If you spray sulfur (such as Safer's fungicide) once a week beginning at leaf-out, you can get good blackspot control on all but the more susceptible varieties. I think it may be more effective than Cornell mixture, and it is basically non-toxic. See this forum's FAQ. Whatever fungal control you choose, it is important to start early and be faithful unless you have highly resistant varieties. Then if the plants are nearly clean at mid-summer they can stand it if you skip a week or two.

Then it is also very helpful to cull your more susceptible varieties and replace them. This is especially true with larger shrubs and climbers, because the fungus overwinters on canes, and also such roses can be hard to spray thoroughly. I got rid of my Zepherine Drouhin too.

Certain of the Austins are resistant enough to do well with "organic" fungicide programs -- I'd say Heritage, Tamora, Fair Bianca, Prospero, Molineux, but these all need some spraying. Then there are many other roses that you can grow without being limited to rugosas -- some Buck roses, some Brownell roses, some Romanticas, and many albas, ramblers, modern shrubs, teas, noisettes, hybrid musks, and polyanthas will need little spraying. If you are faithful with sulfur treatments, the more resistant hybrid teas and floribundas will do well. However, because these are less winter hardy, they will fail without good summer care.

So don't give up. I would totally defoliate and partially cut back all the plants that are in bad shape. This is about the latest time you can do this. They still have enough time to grow out, bloom, and gain some strength for the winter. Personally I would keep fertilizing into mid-Fall in this situation because your plants have been depleted of stored energy.

Best wishes,

Michael

My experience with the Austins is about like yours. The blackspot is terrible on most and I live is a bad area for it. Sharifa Asma was probably my best one but even it was pretty bad without spraying. I think the best thing you can do is try other roses that are naturally resistant. Some that do okay without spraying in my garden and are hardy to zone 6 are Belinda's Dream, Penelope, Carefree Beauty, Mango Blush, Buff Beauty, Sally Holmes, Prosperity, The Fairy. Try a couple of these and see how they do. A lot of the rugosas get blackspot too, and you can't spray them. Sir Thomas Lipton seems to be one that is okay with blackspot for me.

I still have my Austins but they are in pots. I dug them out of the garden this fall because they looked so terrible. Still, the flowers are so pretty that I can't bear to get rid of them - yet.

Thank you, MichaelG and LisaLou. I will definitely keep up the sulfur spraying and fertilizing. I guess I'll have to see what happens next spring - and I won't wait so long to start preventative spraying. Thanks also for the rose alternatives - I will keep them in mind in case I don't have better luck with my existing roses.
- Elsa

Many people have had success using cornmeal to prevent blackspot - see the Garden Experiments forum.

I learned about brewing aerated compost tea this year and after three sprays, black spot was wiped out! Check out brewing compost tea on the GardenWeb forum by performing a "search". (Search under "compost tea".) There is a lot of good info. on this excellent organic "elixir". I simply have never seen anything like it in over 35 years of gardening.

Whether it works in all cases or for all roses I just don't know. However, it is so easy and cheap to make that it is certainly worth a try.

Wow, that's high praise! I will definitely check that out!
Thank you.

Your welcome and good luck!

GOOD LUCK!!!! I have been a 100% organic vegetable gardener for years and took the same path with roses when I began growing them 4 years ago. I will not say that it can not be done. However, If you wish to have any true variety of roses in your garden you will eventually begin spraying for fungi. I started with all OGR because I wanted to go 100% organic. unfortunately the limitations in colors and choices of rose types caused me to move to some other types. i have plenty of "found" roses and others that are supposed to be Disease resistant. However, the only rose bushes that I can say did as well without spraying them as they do with a fungicide program are: Carefree Beauty, Bon Seline, Iceburg, and Mrs. B. R. Cant. Many others did grow and do (what I thought was) fairly well without spraying. Once i surrendered and began using a fungicide regularly the difference in all of my rosesm except the 4 mentioned above, was like night and day.
I have several roses whose linage goes back to a time well before fungicides were available and many of them struggled to the best they could, but they never really lived up to my expectations. Once a fungicide program was introduced they have THRIVED.

I still do not spray for insects and I only use 100% organic fertilizers.

I have come to the realization (much to my chargin) that most roses will only do their best with a fungicide program.

Hettick

Thank you, Hettick! Since my original post, I've been spraying with the Safer's fungicide and have noticed a major difference as well. I think I will experiment next year with a rugosa and see what happens. I have two Tamora roses that have just not taken off, and I think I will pot them up next spring and use that space for one of the rugosas I've been wanting to try. The blooms on Tamora are so beautiful that I can't bear to get rid of them!!

