Rose stems covered in black scabs

Yorky

Amongst a rose bed of several bushes there is one with black scabs on the stems and little or no foliage. The thorns are soft and easily broken off.

What is the best way to treat this at this stage minimising the damage to the affected shrub and the others surrounding it?

Kitsune9tails

Prune off all the effected areas and maybe spray with rose clear.

Ellechim

this sounds like blackspot to me - it is highly contagious and will cause all the leaves to drop and in the medium term effect the health of the bush.

I have a few gardening books and they all say remove all the infected parts of the tree and dispose of carefully (not with other garden waste and deffo don't compost) and pick up any fallen leaves, etc, however I've never been able to do this successfully. Additionally, I've found you have to be so persistent with rose clear otherwise it doesn't have much impact.

If it is in the middle of other bushes and badly I would be very tempted to remove it - because I wouldn't want it to infect the other bushes.....

see this link:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4430214_keep-roses-free-black-spot.html

Yorky

If so, can it be treated organically? I've read that a 1:1 ratio of milk and water can be sprayed . Would this be suitable for the stem with no foliage in the picture? How often should I spray?

There are several bushes in the bed and most are affected to varying degrees, the worst being the heavily spotted stem.

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/P1050254.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/P1050256.jpg
http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff250/Kilnadrain/P1050257.jpg

old boy

the old preventitive is to regularly spray the ground with a diluted jeys fluid, i notice that you did not remove old prunings and diseased leaves, you have brought a lot of trouble on your self,