I have two good size knockout rose bushes in one of my beds that have been there since we bought this house 5 years ago. This is north San Antonio. They are planted about 5 feet apart and one of them apparently died fairly suddenly.

They get partial shade and I've never taken particular care of them. I really don't know how other than to water them occasionally and throw down some rose food I bought.

Haven't watered them much this year with all the rain. Maybe they got too much water??? No idea how to judge the soil drainage but they aren't in a spot that retains water as far as I know.

Not 100% sure it's dead but pretty dang sure. One looks vibrant and the other has zero signs of life. Not sure if I should dig it up and replace it.

Worst case scenario would be rose rosette virus. Can you post a pic?

Thanks. If it's a virus is there anything I can do to protect the other one?

I'm not seeing anything in those pictures that scream RRV infection. Maybe voles got to the roots?

Hmm interesting. I've never heard of that. I haven't really noticed too much evidence of digging immediately around this shrub.

I've had skunks and armadillos digging in the lawn and a few times in this bed. I assumed it was for grubs.

I probably don't know what to look for though.

I'm not either, but that rose is definitely dead.

Neil Sperry on RRV

dudeabides said:

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I'm not seeing anything in those pictures that scream RRV infection. Maybe voles got to the roots?

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So I never noticed any major disruptions to the soil around these but today I finally went to cut these down and I noticed it just completely sheared off at the base when I pulled on it today. Like the roots were totally rotted. The roots must have died long before the rest of the plant did. Does this offer any insight?

Considering it's been dead for over a month, not really. Is your other one still healthy?

The other one sure appears healthy.

Rose rosette virus. This has hit west Houston recently. Took out all my knockout roses. Killed them all in under a month.

Anything to do regarding the one next to it?

bam02 said:

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Anything to do regarding the one next to it?

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Not sure.

This thread comes at an interesting time. Three years ago I bought two knockout roses from Costco and two from Lowe's. I planted them all together, alternating Costco, Lowes, Costco, Lowes.

The Costco roses never really took off. They were green and bloomed just fine, but never got bigger. The ones from Lowes have done really well. They got huge and produce tons of blooms. However, within the last month, the Costco roses have been dying and are just about gone. The Lowes roses are still doing just fine.

Interesting. Smart thinking to alternate them at the time.

What size were they when you bought them? Trying to decide what to do where this one was. They are/were about 5-6 feet tall and I guess about the same width. Just don't want to invest any time and effort into another rose bush if there is any increased risk of this happening again.

They were all roughly 12" tall when I bought them. I think the Costco ones made it to about 18" tall at the most.

Can you estimate how much they grew per year or over however long they've been in the ground?

bam02 said:

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Can you estimate how much they grew per year or over however long they've been in the ground?

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Costco - 2"/yr
Lowe's - 12"/yr

Oh good to know a foot a year is at least possible.

Ryan, did you maybe get a pair of Petite Knockouts? They stay small.