jbjulian 2 Report post Posted June 11, 2012 Hi Janet and Steve, I've been growing William Baffin Roses for ten years and they have been spectacular. I have had no problems with them at all until this spring. There are two roses - one on each side of an arbor. They are in a southeast exposure and have been very healthy. A month ago I noticed several canes on one plant needed to be removed. The buds wilted and the leaves turned yellow. I cut them out and thought I had taken care of the problem. A week later there were two more canes that had to be removed. Today I noticed at least three more canes look the same - wilted buds and yellow leaves. The rose canes are about 15' tall and have been blooming beautifully. They get enough water and I fertilized them in May with Rosetone. I don't know what to do. At this rate it looks like I might lose more than half of the enormous plant. I have some pictures if they will help. Let me know if you want to see them. Thank you so much for any help you can provide. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted June 11, 2012 Billy Baffin's often (usually?) sold own-root. I know what step one would be at my house, but I don't want to shock the new folks. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted June 12, 2012 Yes they are own root. By the time I cut out all the dying canes I can guess what the next step would be... replace it. I'm just curious as to what is happening to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted June 12, 2012 Actually, my first step for all rose problems is to whack it down and send it away. I don't mean the problem canes - I mean ALL of them. Right to the ground. Like, lopper blades in the dirt. Gather up all of the canes (and any leaves or debris you can grab), and get rid of them by sending them offsite in yard waste or whatever as soon as possible. Just don't stand too close afterwards, because a big, old William Baffin, assuming it was healthy and this issue just appeared, will LEAP out of the ground and grow like crazy, especially if you do it in June and keep the ground (but NOT the leaves) adequately moist. I know it's not a solution that works for everyone. I'm not a really a rose collector, and roses have SO many pests, it's not worth it to me to spend the time deciphering it, especially when cutting it to the ground and throwing it away has worked for so many things (except the stupid thrips). There are plenty of references (and people on here) to help diagnose rose problems, and tons of methods and products to solve them if you want to go that route. But for me, my way is quicker and surprisingly effective. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted June 12, 2012 I have two of them and they are on either side of an arbor. I don't have a problem cutting the one that is dying to the ground but the other one looks just fine. I'm not a rose collector either but they have been beautiful and disease and pest free for ten years. As I cut down the dead canes I see new shoots coming up a few feet away. Unfortunately they aren't close to the arbor. The other problem is my gardens are going to be on a garden walk in eleven days. If I cut one down to the ground it will look pretty silly. I guess I will continue to saw down the dying canes and hope there is a little bit left for the garden walk. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted June 12, 2012 Yikes! Yes, cutting it down before the walk is certainly not ideal! If you can get those pick up maybe someone with more experience with roses than my rather crude one-size-fits-me solution can provide some suggestions or at least narrow down what the problem is. Good luck with the garden walk! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 17, 2013 Thanks for the information provided. My dying rose bush stayed partially alive through the garden walk. It was sparse but the rose on the other side of the arbor made up for it. By the end of fall I had cut out about 90% of the rose. There are only a few long canes left and most of it has been cut down to about one foot high. I plan to cut the shrub down to the ground early in the spring (or late winter if the weather cooperates). Do you think I should try to dig it out completely or wait to see if it comes back to life in the spring? Removing it would be a huge project since it's been in the ground for so long and there are a lot of perennials around it. If I do replace it I would consider maybe New Dawn. It is supposed to be as hardy as William Baffin and I think the color will coordinate with the existing William Baffin (medium pink). This spring I may plant some annual vines next to the stubs so there will be something flowering on that side of the arbor. Any other suggestions? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted January 18, 2013 My only concern would be, if you haven't identified the problem, you may just be providing a fresh victim if you replace it with another rose. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 23, 2013 That's a good point. Maybe I'll use vines instead. Nobody has been able to diagnose the problem yet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steven Nikkila 32 Report post Posted January 24, 2013 Can you post some of the photos? I'm quite a visual person and sometimes there are clues visible but not in a description of a problem. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 28, 2013 Hi Steve, Here is the rose shrub when it was in full bloom. This is when I saw the branches were beginning to yellow and die. I have more pictures to post but the files are big. Each will have to be in one post. Judith Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 28, 2013 This was taken two weeks later. It was obvious there were a lot more branches dying. