answer -
Hi, Jennifer--it's definitely an insect problem.  Go ahead and use the insecticidal soap as often as recommended on the bottle.  As for planting, if it's in a large enough pot, I would leave it there for the time being.  You will want to work in a handful of pelletized lime, and give it a good feeding with a granular rose fertilizer.  You can supplement with a water-soluble like Miracle-Gro, but I wouldn't use it as the only fertilizer.  Continue to water regularly,and be sure the pot is draining well--I've lost more than one rose to root rot!

When the rose is fully recovered, prepare a hole about a third larger than the pot. Put 2-3 inches of soil in the bottom of the hole and put a cup of bone meal in next.  Ease the rose out of the pot without disturbing the root ball and into the hole (sometimes it helps to have a friend to help!).  Fill in with more soil and water well.

Hi Margaret-

Thanks for the great advice.  Now, however, after looking at the rose bush more closely it seems to have a white film on it's stem(s).  Is this what they call white mildew or mold?  Should I use a spray that's both insecticide AND fungicide?  I would say the pot I have it in is about a foot in diameter and about 2 feet deep.  Do you think that's large enough?  Also, how can you tell if the bush has root rot?

Thanks,
Jennifer

For more information, visit the American Rose Society at www.ars.org.  There are lots of friendly folks on the rose forums at GardenWeb.com, and you can always reach me here!
Margarett in Memphis

Answer
Hi Jennifer--sorry to be so long getting back to you.  It does sound like powdery mildew, which you get from high humidity and cool nights.  You can spray for it, but as soon as daytime temperatures are in the 80's and nights in the 60's, it will go away gradually on its own.  For something good on poderwy mildew, try mixing 1 tablespoon of Lysol or Mr. Clean in a gallon of water and spraying the bush with a fine mist of this.  It has worked for me, and the leftover can be saved, unlike most other spray material.  It will also knock bugs off.  The other thing the white stuff may be if it's foamy looking is excretion from the spittle bug--again, simply spray it with the Lysol solution.

I heard something that may be of interest to you at the rose show this weekend.  Go to www.montysjoyjuice.com--this is a great liquid fertilizer which is most effective used as a foliar spray.  Monty was at our show and says he has discivered that using the 2-15-15 formula is best--less nitrogen causes cell walss to thicken and be more disease resistant.  It also causes the bushes to produce more sugar in the foliage, which insects really hate!

If your pot has drainage holes, it's unlikely that you have root rot.  Poor growth is about the only way to tell without digging the bush out.  You might want one slightly larger as the bush gets larger, but it should be fine for now.

Hope this helps, and let me know if you have more questions!
Margarett in Memphis