Rose black spot/rust: too late to hard prune?

HumbleBee

Hi All

I've been away from the garden for over a month and have come back to my two Darcey Bussell roses absolutely covered in black spot/rust

There's lots of advice on the internet as to how to prevent or treat this, but little advice as to what to do if you're at the stage where the roses are in too bad a state to treat (which I think is the case here). Every single leaf I can see is affected...    So what now...? Can I give them a hard prune at this stage to remove this year's leaves / growth and start again or is that too late at this point in the year? They were so beautiful and healthy throughout last year's hot summer too...  the

JudithSteadmanJones473

My Gertrude Jekylls are in the same state!  I turn to the forum 'cos I think we should dig them up and plant something else;  I hate to do it , though.But, I hope I'm not misquoting Wonderful Monty , I think he would advise this   The soil must be contaminated.  So sad.😔😔😢  Judith

Nollie

Darcy Bussell, although a lovely rose, is susceptible to black spot. I have done a very hard prune in summer and the rose recovered, grew fresh foliage and even threw out some new blooms a couple of months later. If a hard prune sounds far too drastic (although it does work) you can prune by a third and pick off all the affected leaves.

Either way, it’s important to dispose of all pruned material and blackspotted leaves in the bin (don’t put them on your compost heap!) and make sure you remove all leaves and debris from underneath the plant too.

Scrape off an inch or two of the existing soil in a good circle around the rose, give it a really deep water - one or two full watering cans - work in a little rose food, then remulch with fresh compost. If the shrub looks a bit congested, prune out any crossing stems and open up the framework a little. 

All the above will equally work for Gertrude! 

JudithSteadmanJones473

 Thank you Nollie. I'm going to do as you suggest.Im sure Gertrude will be grateful too, when she recovers.😄
Judith.

HumbleBee

Thanks for the advice Nollie I'll do that too - at this stage nothing will look worse than it already does so I'll give it a good prune and see how it goes this year  

Nollie

‘can’t look any worse’ was my thought too when I plucked up the courage to do mine, having also originally sought advice from other forum members. Good luck!

B3

I've cut some badly infested rose down to sticks in the past. Mine,too' have leafed up and produced a few flower that year. The way I look at it,the leaves in such a bad state cannot be photosynthesising anyway so the plant is better off without them.
The named ones I can remember doing it to are Tess of the D and Arthur Bell.