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 28, 2013 The buds would begin to open then simply wither. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 28, 2013 I have a few more pictures if you want to see them. Let me know. Thank you for any advice you have. Judith Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Margaret Thele 16 Report post Posted January 28, 2013 Does anyone know if roses are susceptible to verticillium wilt. Kind of looks like that... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dsmith74 16 Report post Posted January 29, 2013 Do you recall if, when you cut them down, the canes were hollow inside? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted January 29, 2013 There is an identical rose on the other side of the arbor and it was beautiful and healthy all year long. I checked the canes when I cut each branch and they were not hollow or discolored at all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Janet Macunovich 32 Report post Posted February 4, 2013 Maybe it's dieback from some minor-problem-become-major on a rose infected with rose rosette disease. I hate to even suggest it. However, we've had trouble with this virus-like disease, all of a sudden over the past going-on-4 years, all over the place in a here-and-there fashion. From that and what we've heard and read in looking into it, we think everyone should learn to look for it. We don't know all the summer symptoms yet but we've posted photos of some we've seen, in the GardenAtoZ.org What's Up news. The spring symptoms are unmistakeable, but we are now pretty sure that they build up over time and might be missed for w while. So we've become suspicious of any branch dieback from other causes, since it may be happening because the immediate issue has been exacerbated by the plant's increasing weakness from disease. That's why Steven asked earlier about other photos. (Then we forgot to re-check; sorry!) We can't see the detail we need in your photos, however. (Gorgeous plant! We grow Willliam Baffin in clients' beds and don't think any of ours match yours!) So you may want to look at our photos at the Rose Rosette page in What's Up, and think back to whether you might have seen anything like them on your plant. (I'll also go start a topic on this Forum where we can discuss rose rosette disease separately.) It's a terrible thing when it happens, with no solution but removal, no hope of controlling the vector so and thus a tendency to your fingers that the insects (mites) that spread it have not gotten to all the other roses nearby.I'm not saying that's what your rose's problem is but that you should look into it. Given the timing and the look of the dieback, cane borer damage is what came to my mind first and I think is what DSmith might have been asking about, in terms of the hollow canes.In our What's Up article we refer to Morton Arboretum bulletins. Here's another -- there are many!www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/ext.../PPFS-OR-W-16.pdfFrom that bulletin:Rose rosette symptoms are initially observed during spring, intensifying as the season progresses.(we've seen these spring signs and also a couple of the summer symptoms; see the last and first-from-last bullets below)Symptoms are highly variable, depending on cultivar, plant age, and growing conditions. Some common symptoms include:• Increased growth/rapid elongation of shoots...• Abnormal red discoloration of shoots and foliage...• Witches broom (prolific clustering of small shoots)...• Spiral pattern of cane growth...• Shortening of internodes (shorter stem length between leaves)...• Distorted or dwarfed leaves...• Overabundance of thorns...• Atypical flower coloration (e.g. mottling of otherwise solid-colored roses)...• Deformed buds and flowers...• Increased susceptibility to other diseases, such as powdery mildew... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jbjulian 2 Report post Posted March 14, 2013 Sorry I haven't checked back in a while. Thanks for all the information. I looked at the pictures under the 'rose rosette' link. Mine didn't look like that. It grew normally, looked just like it has for the past ten years and all of a sudden it began to die one section at a time. I checked each cane when I removed them and saw no signs of rose borer. They weren't hollow or discolored. I'll wait and see what happens when they begin to grow this spring. I'll compare the rose that died back to the rose on the other side of the arbor - it was perfectly healthy all year long. It's such a care free plant that I was shocked when almost the whole thing died. Thank you for all of your input. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest bfrench Report post Posted June 20, 2013 I live in Ann Arbor, MI and am losing a two-year-old America climber to what sounds like the same problem. I first noticed yellowing leaves, then the leaves and eventually the whole cane shriveled. I cut off the first one that did this, but two more became afflicted. There are two canes left, and one is going the same way. It had one beautiful bud, which wilted and drooped. We've had plenty of rain here, and my New Dawn rose four feet away looks fine. Canes are not hollow, no pests or abnormal patterns on leaves are visible. Verticillum wilt comes closest to what this looks like, but there are differences - no blackening of leaves or buds. This is a grafted rose and I'm debating cutting it all down to the graft union and hoping it can recover. I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
