This autumn brings wonderful crisp weather perfect for rose gardening – but gardeners must be wary of black spot while tending their flowers.
The fungal disease appears as circular black spots on rose leaves. If left unattended, the leaves will turn yellow and rot away. The spots eventually expand, join together, and can spread to the entire rose plant.
The scourge can also infect young canes and flowers, which can prevent your roses from producing flowers. Without intervention, the fungus will weaken the plants, reduce their beauty, and can even kill them.
To protect her garden, Angela Patrone from the Express became a green-thumbed web sleuth and discovered the best way to combat the disease.
She borrowed an easy at-home method from gardening expert David Domoney. He advises that gardeners remove all the leaves that have any black marks.
Grab a pair of pruning scissors and disinfect the blade using an alcohol wipe. This prevents black spot fungus and other diseases from spreading to more plants.
To minimise contamination, keep cleaning the shears between cuts. You can never be too careful!
The next step is to cut off the leaves. If you don’t have a pair of gardening scissors at home, you can also pull the leaves off by hand.
After stripping the leaves, gather them all up and dispose of them securely in the bin. According to David, it is important to separate the contaminated leaves from the rest of your garden.
Do not add these leaves to your compost, as this can propagate the fungus.
Before heading inside, water your roses thoroughly. Take care not to splash the leaves, since since black spot is waterborne.
For best effect, aim water directly at the soil and keep leaves dry. This makes conditions less favourable for black spot.
Gardening experts say that roses thrive best with an initial pruning period in late autumn, just when growth has stopped.
A second pruning period can be done in late winter or early spring – just before the new growth starts.
Make sure to cut them back to where you count five leaves for best results.
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