ANLA launches Rose Rosette Disease website

From ANLA Knowledge Center:

Responding to the industry’s growing concerns about Rose Rosette Disease, ANLA has launched the website www.roserosettedisease.com. The website will act as a one-stop resource for growers, landscapers, extension agents, and researchers to find the most up-to-date information about the disease, including how to identify and prevent it, and the collaborative steps underway between our industry and researchers to tackle the issue head on. A visitor to the website will be able to view video content, fact sheets, and the latest news and reports on Rose Rosette Disease.

“Rose Rosette Disease is an industry wide issue with the potential to negatively impact a crop representing more than $200 million in annual sales,” said Joe Bischoff, ANLA’s Director of Government Relations. Tom Demaline, a member of the ANLA Board of Directors and owner of Willoway Nurseries in Ohio, stressed his concern, adding, “without real attention and coordinated effort to managing this disease we risk losing a cornerstone crop in a similar fashion to what has happened with Emerald Ash Borer and its impact on ash trees.”

Rose Rosette Disease is a virus that is vectored by an eriophyid mite (Phyllocoptes fructiphylus) and frequently leads to the eventual death of infected plants. Multiflora Rose (Rosa multiflora) is particularly susceptible to Rose Rosette Disease and the plant’s decades long march, as an invasive species, across much of the Eastern U.S. has likely been the source of inoculum and responsible for spreading the disease. The industry, along with university and federal scientists, is working to develop methods to control, suppress, and eradicate the effects of the pathogen.

Please visit www.roserosettedisease.com for the information you need to know about this disease. Tackling a technical challenge like Rose Rosette Disease requires an industry coming together to make their needs and concerns clearly known to the research community. ANLA is working with shrub rose growers to develop that agenda and identify researchers who can effectively and efficiently address the issue. If you grow roses please join the conversation. Be a part of developing a solution to Rose Rosette Disease by becoming a member of ANLA, by clicking here.

If you have questions about ANLA’s effort on Rose Rosette Disease please contact Dr. Joe Bischoff at jbischoff@anla.org.