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Robert Felix, June 27, 2005 I have a Question... One of my rose plants has developed red spots on some of its leaves. when the dots are in abundance, the leave yellows. Also I noticed the buds were not opening fully. I gently touched a unopened bud with the back of my hand, and it fell right off! In the middle of the bud I found a cucoon like structure, and a 1 inch translucent green inch worm looking creature crawled out! Any ideas what this is? I live in Ct. and grow tea roses. Thanks for any help. |
| 6/28/05 Hello, You seem to have two different problems. The first is a disease on the leaves call Black Spot. Spores of this fungus are present in roses and germinate under wet conditions. These wet conditions can be caused by overhead watering or splash from the ground late in the day so the leaves stay wet overnight, or generally wet conditions. A small amount of black spot will not harm the plant, although the affected leaves might fall off. You can prevent this by spraying. The Maine Rose Society webpage has articles on Black Spot prevention and treatment if you wish to learn more. See http://pmo.umext.maine.edu/factsht/Spotrose.htm for example. The second problem is that of an insect larva (worm) in your buds. Again you will need to spray to kill these. For research into these problems see http://www.mainerosesociety.com/rosepd.html. For a general purpose prevention spray I recommend K-NEEM oil, but many commercial products are available.
Jerry Cinnamon |
