Sudden Die Back

I'm having heaps of problems just now with Die-back. Most of my roses seem to have it in some form, some much worse than others. I have lost Ebb Tide, Anvil Sparks and possibly Limbo, I also think I may have lost my Stainless Steel. Also lost a Delbard Mini that we had.

Can anyone give me some advice of causes and cures? Seem to have no problems at all with Black Spot this year, and the Powdery Mildew is under control. Aphids were bad a month or two back, but they seem to be under control now too.

Have you tested your soil, are the roses that died planted in the same bed ??

I have had Powdery Mildew and the bugs but no die back, along with what Thee said are they getting regular watering. Roses will tolerate dry conditions and are now being touted as "drought resistant", however, I don't believe this is the case for newly planted Roses. I would term a newly planted Rose as anything under two years old.

All your roses are in pots aren't they David? Have you got some photos? It sounds like canker. Canker is one of those things in plants that is caused by lots of different things and is a term used to describe a range of different diseases. In roses canker is caused by a couple of different fungi. The spores enter the plant from a wound, like a dead-heading cut, and then the limb dies back from the top down. If you see it you can arrest the spread by cutting the limb back well below the die-back. Once the stem begins to die-back you should consider it irreparable and for the good of the plant the limb shold be removed. You need to get into the habit of carrying a small container of bleach with you and dip your secateurs in the bleach as you move from plant-to-plant to avoid spreading the fungus or any other disease. Make sure your secateurs are really sharp to avoid torn and broken tissue through which spores can enter and routinely remove dead or dying wood. Often canker can appear through incorrect pruning as well. If crossing branches are left in place when they rub or thorns from neighbouring branches rub on the branches wounds appear forming an entry point for fungal spores. When you say you've had little or no black spot this year is this because you've been spraying for it or you just haven't seen it? Reason I ask is that normal blackspot fungicides like Mancozeb will help to control stem canker because it is a general contact fungicide that also kills off the fungal spores that cause canker as well as black spot and mildew.

Yes, my roses are all in pots Simon. I will try to take some photo's over the weekend. Sorry for the delay in replying to you, I've not had internet for a few days. I have usually used a small jar filled with a disinfectant to clean my secateurs between each cut so hopefully that won't be the cause. It's been rather hot here recently, with late afternoon storms, very humid conditions.
I've had almost no black spot this year, and I haven't had to spray for it at all, I have sprayed for powdery mildew and aphids, but that's all this year.

I'll try to post pics here on sunday.
Thanks
David

Well I finally managed to get the photos off the camera. Sorry for the long delay. Also please disregard the date on the photo's, the camera has been playing up and wasn't set correctly. (Time for a new one).
They're not the best images, but hopefully something in there will give some clues as to what might have happened here.
Since taking the photo's I've lost Stainless Steel and Ebb Tide. 2 of my most favoured ones now dead!

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Further to the above, I've also lost the mini Delbard that I had... I wish the cooler weather would come, it's just so hot here at the moment..

Except for photos 4, 5, and 6, I would almost certainly say canker. Photos 4, 5, and 6 look burnt to me. Maybe one of those real hot days in a pot and they fried, judging by the dry leaves. Canker leaves don't look like that. They yellow and drop almost like black spot.

Thank you for the diagnosis, I've spent a lot of time mulching and keeping them as cool as I can with this weather. It's less humid here than when I lived on the coast, but still gets a bit sticky.

looking at the die back i would say definetly canker, could have had it origins at the grower, few years ago i bought a number of roses from a well known grower, all came down from it