See...no need to feel guilty! I found this post very informative. I had never even heard that the rose rosette virus was intentionally released! I'll bet they would love to keep that secret! Good thing you posted your observation about zinc and rose rosette, if anyone ever claims to have discovered that you now how witnesses that you did. Maybe it is a good thing my chain link fence borders two of my beds that have roses. The bed I just dug the Irises out off and planted four roses in however does not have. I would love to know the history of how the release of the mites was decided, and on what research they based the resistance of garden roses to the virus before it was released. Did the cattlemen just bribe some government department to do such a horrendous thing?

I live in one of the biggest dairy counties in PA, so when dairy farmers say "Jump" the establishment usually says "how high?" I remember reading about this in a local paper when it happened; I don't know who decided this for our county/township. I do know that this was NOT done in nearby Fulton County (which has a glorious bloom of R. multiflora in June that smells like driving through heaven); Fulton is more mountainous and not as "dairy" as we are.

Look up what Rose rosette looks like in affected roses and if you see anything like it, spray to kill mites and try inserting zinc galvanized wire or nails into the rose just above the roots. It has to be zinc.