I noticed some odd shoot and leaf growth on some of my roses about a 1.5 months ago, some leaves look small or thin and sometimes extremely curled, shoots look pale, there are more shoots at a time than usual and there is excessive thorn growth. I took a cutting to a gardening center near me and they told me that it was most likely Powdery Mildew as some of my plants were showing signs (and it causes leaf curl). We had a lot of rain and heat over that time which caused some black-spot too. I treated all my roses (no white marks or black-spot on leaves anywhere after a few days) but the problem persisted. Now, January is middle-late summer here in ZA, so I summer pruned my rose bushes before autumn in a couple of months time. My bushes have started growing back, but the strange growth has also reappeared, this time randomly on even more bushes. I am really concerned. I've watched a lot of YouTube videos and it looks similar to Rose Rosette in many ways... but every single person I've spoken to dismisses it outright and swears it only occurs in the US. Does anyone perhaps have any insight into what's going on? The plants adjacent to the affected bushes are all growing just fine and are looking healthy. I can't risk it spreading to my other plants if it is a virus of some sort. I need to take action now. Thanks!
Someone here will be able to tell you what it is, but that someone isn't me. I'm just here to say I think that second photo is the stuff of nightmares. Those leaves look absolutely carnivorous!
To me it looks like a combination of usual old and new rose attacks--powdery mildew, and mites, but not RRD. I hope it gets better as the season progresses for you!
Click on "Do your roses have RRD?" to watch a video showing pictures of sick roses. RRD typically displays a plethora of symptoms and the presence of various ones or all of them then suggests RRD. A single symptom by itself, such as reddish leaves, is normally not a diagnosis of RRD.
