Hi Everyone, I'm totally new here, although I have been stalking for a couple of weeks. ;-) I live on the west coast of Central Florida. I have started trying to grow roses. I am growing them (the few I currently have) in large, well-drained pots. I hate to have my very first post a plea for help but; I have a Josephs Coat that I bought from Home Depot just over a month ago. I potted it into a 15 gallon pot. It has been growing phenomenally and currently has several buds on it. The problem is that I was looking at it yesterday and it is covered with tiny black spots- OK I probably know what that is- but what is on the canes? Some are perfectly green and healthy and some are spotted or splotched black? I did buy some Neem oil thinking that might do the trick but would just like to make sure. I don't want to make it worse if this isn't what I need to do. It seems like the whole process started in the blink of an eye. And...You guys are great. I'm really envious and anxious to see if I can do this.

You probably do have some black spot. It probably had it when you brought it home. Nurseries are a fine place to get it because the plants are usually packed close together and the air flow isn't all that good. You can spray it with the Neem oil but be careful to do it on a cool day and keep it our of direct sunlight for a bit or you will get spray burn too. Otherwise just keep it well watered and take off the bad leaves and give it a chance to settle in to its new home.

Thanks Seil. Is that what is causing the black splotches on the canes also? I feel like if I take off all the bad leaves the poor thing will be almost Naked We're supposed to have heavy rains Monday and Tuesday. Maybe I should try to spray it tomorrow with the Neem or should I wait till after the rains?

Just take off the leaves as they die. Green spotted leaves are still able to feed the plant. But once they turn yellow or brown they are dead. Follow what ever directions are on the Neem Packages. The product should have time to dry on the plant before it rains to be effective I believe

Thank you, I will follow that advice for my Josephs Coat. I also received three roses from Heirloom two days ago. Bernstein, which has been potted into its new container and came with two buds already on it. Outta the blue, and a Black Cherry which are still in their one-gallon pots. They all looked really good and were packaged well. Today the Black Cherry, which is the shorter one gallon, has new leaves forming that don't look so good. Could it just be the stress of shipping or could it be something else? I looked closely and don't see any bugs. Should I pinch them off or see what they do? Love Love Love roses but hoping I didn't jump before I did all my research. Trying to play catch up now

Rose cankers will often show itself as black splotches on the canes of rose bushes. Many times after a recent pruning rose stem cankers will show up, especially when the pruners have not been cleaned between the prunings of different rose bushes.

Rose cankers will often show itself as black splotches on the canes of rose bushes. Many times after a recent pruning rose stem cankers will show up, especially when the pruners have not been cleaned between the prunings of different rose bushes.

[Preventing And Curing Rose Canker Removal of the infected cane or canes to good clear cane tissue below the canker followed by the spraying of a good fungicide will help in getting rid of or reducing the canker problem. Remember to wipe off the pruners with the disinfectant wipes or dip them in the Clorox solution after each pruning of a diseased cane! Always wipe down your pruners with Clorox or Lysol disinfectant wipes or dip them into a mixture of Clorox and water before pruning each rose bush.

Read more at Gardening Know How: Identify And Fix Rose Canker Fungus https://www.gardeningknowhow.c...

Use a bio-fungicide and use it now, you are in a humid climate and those problems will thrive down there.
If you can find a quart bottle of Serenade, buy it because Bayer has quit producing the small bottles; you can get a 2.5 gallon jug of Serenade OR other brands, which is far, far cheaper in the long run but they are not cheap.

Home Depot bareroots (with waxed canes) as well as "body bag" bareroots are notorious for canker . I often see the canker waxed over, which does not stop it, but does make people not notice it as much until it might be too late. I've also see it with pottled roses being sold in biodegradable pots, 11/2 grade, and even Weeks #1 grade. Sometimes, the tag will just so happened be strategically placed over a black spot on the cane, or even crown gall on the cane. After looking a dozen newly bought roses two years ago, I've learned to patrol my bargain roses on a weekly basis after purchase for months afterwards, each week often finding suspect canker development that I remove, with disinfected pruners which I remove again, after (and disinfect again with 70% alcohol).. I also seal the cane usually. I have learned that not all black spots are canker and need to be removed. Only if it encircles the cane more than half way and is the cane is obviously compromised, leaves wilting, cane yellowing. It must be pruned off below the infected spot to green/white or the canker may continue on. Happy rose growing! I hope yours thrives and blooms! If it doesn't, and it dies, Home Depot will refund the purchase price if you bring a receipt and the dead rose plant back in within 90 days after purchase.

I think she bought that last that of roses from heirloom roses.

Correct vaporvac. The only rose I bought from Home Depot was the Josephs coat. It looked really good until this past week. Weird thing is that it looks no worse today and maybe the black on the leaves has faded slightly. The three other roses were from Heirloom. I sanitized clippers before and after and clipped the small branch with the sad-looking leaves from the Black Cherry this afternoon. As soon as our deluge of rain ends that we are expecting tonight through Tuesday I will spray all the roses with the Neem that I bought, including the two that were bare root from Michigan Bulb three weeks ago; A Livin Easy and Artic Blue that are fully leafed out already and doing amazing (knock on wood).

You live in Florida. Black Spot is almost a given in your high humidity. You can battle it constantly with fungicides or you can look for less susceptible roses and learn to live with it.

The speckled leaves on the Josephs Coat have all but faded away. There were a few leaves that did appear to have BS that I picked off, but the rest are now green and healthy. Also the Black splotching on the canes has really faded away. It also opened its first bloom today! Everything got a good spray with Neem oil tonight.

I does, indeed, look very healthy now!

These are some pictures of other roses that I go this past weekend. They are from Hardin Nursery in Tampa, just north of where I live. All are grafted onto Fortuniana rootstock. Plus a picture of an unknown that I got about a month ago from a local store that I think is a Knock out. Now I need to get all these others potted into their forever pots. I am assuming that's what's best...is to put them into the large pots right off the bat? Everything got a welcome home dose of Neem oil as there were some leaves showing some BS. I know I should be loooking for resistant varieties but these were so pretty.

Sorry I thought the names would post with the pictures. First Was Pope John Paul, next Lagerfeld, Belinda Dream, Abraham Darby, two Double Delights, Josephine Land, Perfume Delight, Elina, Bernstein and an unknown= probably a Double Knockout.