Yo - getting a little harsh there, weren't you, Shiva?


Do you know what botrytis looks like, torgo?

Well, gee, do you know what a vegetable garden looks like, Shiva?

Your info is incorrect. Botrytis is NOT a bacterial infection. It's
a fungus. And it's certainly not some mysterious rare ailment known
only to experienced rosarians. If you grow strawberries, you'll have
it as sure as the morning dew. Tomato plants and string beans are
vulnerable to it as well. And if you ever venture to try your hand at
scuppernongs, it could ruin your crop in a single weekend.

You're not exactly presenting a news flash here. Yes, I've seen the
effects of Botrytis cinerea in many forms, most of which are quite
disgusting.

Since he's had these problems the entire bloom season thus far, why
has he seen no symptoms of botrytis other than rose blooms that look
"20% dead"? Where are the fuzzy lesions, the blackened growths in
the rotting areas, or the grayish mold? Why hasn't there been
accelerated aging and rotting of the blooms? Why have the spot
symptoms not spread to the rest of the plant by now? And why haven't
anything other than the rose bushes been affected? Botrytis will hit
anything from bulbs to ground cover plants to fruits and vegetables to
cacti. (It's not proud. Or tired.) Yet all he's getting are some
spots, only on the roses, only on the blooms, and based on the photo,
apparently only on the outermost parts of the petals.



The rest of the plant is quite impressive, and I'd be terrified to use
chemical agents on such magnificent foliage. The side effects would
likely outweigh the benefits.

This is complete nonsense. My foliage is more beautiful than it ever
was before I protected it from chewing and sucking insects and fungal
disease with Orthenex.

Good for you. But you call it nonsense to say the bad effects of
unnecessary use of hazardous chemicals could outweigh the good???
You didn't even ask him if he had so much as a sage plant before you
recommended spraying a product whose runoff alone could render nearby
fruits or herbs inedible. Nonsense, my ass. Put that decaf stuff
away and switch to a real brand.

Since you're so adamant botrytis is the cause of the problem, why on
earth are you recommending he use Orthenex? That would take care of
thrips, but for botrytis you might just as well tell him to use Mill's
Magic Mix.


Quite creative, and a nicely turned phrase i.e. "mental origami."
However--roses LOVE water, on their foliage, blooms, canes, roots. I
wash mine down twice a week, buds and all. I SPRAY every ten days with

Creativity has nothing to do with it. The only symptoms are those
spots, and he indicates that the spots are there as soon as the bloom
opens. So whatever the culprit, be it acid rain, botrytis spores,
thrips, or laser beams from outer space, it's happening specifically
within the bud, either before the bud opens or as it is in the process
of opening.

Either way, the petals are densely packed together at that stage,
which suggests that many petals become affected at once, as opposed to
each petal getting its own spot in separate incidents. There are no
holes in the petals, just the stain/burn spots, pointing to a liquid
medium as the likely method of contamination.

Put it together, and damage from rain is a suspect. Since you've
completely dismissed the possibility that saturation of tender tissues
by liquid with pH factor significantly below 7.0 accompanied by
exposure to UV radiation can cause discoloration, get a sheet of onion
skin (tracing paper) and a cotton swab, put some lemon juice in a
Dixie cup, and ask a nine year old to show you the invisible ink
trick.

I'll leave your "roses love water" bit alone, other than to point out
that if botrytis is present, washing the plant down like that would be
an extremely unwise move.

Botrytis is one possibility, but you shouldn't be giving such an
acidic response to any alternative hypotheses.