I think my rose is dying.

[KTedham]

Hi there, my partner and I bought a nice little rosebush about a week and a half ago as our little hamster had to be put to sleep and we couldn't bare the thought of leaving him in the trashed communal garden when we move home.

The day after we bought it (after the sad trip to the vet), we laid our little hamster to rest and moved the rose from it's original plastic pot into the nice new pot.

Over the last 3 or 4 days though, the lower leaves have began to turn yellow. They begin with yellow speckles, which then take over the whole leaf. The little arm (not sure what it's called) that the leaves are attached to then goes completely yellow and falls off.
A lot of the new flowers and unopened buds are falling off at the base of their 'arm' too, although they don't show any sign of yellowing at all with the exception of some completely closed buds which are brown.

After finding some information online, I have watered it well and it should have sufficient drainage as we lined the bottom of the pot with river pebbles to allow excess water out. My fiancé used houseplant soil, but I don't think that nutrition should be an issue, as (without meaning to sound macabre) our little hamster should 'live on' in the rose?

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas as to anything else it could be or what I should do to help it.

Here's some pics if they help at all:

[img]https://lh4.ggpht.com/_tvaOnalejzA/TDScO0OoLnI/AAAAAAAAADk/PI2yu4-CBSU/s512/Rose.jpg[/img]

[img]https://lh6.ggpht.com/_tvaOnalejzA/TDScP2BSa3I/AAAAAAAAADo/gTzOh0_xqAQ/s512/Rose2.jpg[/img]

[img]https://lh5.ggpht.com/_tvaOnalejzA/TDScQHeUOpI/AAAAAAAAADs/QztA_uV2Ze4/s640/Rose3.jpg[/img]

[img]https://lh6.ggpht.com/_tvaOnalejzA/TDScQR6AO7I/AAAAAAAAADw/PNWADjZTwQQ/s576/Rose4.jpg[/img]

Many thanks.

[KTedham]

Thanks for the tip, I will make up the solution tonight.

I didn't think it could be black spot as there's not black dots, so thanks for the heads up.

Yes, he's in there. We only have a trashed communal garden until we move home shortly and I couldn't bare to leave him in there only to get dug up again by the neighbours kids. The rose will be going with us to our new home.

[KTedham]

I really appreciate the advice, but I'm sad to say it didn't work and a lot of the leaves have continued to die and fallen off.

I had another close look and found what looked like very fine spider webbing under most of the leaves and the webs are full of what looks like little white mites. They're everywhere on the rose.

Please help, I'm really desperate. This rose was to honour little Smudge and I can't bear to see it die.

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Edit: I ordered some Neem oil as there's nowhere in town I know where to get it and I've sprayed all the leaves heavily in water and removed the infested leaves. Is there anything else I can do in the meantime until the oil arrives to stop them destroying the last little bit of the plant?