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Rose diseases and fungi can really destroy your garden. It can be heartbreaking to see all of your beautiful plants and flowers destroyed by a seemingly meaningless disease or fungus. Roses can become weaker during the colder months and they are more susceptible to diseases once the warm months start again.

Even if they get through winter relatively unscathed, their weaker immune systems will be more open to the heat and humidity that the spring rains and summer heat bring. In this way, the roses might contact a fungal infection that destroys them, despite all of your best efforts.

There are a number of common diseases you might encounter with your roses:

Powdery Mildew

Powdery mildew is a fungus. As explained by its name, it produces a bright white powder along the tops and bottoms of the leaves and even along the stems. If you do not treat the mildew right away, the rose will not reach its full potential and the leaves will start to die and fall off the plant.

Rust

Rust on roses looks just like rust on metal will. It appears on the underside of the leaves and quickly spreads to other parts of the plant as well.

Blackspot

Hybrid teas are completely resistant to blackspot, but other roses have been known to get it. If there are circular black spots on the leaves of the plant that are 1/16 to ½ inch in diameter, you might have the disease. Take action on the disease immediately before it has the chance to ruin the plant’s foliage.

Rose Mosaic

Unlike most of the rose diseases that are fungi, the Rose Mosaic disease is a virus. The signs of this disease have mosaic patterns of green and yellow that are discolored.

The only way to stop this from spreading throughout your garden is to remove the plant entirely. You will also need to remove all of the leaves and clippings from the affected plant to ensure that it does not get to your other species. If you cannot stop the effects of this disease, you will need to bring in professional help and ask about commercial treatments that will solve the problem.

How can you avoid giving your plants these diseases? There are a few things you can do. Always water the soil around the rose and not the rose itself. Clean your rose beds regularly to prevent fallen leaves from cluttering underneath. Cut the diseased blooms right away and throw them in your trash can. Prune regularly. And seal all the cuts in the plant with Elmer’s glue or another safe glue. Feeding your roses regularly will also give them plenty of strength to fight infections.

Finally, you can choose disease-resistant roses whenever possible to avoid the problem in the first place. If you grown plants that are resistant to diseases and fungus, there is less threat of promoting threats to your plants.

Click the links to find more resources on Rose Gardening, Rose Garden Diseases and Rose Garden Hilling.