Are You Looking To Get Rid Of Blackspots On Your Roses?

Blackspot can certainly ruin the looks of a beautiful rose shrub in very little time. To help you get rid of blackspot on your roses, here are a few recipes which are easy to make.

Eliminating Blackspot With Baking Soda (potassium bicarbonate)

Dorothy Reid, editor of The Garden Sampler magazine which is based in Peru, Vermont, suggests keeping a simple solution of 1 teaspoon baking soda to a quart of water mixed and ready for action in your garden. She further adds that the spray stops fungal diseases on everything from roses to pumpkins.

However, Dorothy warns that no matter which recipe you use, you must start spraying your roses before disease symptoms start and continue monitoring and spraying at weekly intervals to prevent the problem That means beginning early in the spring and spraying your plants every week. Be sure to spray both the undersides of leaves as well as the tops.

Dorothy explains that while bicarbonates stop the spread of fungi, they can’t clean up a disease mess.

While Dorothy’s simple recipe is effective at combating fungal diseases such as black spot and powdery mildew, there are other recipes with baking soda which work as well.

Adding Horticultural Oil To Your Organic Recipe

I have personally used a baking soda recipe given by Dr. Thomas A. Zitter, a professor in the Cornell University Department of Plant Pathology. He has added the horticultural oil to his recipe but adds that this recipe with the oil should be used only occasionally for some plants may be injured by repeated applications of oil. I have used it in the spring before the heat set in. The horticultural oil will further block any overwintering blackspot on the roses and will help the solution stay on the leaves.

Here’s the recipe:

1 tablespoon baking soda or potassium bicarbonate

1 tablespoon horticultural oil

1 gallon water

1 gallon backpack or pump sprayer

Mix all ingredients in the sprayer and spray the underside and top of all leaves.

Another recipe is Garrett’s garlic/pepper blend:

In a blender half filled with water, add two garlic cloves and two hot peppers that have been chopped up. Blend on high for a few minutes, then strain out the garlic and pepper bits. When that’s done, mix the remaining liquid with enough water to make 1 gallon of spicy concentrate and store. When you wish to spray, use 1/4 cup of this concentrate and mix with one gallon of water and add two tablespoons of molasses to help the mixture stick to the leaves.

When I first read about adding the molasses, I hesitated. However, I found out through experience that ALL plants just love having the molasses. There is no residue; the plants just absorb it and flourish.

A second way to avoid having blackspot on your roses….

. . . is to protect your rose bushes from fungal diseases by planting 4 garlic bulbs in a circle around each plant. You must plant the bulbs 6 inches from the rose. Be careful not to disturb the rose’s roots. For younger roses, 2 bulbs would suffice.

Obviously this procedure should be done BEFORE the blackspot takes over. It might even be a good idea to have the garlic growing around your rose bushes AND follow Dorothy’s advice re keeping the spray can with a baking soda mixture on hand. You could then have beautiful roses . . . and your own garlic to eat.

One last tip: You don’t want the fungus to get splashed back onto your bushes when you’re watering your plants. Therefore, be sure to pick up and destroy any leaf which has been ruined by blackspot and has fallen to the ground (do not throw these in the compost).

Hopefully these recipes taken from the book Great Garden Formulas by Editors Joan Benjamin and Deborah L. Martin will help you get rid of any and all blackspots on your roses – or on any other plant for that matter.

Marcie