David Austen Rose - white bobbles on some branches

Help.  I have a David Austen Gertrude Jekyl rose and have planted it into my new garden.  It has some white bobbles on it.  I am keen to keep this as you know they are not cheap roses and I bought it for the beauty and the scent of it.  Any ideas?

Can you ring David Austen up?

When you say there are white bobbles, where are they? On the leaves, stem, or on the soil? With a bit more detail, I might be able to ID the bug/problem

Its on the stem.  I thought it was powder that had been spilt to start off with as we had just moved house and there was a lot of work going on.  the local garden centre said they thought it was a bug but couldnt be sure unless looking under a microscope at the piece I had taken to show them..... I have cut off the offending branches before it affects any more of my expensive roses

About this time of year I drench my roses and  soil beneath with Armatilox.

<h2 style="margin-top: 0px !important; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0.4em; padding-right: 12px; padding-bottom: 0.5em; padding-left: 38px; border-top-width: 1px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: #88bbee; border-image: initial; font-weight: normal; font-size: 1.6em; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; clear: both; line-height: 1.35em; border-top-style: solid; width: 564px; color: #003366; background-image: url('http://www.rhs.org.uk/App_Themes/RHSGlobal/images/hbluebg.gif'); position: relative; text-align: left; background-repeat: repeat no-repeat;">What is rose powdery mildew?<a style="border-style: initial; border-color: #88bbee; border-image: initial; font-size: 23px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; color: #003366; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;" title="Back to top" href="http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?PID=748#top"><img id="ctl00_body1_ctl00_imgBtt" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 8px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; border-width: initial; float: left; clear: left; position: absolute; top: 8px; left: 12px; height: 20px; width: 20px; padding: 0px;" src="http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/Images/blue_backtotop.gif" alt="Back to top" /></a></h2>

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">Rose powdery mildew is a disease of roses caused by the fungus <em style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; color: #000000; line-height: 21px; text-align: left; border-width: 0px; padding: 0px; margin: 0px;">Podosphaera pannosa<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">. The conspicuous white growth can affect all aerial parts of the plant, producing microscopic spores that spread the disease. High humidity is favourable for infection, and plants growing in areas where air movement is poor or the soil is dry can be severely affected.

sorry

What is rose powdery mildew? Rose powdery mildew is a disease of roses caused by the fungus Podosphaera pannosa. The conspicuous white growth can affect all aerial parts of the plant, producing microscopic spores that spread the disease. High humidity is favourable for infection, and plants growing in areas where air movement is poor or the soil is dry can be severely affected.

(found on RHS website)

They could be mealy bugs.

Scales are insects, related to mealybugs, that can be a problem on a wide variety of plants - indoor and outdoor. Young scales crawl until they find a good feeding site. The adult females then lose their legs and remain on a spot protected by its hard shell layer. They appear as bumps, often on the lower sides of leaves. They have piercing mouth parts that suck the sap out of plant tissue. Scales can weaken a plant leading to yellow foliage and leaf drop. They also produce a sweet substance called honeydew (coveted by ants) which can lead to an unattractive black surface fungal growth called sooty mold.

It looks a lovely rose! I have recently purchased 4 David Austen roses. Roll on flowers! Hope you sort the problem.

i had a customer once that bought nothing but david austin roses, he had 25 all in all, and one by one they died of this white mildewy colouring, i sprayed them, i even used armatilox, but maybe  too late,

I admire those who grow Roses 'organically' but I'm not brave enough as I have quite a lot and prefer to play safe. Jeyes Fluid is not what it used to be thanks to the EU so I use Armatillox as it rids the plant and soil of nasties. I also use different proprietary sprays but only spray my Roses.

Angie, I can smell my Gertrude G yards away, wonderful.

Contact David Austin,  I bought 'The Ingenious Mr Fairchild' from them and within a short time it seemed to be at the point of death!  one bud struggled on but it turned out white rather than pink and a fraction of the size it should have been and virtually all the leaves fell off.  I Emailed them and when I eventually had a reply I was given the opportunity of a replacement or a completely different rose.  I opted for the replacement as it looks such a lovely rose and with excellent scent, that one certainly looks much healthier - and the first one is still alive, but I don't know if it's ever going to do a great deal, and with the price they are I now hesitate to buy any more from them.  I also find that a lot of D.A's roses are too heavy for the stems - and I do know what I'm doing!

I think roses are greedy plants, they say that 'Rose sickness' is caused by them leaching out all the nutrients from the soil thus leaving little goodness for a replacement. I've never managed to replace a rose without replacing ALL the soil.  I've got mixed views on 'Rose sickness' but I do believe that newly planted Roses need plenty of water especially in well drained soil. I've never had any problems with DA's roses but then I've not bought them direct. I hope your replacement does well Susan. I've not heard of The Ingenious Mr Fairchild' I must look it up.

I agree with you Susan with regard to maybe not buying David Austin roses any more. I have either bought or been given one a year for the last ten years and the ones planted in 2000 and 2001 performed well (but not fabulously) for the first time last year. The younger ones are still pretty unimpressive. It seems to me that they take such an age to establish, seemingly teetering on the brink of death for months, even years. I'm afraid life's too short to be spent coaxing sulky specimens!