Thanks!

--

John T. Jarrett
http://logontexas.com

"animaux" wrote in message
...
If you live in an area where humidity is a problem, and anything over 50%
usually is
with hybrid tea roses, I suggest you eliminate the fussy hybrids and move
into
antique roses. They can be David Austin, or Antique and they smell 100
times better
than new varieties and are much easier to manage and have far less
problems with
pests, such as black spot.

There really is no better treatment to give roses of any kind than to
fully prepare
the soil with plenty of loose soil, compost and ample watering. Watering
only the
soil, not keeping the foliage wet near dark and foliar feeding.

You can use a preventative measure using the baking soda method, but that
is not such
a good idea as the baking soda can build up in the soil making it toxic
for the rose.

Keeping good sanitation by pruning inward growth, clearing any fallen
foliage before
winter arrives, mulch, hydration and fertilization all prevent diseases
and pests on
roses.

To answer regarding sulfur, well, organic does not mean non-toxic. Some
of the most
toxic poisons are in the organic growers arsenal. Several years ago one
of the
pesticides went through trial to see if it would help with fungal
diseases. It is
Neem Oil. For insects this material renders them unwell and unable to eat
so they
die of starvation. For fungal diseases, neem has been used for many years
in other
parts of the world. There is a product by Green Light (not an organic
company, not
by any stretch) makes a neem product called, Rose Defense. It is also
sold under the
name BioNeem and some others. I believe Shultz's now also has neem oil.
I may have
seen it in Lowes.

There will be directions on the label which you should follow carefully.
Next fall,
if your soil is not completely friable, full of compost and other organic
matter, I
suggest you pull the roses up and amend the soil properly, then plant
them. Keep
them watered and fertilized and healthy and they have better ability to
stave off
diseases and pests. Stressed plants show their stress by attracting and
falling prey
to insect and disease damage. Not too different than the human body.

Victoria


On Mon, 17 Mar 2003 17:55:55 -0600, "John T. Jarrett"
wrote:

Austin's noted for being progressive...

Do any of y'all (that aren't on rec.gardens) use organic remedies for
Black
Spot?

I tried a bottle of wetted Wettable Dusting Sulphur and, frankly, didn't
like the fact I'm STILL supposed to wear a mask and keep it off my skin,
not
use my garden for 24 hours, keep kids and cats out for a day, my cat got
sick, and it makes really ugly spots on the new red rose leaves. Sounded
organic when I bought it...

:-/