Rose Rosette in small rose garden

Question

Rose Rosette in small rose garden – had to remove all plants and root soil. My question is about soil reparation. With what do we amend/treat the soil to return it to healthy conditions?

The rose bushes in our garden were infected with rose rosette. The disease was tip to root and spread throughout the plants. I have removed the ten bushes (and quite a bit of surrounding soil as well). I’m sure this was the only course of action I could take, but I”m very sad with the outcome.

We want to address soil condition before we fill in the holes. We will leave the irrigation in place, and may grow roses there again. For now, not in the plans. We still have iceberg bushes and a trellis which, interestingly, have fought off the rosette disease.

Thank you! We appreciate your suggestions.

Diane Browne
Placentia, CA

Answer 1

So very sorry to hear of the rose rosette virus in your roses. I would remove the soils in a 24 inch diameter and that deep as well. With a small hand rake or trowel break up the remaining soils and remove as much root matter as possible. Then replace the soils with a good bagged soils mix that has compost and if you can fine it, one that has alfalfa meal already in the mix. EKO brand soils mix that has a yellow front panel on it is just such a mix and can usually be found at Home Depot locations and some Lowe’s locations. Then you should be able to plant new rosebushes. I would also recommend spraying your rosebushes at least once per season with a miticide to keep problems with them under control. Also check out this website for more information on this terrible virus: http://americanhort.theknowledgecenter.com/OnDemand/index.cfm?view=category&colid=143&cid=377