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About 6 weeks ago, I bought and planted six bare-root rose bushes. Five of them have thrived ever since. One of them has already bloomed and two more have buds that should bloom soon. One of them, however, is half dead and will not grow.

To put this into perspective. I live in a suburb of Dallas, TX. The groundhere is solid clay. We've worked with the areas around all of our rose bushes so that it's more like soil than something you'd see in an art supply store and so far nothing has had any trouble growing in it - except this one stinkin rose bush!

The rose bush isn't growing at all, most of the leaves are curled upright. It's not dead but it doesn't particularly seem 'alive' either. What on earth is wrong with it?

Please bare in mind that this is the first time I've ever planted roses. I know nothing about them except that I shouldn't under-water them.

Hello, kossde. Some curling of leaves, especially new leaves, could indicate that the plant has powdery mildew. A solution of 20% milk + 80% water could be used to water the leaves and treat it. As the infection progresses, it may become visible as a white or gray growth on the surface of the leaves. The problems "goes away" as summer temperatures arrive.

Other causes of curling may be an infestation by aphids. To know if you have aphids, put a 8"x11" piece of blank paper at the base of the bush and carefully shake it. If you see dots that move on the paper, those are probably aphids. Apply an insecticidal soap like Safer to treat that problem. While aphids affect the leaves, they prefer the succulent flower buds.

Does that help you, kossde?
Luis

That does help. I know we have/had aphids but we had the yard treated a week ago. Since then, the aphid problem has begun to disappear. The rose bush, however, has not improved. I have noticed a sort of powdery substance on the rose bush once or twice, but since it disappeared, I didn't think much of it. I'm going to try the milk-water thing and see if that helps.

Thanks!