Drying Flowers In The

Something strange happens when you decide to uproot a rose bush and put another one in its place. A new and healthy rose bush just refuses to grow well and produce blossoms in that same environment. In other words, it refuses to thrive in a hole in the flower bed where another rose bush has been. Its growth slows down, and no matter how healthy it is, refuses to flower as it should. It just sits, and this doesn't sit well with you as its gardener. This strange phenomenon is known as rose replant disease or more commonly, rose soil disease.

Logically, it can't be classified as a disease because no definite cause has been identified so far, despite the studies мейд. For it to be considered a disease, there has to be a pathogen, disease-causing organism associated with it, or a causative agent which is responsible for transmitting the infection. But none of these have been identified, and despite all the speculations and controversies, nothing has so far been scientifically proven. All that's known is that this strange disease does happen to fruit trees and roses.

There are several theories being considered as possible explanations as to why rose soil disease occurs, and they mostly relate to the soil in which a rose bush has been and into which another rose plant is being introduced or transplanted. One theory states that certain growth inhibitors or toxic gases must instinctively have been released by the departing plant such that no other rose bush can survive in the space where it has been.

Plants are known to react to certain environment conditions, and these are called tropisms. For instance, in phototropism they move towards a source of light, and in geotropism their roots gravitate to the soil and grow in a downward direction. Could rose soil disease be something territorial, a reaction to being uprooted? Could this be some form of ground territoriality which rose plants exhibit?

Another theory speculates that there must be nutritional deficiency in the soil. The supply of essential minerals could have been depleted such that it was unable to provide for the needs of a hungry rose bush. However, this is contradicted by the fact that any plant, other than a rose bush, would not be adversely affected at all.

Since none of these theories have been ruled out and there is no final diagnosis for this so-called sickness, how could there be a cure for rose soil disease? For now, it will just be a matter of how to deal with it.

Most gardeners deal with this problem by removing all portions of that former soil and replacing it with new, fertile soil мейд from a healthy mix of garden soil and organic compost or nitrogenous fertilizers as needed. Another alternative would be to transfer another plant, other than a rose plant, into this same hole or to transplant your new rose bush elsewhere, just not where another rose bush has been. But sometimes, this would defeat the very purpose and design behind your flower bed of roses.

Since rose soil disease can last for as long as two decades, a more immediate solution must be arrived at within the next twenty years or less, for a rose gardener's own peace of mind. Until then, much of it remains a mystery.

David S is a Rose expert. For more great tips on and growing roses visit