Elsa

Since it is getting towards the end of the season, you could do well to get some lime sulfur. It is used as a dormant oil spray. I had a pretty bad BS problem last year. I sprayed twice -- once in Feb and once in early April (about 6 weeks apart), before the roses had broken dormancy. I gave them all a good haircut and only have problems with one mini (I forgot to spray it) this year. All this and I have a sprinkler system, not drip.

jill

There are effective fungicides for use in an organic approach to rose gardening. Hence, no one who wants to be an organic gardener needs to use synthetic chemical sprays of any kind.

Elsa1028:

I have grown roses in Central NJ for about 4 years now in a no spray garden. I have tossed and given away many because of bs. There are others that are sterling gems:

Prairie Harvest !!!!
Paloma Blanca
Prairie Sunrise
KnockOut
New Dawn
New White Dawn
Wanderin' Wind (does not bloom much after initial spring bloom)
Lovely Fairy (lovely to cut a spray of flowers and place on a white frosted cake)
Hawkeye Belle (may have RMV, but still very good rose)
Auguste Renoir (blooms ball in rain)
Many of my favorites are Buck roses. Others roses that I have tried and dislike: Queen Bee, Prairie Star, Scentimental, Heritage (O.K.), Jude the Obscure (great blooms), Scentimental, Reines des Violettes, Jacques Cartier (no BS, but not reliable bloomer - in shady location), Aunt Honey (O.K.).

Be sure to purchase roses with disease resistance, it makes all the difference in the world.

Linda

I have found that using whole ground cornmeal works the best for blackspot. You can buy it at nurserys and at feed stores. Take a handful or two, and dump it under the rose, close to the stem, about out to the drip line. Water it in. The water activates the chemical process that cures the blackspot. You can use this ad lib. I also feed my roses with epsom salts and granulated molasses. You can get the epsom salts anywhere and the molasses can be obtained at a nursery or feed store. The new leaves that come out will not have the blackspot. There isn't anything you can do about the old leaves except pull them off. Be sure and put them in the trash can, not on the ground. Also, you can help prevent the blackspot by watering in the morning, water the roots and try to keep water off of the leaves. Watering at night, getting water on the leaves seems to aggravate the condition. Good luck. Cecelia

Hey, Elsa, don't give up. I agree with those who say that plant selection is the main thing.

Roses that have been completely disease-free for me (without any spraying or even fertilizing) are:

Prairie Harvest
Celestial.

Roses that have been almost disease free include:
Knockout
Piccolo Pete
Livin' Easy
Golden Unicorn
Prairie Breeze
Buff Beauty
Lavender Lassie

I have several others that have been clean so far, but they're really too young to evaluate.

I'm happy to hear that Dublin Bay has done well for you. It's on my wish list.

Wendell

Ok, so do you think this is worth a try: (had HORRIBLE blackspot last year & did everything right culturally, except I REFUSE to get rid of my hybrid teas/floribundas, Austins & Romanticas!)

Spray with Oil & Lime Sulfur spray 1st thing in spring BEFORE buds leaf out

2-3 weeks later spray all canes, soil with either Bonide Sulfur Fungicide or Safer (sulfur spray) every week or so (can I still do this in the am's even on a day that is supposed to be 85-90 later?)

Shake cornmeal around base of each rose bush

CONTINUE with the right cultural practices (watering in am etc).

I was told by nearby rosarians that I might LOSE my current bushes if I don't use Bannermax etc.! HELP! I don't want to bother with Cornell formula because I think our blackspot problems here are way too much for that!

Thanks! Phyl HUMID, HOT summers

The cornmeal did nothing for me as far as blackspot. I bought 500 pounds, but it did "green up" the garden a bit and softened the clay soil.

If you won't shovelprune your disease magnents, then expect to have a garden full of disease. Cultural practices will help only minimally in hot and humid climates. Very minimally. Cornmeal doesn't do diddly. Sulpher helps, but only if you are very very regular and still can tolerate spottage. Either bite the bullet and get rid of them, have a high tolerance to spots and leaflessness, or switch to commercial fungicides.

If you spray with the sulfur, does that mean you can't spray insecticidal soap for those nasty little roseslugs?

I think soap could be used with sulfur on the plants. It's oil and sulfur that must never mix.

Check out black spot on the garden web forum There are many recipes for baking soda, vinegar or milk solutions to fight black spot. I plan to use some of them soon.