I would be interested in the cause and solution to this as well.I don't have this in my mini's (yet) but have it in several regular rosesLeaves turn yellow over night and fall off.

Jean

Take a leaf and a magnifying glass and look at the back and see if you see a spider mite.

Next thought is what my problem has been, how big is the pot this rose in? I just repotted two roses, talk about root bound! This looks like an older rose, how long has it been in this pot? The roses I had in the past that did what you're describing, turn yellow and loose their leaves, were in pots that were too small and of course you don't have saucers under this, right? (I'm better at minis in the ground.) Roses in pots is something I'm just discovering. I have two in pots that made it through the winter however, a first for me and both were in pots too small, that I've now corrected as I said.

You're asking for suggestions, this is mine. I'm hoping Diane or Mike or someone else will come along and offer something up more constructive.
Leslie

It is an older rose. It was grown in one of those little swan containers until I got my hands on it. Repotted it to its current container that has a built in saucer so to speak. I have another much smaller mini in a container and it does the same thing.

Ok, I'm guessing then that the roots are sitting in too much water. I have a couple of friends who really knows minis. I'll check with them and get back to you. May take me a day or two but I'll see if I can't get a better answer. Still, how large are these pots these are both in? I was told to take my saucers away and drill extra holes in my pots which I have. The smallest pot I have now is 12" for a small mini, the larger minis are in double that. I've got holes even drilled in the legs on the larger pots. I will see what I can find out.

Don't get excited. Let's review this situation.

How big is your pot? If it is less than 2 gallons, you need to get a bigger pot or transplant that rose to the ground. Remember, mini roses average knee to waist high or taller.

Do you dump the saucer or let the plant sit in water? If the soil in the bottom of the pot is kept damp, then you are not permitting adequate drainage. Roses love water, but they don't want to stand in it all day. Neither would you! Think pruny feet. : )

When I first looked at your photo, I thought, "Did that plant get pruned back before spring?" You have a whole lot of old looking foliage. At this time of the year, I would expect to see all new growth and leaves, with last year's foliage long gone after the winter prune.

If you didn't prune, then your rose is simply getting rid of the old foliage, which should have been removed with a winter cutback.

I do see good foliage among the bad. Is most of that yellow foliage at the bottom of the plant? Did you have any problems with fungi, during last year...you know, rust etc? If those leaves had rust, and you sprayed for fungi, then those damage leaves would be expected to die and fall off.

I am not a fan of multi-purpose chemicals. You should not be spraying for pests, especially mites, if you don't have evidence of pests. That just makes more chemical resistant critters, requiring nastier chemicals.

Mites have become resistant to so many chemicals over the years, because of misuse or overuse of miticides.

Washing your roses with a strong spray of water each day will do more than all your chemicals to keep bugs and fungi from becoming a problem. That means spraying the underside of the leaves too. That's where most of the critters and fungi hang out.

By the way, if you don't water your plant well in advance of spraying (like the night before), you will get spray burn. That can be anything from burned edges on your foliage to 'fried foliage' which would turn yellow and drop off.

I will try to get back to you about this post, but I have been having some problems with my computer online lately. If I can't get back to you, Leslie will keep me informed about your situation.

I did prune the plant in february. It responded with a flush of new growth and looked great until about a week ago. It has a ton of buds on it as we speak. The container is 3 gallon maybe. The container does hold water in the bottom so the first thing I will do is change that by drilling holes or whatever I need to do. I will take a better picture of the plant and post it later today. thanks for replying, I really appreciate it.

Duane

Here are a couple more pics.

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{{gwi:1203853}}

Duane, I'm betting it's drainage problem, your roses look pretty healthy otherwise. Hanford rose has years of experience growing minis, I completely trust what she tells you. The pots look really nice with the attached saucers but they retain water the roses roots don't like sitting in. While you're waiting for Hanford rose, alot of times she's around in the evenings, I'd go ahead and drill holes in those pots. My husband used a masonary drill bit in my plastic pots like those, if that helps what kind. The pot sitting next to it, does it already have one hole open at the bottom? If so, while you're at it, you might give it a couple of extra holes too.

Thanks for the additional pics, that helps alot to see the whole rose.
Leslie

I really appreciate the replies. I plant to drill the holes this afternoon when I get off work. Hopefully that will take care of the problem because it is such a beautiful little rose when healthy.

Duane

Sometimes those saucers detatch from the container. If you can, just snap it off. That will help, and you won't have to drill anything. I agree, looks like it is holding too much water in the soil.

After closer inspection of the container, it didnt appear that the roots were setting in water. So I decided to move it to a bigger pot, and the roots didnt look all that root bound either. Im sure the bigger container wont hurt but Im not sure that was the problem. Here it is after repotting to a little larger container.

{{gwi:1203855}}

That's still a big mini and it'll probably appreciate more room even if it didn't appear rootbound. Also as Hanford rose reminds me a shot of B1 on transplanting if it has any problems with being moved is good for it or did you use it already?

