| Excluding external factors, a major problem is that RRD will persist in a garden where the disease would spread unchecked. RRD is unlike blackspot or mildew for which there are effective sprays. I do not consider preemptive spraying of the whole garden with something as toxic (and potentially carcinogenic) as Cygon 2E to be practical for our garden. Our gardens rely on IPM (integrated pest management), and we rely on birds and “good” bugs for insect control. We have chosen to avoid insecticides whenever possible, unlike many other rose growers. It has been suggested that RRD can over time save Iowa farmers 70 million dollars in herbicide costs by killing multiflora. I suggest RRD simply shifts the cost to rose growers and producers all over the country and the final cost to them will dwarf the money saved. In the United States each year aproximately $300,000,000 are paid to primary producers of roses. Additionally, aproximately $161,000,000 are spent each year in the US on cut roses (Harwood, 1994 Rose Rosette Symposium). This does not include income to retailers which I would guess is at least equivalent to the income of primary producers. Home Depot alone sells 20 million roses a year. |