Black Spot everywhere

Wednesday, Sept. 08, 2004 – 3:23 p.m.

2004-09-08 3:23

[sigh] The black spot is back with a vengence. It appears that almost all of my bushes, even those that appeared to be resistant to it, have been infected. ARGH! I will confess that since I have gotten back from Pennsic, I have not done much with the roses in the garden and now I am paying for it. I did spray before I went on vacation, really I did. However, Mother Nature has not exactly been kind (unless you are on the side of the black spot… in which case she has been very kind…) We had a lot of rain during August and thus far in September (Several tropical storms and hurricanes will do that…) and even when it has not rained, the humidity has been pretty high… Perfect conditions for blackspot and other fungal growth. Add to that the lack of care on my part (Hey it has either been raining or humid as all get out) and you get Black Spot City. Even “The Fairy”, which has not had blackspot in the past, has the stuff and the Madame Hardy has pretty much been denuded but it.

So, I have some work ahead of me if I am going to eradicate this infestation. Of course I need to spray. I went out at lunch today to Family Home and Garden and got another bottle of Mancozeb, the contact fungicide, and I am going to follow the “spray every three days for three intervals” with a contact fungicide as outlined in the Rosemania.com spray guide. However, the other thing I will need to do is get all the fallen leaves up as well. oh well, I needed to replace the mulch in most of the beds anyway.

A Weeding we will go…

Weeds have also taken over much of the garden. I spent much of a day this past long weekend (it was Labor Day) weeding just one of the beds. When I filled a trashcan to overflowing, I figured it was time to quit for a while. Even then, there was still a significant patch of wire grass in the bed. I either need to rip it out or spray it with Vantage. The problem with spraying with Advantage is that the last time I did, I ended up killing a patch of grass next to the spot.

Quandry

It may be the result of the Blackspot, but I have have not had that many blooms of late. It is also possible that I need to feed the bushes. I didn’t get a chance to apply the time-release fertilizer in the spring so now I have to decide whether to feed them now or just live with what I have got. Feeding them now may cause a lot of new growth that may still be too tender when we start getting cold weather. At this point, I am thinking I will give them a couple of applications of the water soluable stuff (Miracle Grow) over the next couple of weeks and leave it at that. I do have a device that I can put “in-line” with the hose so it will feed as I water…. not that I need to water right now. Hmmmm I might be better off mixing up a big bucket of the stuff and apply it to each bush manually.

Another Quandry

The end of this month is the District rose show in Kings Mountain, SC. It also happens to be the same weekend as Celtic Cattle Raids. Now I can’t decide which I want to go to. I haven’t been to a rose event since the beginning of June and I feel like I have kind of lost touch with the rose folk. I did email Rich, the pres of the Raleigh Rose Society, and he responded that the Rose Picnic would be either the 18 or 19th because the district show is the last weekend this month. He also asked if I wanted my garden in the garden tour… Given the state, I am thinking not to the latter. [sigh]

Well, it’s off to spray the roses…

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