Cindy McKinley

The Rose Rosette Disease does not appear at this time to have a cure and most people at this point haven’t even heard of it. Fortunately for me, I heard a speaker at the Ag Extension Building speak on this topic, so when my roses came down with it, I was able to identify it right away.

This disease is actually a virus which spreads from bush to bush by a mite and because there is no known cure, it is actually best to remove it. It is even suggested to remove some of the soil around the infected bush in case the mites are in the soil. Do not add these discarded bushes to your compost pile.

Rose Rosette Disease is also called “witches broom” because of the formation of the leaves and canes. Some things you should look for in the early stages are:

Distorted sepals which is usually the green part of the flower that supports the flower in bloom.

Misshapen flower buds — the new buds fail to open and look like rosettes.

Strapped leaves (thin elongated leaves that look frazzled) — also become red in color.

Increased thorns — usually small and red and brown in color.

Not all of these symptoms will occur at the same time; only one symptom may be present.

This disease can spread from rose bush to rose bush so identifying and acting diligently is a must. At one time the Knockout Rose was thought to not be susceptible to this mite but has since been proven that it can.

If herbicide has been sprayed and gets on your roses, they may also have this same appearance as the Rose Rosette Disease but will not have quite the bushy growth as the plant will have if it is truly infected with this disease. Because I was not sure when I spotted the problem, I cut back those roses I thought were infected and the new growth came back as described above so I dug them up and discarded them. Not all the roses in that bed were infected so I am watching for any symptoms that may possibly show up this spring.

For more information regarding this topic, visit https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/asset-external/rose-rosette-virus and https://roserosette.org/.