Roses: are there any natural treatments?

[dreaminofholidays]

Hi,

I'm fairly new to gardening but really enjoy it. I've noticed alot of my roses have the dreaded black spot and I want to find a natural treatment for them.
I have dogs so would prefer to stay away from chemicals.
What do you do to keep your roses beautiful and disease free? x

Watching with interest

Ours had to be treated with chemicals

I ended up moving them to a sunnier spot too

Watching too- I like to use the rose petals in cooking and can't now I've been treating them.

the right feed at the right time.
repotting (if in pots)
cut back hard and take away all leaves carefully. burn them or put in household waste, not compost.

Is it ok to prune right back so there are no leaves left? All my old fashioned rose’s remaining leaves dreaded spot.

Plenty of light and air and keeping up with pruning is said to help. Also advice ^^

I don't have any, but I think the best option is to go for David Austin (RIP) roses. I don't think I've ever seen a bad review of them and the ones I've seen in real life have been exceptionally vigorous and healthy. Yes, they're pricey, but if you're a rose lover and settled in your house, I'd go for them if possible - maybe ask for them for gifts etc.

NB I'm not on commission

Garlic.

Prune the roses back and remove all cuttings. Peel and pop cloves of garlic into the soil around the plant.

In Summer boil up a couple of cloves of garlic in water and put it in a sprayer. Spray the plants regularly through the growing season.

My MIL said it worked on her rose last year.

Some rose varieties are far more prone to black spot than others. One of the best things to do is to make sure that you always pick up fallen leaves and don't leave them on the ground. The other thing to do is to pick off leaves which have black spot on them.

Feed them really well during the growing season, as strong, healthy plants can fight of diseases better.

Don't put anything diseased on the compost heap, it needs to go in the bin.

I'll try the garlic treatment. I wouldn't dream of using chemicals on anything, it's bad for ALL the wildlife including the bees..

Roses need plenty of sun, and I've used banana skins mashed up in compost. That helps the growth and immunity to disease a lot. Maybe use a nettle feed spray too.

There's defo something about the garlic.
My aunt told me that boiled garlic water is also amazing for orchids- they'll start blooming like freaks.🤷🏻‍♀️

You're right Josephine I killed a really bad toothache with it (my dentist was impressed ) it's a natural anti biotic!!!!

I plant salvia round the base of mine

Does that deal with the blackspot? I've got a white rosa alba climber that hasn't flowered for 6 years it is quite shiny and climbing enthusiastically. Might a salvia help it? I've fed it and this year I mulched with pine chippings, they might help because the soil isn't very acid.

ppeat - it would seem so:

www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/how-to-grow/at-last-roses-meet-their-perfect-match/

Thanks for that link Taffeta That is very interesting because most salvias grow like weeds in my garden! . I'm coincidentally growing a salvia cutting next to a rose cutting and you can guess which one isn't doing well, but it may be a deciduous rose and will pop up again in the spring!

The new 'patio' roses do better than the old fashioned ones, (except for an unnamed ancient pink rose , which suddenly appeared just outside our gates in the lane and now grows happily by cuttings anywhere). It's miraculous because it has literally climbed through a thick bush like 10ft. tall cotoneaster and I thought they needed sun all day!!

Thanks so much everyone. I will definitely try these, intrigued about the garlic.
x