Sickly roses

peteS

Can anyone advise me on what is turning out to be a serious problem. My rambling roses (David Austin's Open Arms and The Lady of the Lake) appear to be in terminal decline. What I thought was a bad case of black spot, looks on inspection much worse. Not only are most of the leaves affected and falling off, but most of the stems are either yellowing, brown or split from the base up. Do I need to take drastic action to get on top of this. I've included a photo, which hopefully shows some of the effects I'm talking about.

WonkyWomble

Hello Peter, personally I'd take drastic action with a hard prune. But if you want to wait until any flowers have bloomed it won't hurt. But I'd cut it down to about a foot and a half in height to a bud and give it some manure. It looks to be planted quite close to the wall, which is fine but can sometimes mean it doesn't get water when it rains. Give it a good drink once a week, and keep any muck you put down away from the stem to prevent rotting. Best of luck 😊

peteS

Any ideas as to what it might be. Is it black spot attacking the leaves and the stems, or some other nasty.

WonkyWomble

I can't really see enough of it. It may be that but impossible to tell from that picture. The treatment I've suggested will always help the rose. Get rid of any clippings, leaves etc and dispose of in waste bin. Dint want black spot coming back!