That's going to be gorgeous when all those blooms open.

I'll talk to Hanford rose and see what she says about this now that you've done this. I don't see as much yellowing on the leaves, or they've just gone ahead and dropped off already. The rest of the leaves look pretty healthy from your picture, all those buds look great.
Leslie

Hi Duajones.

Thank you for posting a photo of the whole plant. From what I am seeing, you don't seem to have any obvious problem with your plant. For the most part, your yellow leaves appear to be normal shedding of leaves by the plant. All healthy roses DO SHED LEAVES as they grow and develop.

Let me give you some examples of the leaves that would be EXPECTED TO DIE AND BE SHED on a healthy rose plant.

1. When a new stem forms, it usually starts at the point where a leaf is attached to another stem. As the new growth develops and produces a stem, it will cut off the flow of nutrients to that original leaf at the point of stem to stem connection. That leaf which sheltered the bud eye of the new stem has served its purpose; and now, it can die and be shed by the plant. That leaf has been replaced by a health new stem and lots more leaves.

2. When a new cane is formed (usually lower on the plant), that small cane will thicken as it grows taller. This thickening is necessary to support all the upper branches of that cane, as they form. When the once small cane thickens in diameter, the lower leaves can no longer maintain their attachment to the heavier cane with its increasingly harder covering. Those leaves will be shed. Eventually, those thicker canes will even develop a bark-like covering, which will not allow for any leaf attachment.

Both of these 'normal situations' create yellow leaves which fall from the plant. In nature, we do not worry about all the leaves that are shed by plants in open meadows and forests. They form the natural mulch of the woodlands and fields.

However, in the captivity of our gardens, these same plants become the obsession of humans. Every yellow leaf seems to be a reason for concern.

What I see in your photos is a healthy mini rose plant, covered in fat buds and lots of long, strong canes with a nice covering of leaves that just needs a 'shake' to loosen a few dead leaves.

I would say that you are doing just fine...and so is your rose.

By the way, Diane is right. Those pots usually have detachable saucers. If you want to keep the saucers under the pots, you can do one of two things. Either dump the water out of the saucer, after the plant has drained; or better yet, put some gravel in the saucer and set the pot on top of the gravel. That way the plant will be sitting above any water in the saucer below.

First, Let me say thanks for the replies. I really do appreciate it. But, I am having a hard time understanding why a rose would dump so much new growth. Last year I pruned in the spring and the plant just exploded with new growth. Here is what it looked like this same time last year.
{{gwi:1203857}}

2 weeks later, 90 percent or better of the foliage looked just like what Ive shown above. Then it got hit with powdery mildew. I stripped it of all of its foliage, it again responded with fantastic growth and shortly after blooming again, the yellowing leaves with dark spots reappeared. If that indeed is normal, I will quit worrying about it and move on. Thanks again

Duane

I don't know Duane, I'll pass that info on to Hanford rose, you didn't say that earlier, that additional info might mean something to her or not. I would be concerned about loosing all my roses again too. You put alot of time and effort into growing them and this is a beautiful rose, I wouldn't be satisfied until I was sure I had the answer too.

That instant defoliation sounds more like spidermites, than anything else. The only way to be sure would be to check out the underside of the leaves with a magnifying glass of some kind. To the naked eye, they look like pepper on the underside of the leaf.

At the extreme, you might also see webbing.

My first thought too when I saw your last question, spider mites. Regular use of insecticides can actually increase spider mites. That is a major reason why I only spray insecticides when I see insect damage, and only for short periods of time.

It looks like spider mites to me also. It usually starts low.
Take a hose and wash your plant everyday for a week or so.The water will knock them off and knock off any eggs also.

Hi Everyone
I'm a total newb, I guess. I've bought grocery store minis before and kept them inside, but I just treated them like any other houseplant, and they usually died within a few months, much to my dismay. My current minis, a Pink Marina and a White Cupido, are also from the grocery store, and I've had them since October or November in their original 4-inch pots, in an East-facing window. They alternate between flourishing and failing, but they've bloomed about 3 times, and so I've been quite pleased with myself.
However, one is 3 to a pot, and the other is 4, and I think separating them would help them, as the Marina is quite crowded. Here's the problem. The Marina is blooming, but some of its leaves are turning yellow, and others are staring to get covered in that powdery mildew. I don't have a magnifying glass, but they're kind of flecky on the back, so I'm guessing it's spider mites. Should I deal with the mites before separating, or should I go ahead and separate while I'm demiting?
The radio gardener on CBC says that for aphids, mites, earwigs, thrips, etc, to mix 40 parts water with 1 part liquid soap and spray that on, leave it 10 minutes, and then spray again with clear, room temp. water. He says do it 3 times over a 10-day period.
I'll let you know how this mixture goes.
Also, how exactly do you assemble a pebble tray?

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening with Ed (former Gardener for 6 Governor Generals)