Gardeners’ World presenter Monty Don has shared his tips on how to deal with black spot on your roses as the weather takes a turn.
Black spot is a fungus that causes dark spotting on rose leaves and stems. Eventually, the leaves turn yellow and drop off before Autumn kicks in.
Sharing his advice, the 69-year-old said dealing with black spot is a question of how much you can tolerate.
He shared: “A lot of plants get black spot, but it doesn’t effect the flowering and doesn’t effect the health of the plant. It’s just unsightly and that personally, I can tolerate.
“If it’s defoliating completely, if a plant is suffering and looking bad, and other roses near it are not suffering from it, then that’s because the plant is particularly prone to it, so just get rid of it.”
Should all of your roses have black spot however, the gardening expert stressed that “you’ve got a problem”.
With the weather becoming “more warm and damp”, Monty said green-fingered enthusiasts should expect “more fungal problems, not less”.
He added on the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine podcast: “The only practical things you can do is, don’t water overhead. You can’t stop the rain, but don’t wet the leaves, keep the leaves dry.
“So water at the base, gather up all the affected leaves that drop and burn them, don’t put them on the composite.”
Monty went on to dish out more advice on what to do when the colder months kick in.
In winter rake the ground around the plant thoroughly to disturb the spores. Leave it bare over the winter months, then mulch it thickly in early spring.
And the cold, if we get a really cold snap, that will effect the spores that will be in the ground.
“But, the truth is, if you live with roses, you live with it to a certain extent.”