Anne Symons
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Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:40 am
Location: North west England

Stripped roses

I have just planted a new rose garden. All healthy plants in bud. One week later and they have been stripped bare. Nothing else has been affected even nearby roses. I suspect rabbits but have not seen any droppings. Will these roses recover?

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rainbowgardener
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How can we even venture an opinion on what happened or whether they will recover, with so little information. A couple of pictures would help a lot. If the pictures are on your computer, you can use the grey upload attachment button below the typing box to post them.

So by stripped bare do you mean buds and leaves and all, leaving only bare sticks? Or only the buds gone?

Did this happen all at once, perhaps over night? Or were they gradually losing leaves over time? If the latter, were the leaves still there, on the ground? Did you notice any other symptoms, e.g. spots, curling, etc.

Anne Symons
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Location: North west England

Sorry not to give you enough information. They are bare sticks and it happened over 2/3 nights no leaves on the ground but buds were left. It has happened again since then, on a climbing rose over a 6 foot arch,so obviously it is not rabbits but must be birds. I wonder if the attraction is the colour. Predominately apricot. My guess now is pigeons. However what I really want to know will they recover next year? No curling or blackening of leaves,all looking very healthy until stripped

Anne Symons
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Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2015 1:40 am
Location: North west England

Sorry not to give you enough information. They are bare sticks and it happened over 2/3 nights. No leaves on the ground only buds. No curling or blackening of leaves, all very healthy until stripped. It has happened again since then on a foes over a 6' arch. So obviously not rabbits. It must be birds and I suspect pigeons. Could it be the colour that attracts them? Apricot and yellow. However what I want to know will they recover for next year? Thank you.

luis_pr
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Downey mildew and Blackspot are two diseases that can defoliate a rose bush very quickly. If they were the culprits however, you would see fallen leaves on the ground somewhere (I am assuming it was not windy though). Deer can also eat the leaves and will not leave a trace. Worms like the rose slug can also eat the leaves but they will leave skeletonized leaf leftover pieces. Leaf-cutter bees will eat leaves; the section that is eaten looks like a half moon or a full circle sometimes so there are leftover parts of the leaves. Do you suffer from Japanese Beetles or Cranberry Rootworms (fyi: CRs are beetles not worms) where you live? Many of these pests are nocturnal and eat the leaves at night so try checking one of these evenings before they fly away.

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GardeningCook
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While I'm obviously not familiar with the wildlife in your particular area, I must say that if that happened around here, deer would be the obvious culprits. Roses are like candy to them.



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