Newbie help - What's wrong with my rose?

Hi all,

I've got 3 lovely strong looking rose bushes which have begun to bud but there seems to be an issue. The first few which have opened up into flowers look ill? I've attached images below, could anybody help me here, the bushes look really healthy and have no signs of illness.

Thanks in advance

Hi gmb27, I have no answers for you, but you might get more help by posting your question in the roses forum. Good luck; I hope it's something easy to resolve.

Hi, thanks but I cant without being a premium member unfortunately.

Do some research into Botrytis. A fungal disease that can blast the flowers like this.

Unless someone here can say that it would definitely not apply, you might have a look at rose thrips also.
If the buds and flowers have been drilled with small brown holes (i can't see any in your photos, but have another look), then you may want to look up rose curculio.

This message was edited May 9, 2015 5:31 PM

Look for the clues that altagardener has mentioned, you may have to cut off the flower buds and separate the petals to find if it's Thrips, Chaffer beetles are UK wide pests and the tell- tail signs are half opened buds and when examined, as mentioned above, the little insect will be visible.

The other thing that can cause this is too much wet weather or wetting the flowers as you water.
At this time of year especially the temp variations we are having here at present, it could be rain or watering and then sudden drop in night temp's.

Have you sprayed the Rose Bushes with foliage feed or any insect killers, just things to look for as any of the above mentioned could cause the Roses to have ball buds and then half open when mature.
You obviously need to look closely at the other bushes you have as depending on your findings, so make it a daily job to look the bushes over.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

Thanks for all your help folks. I have treated them with insect killer and it's likely they've been wet when watering too. I have lots of closed buds coming on, so I'll see what they do when they eventually open. Thanks again

The best thing to do is to remove the buds that are showing this much damage, the damage wont go and and be replaced by nice new petals, by removing the damage, you are eliminating any disease or bugs spreading to the rest of the unopened buds.
Roses soon make nice new buds and will continue to do so all season long, we have to make sure the plants continue to make new flowers by removing damaged or withered flowers. like all plants that we want to have a continuous flowering season, we need to trick the plants into thinking they have not made seeds, so when we remove the spent flowers the plant think they need to make more flowers to form more seeds, allowing the plants to make seeds weakens the plant so IF you do need seeds either buy them or only allow a couple of flowers to make seeds. Make sure you feed the Roses with special Rose feeds or a handful of blood/fish / bonemeal around the root area and fork it in Gently so you dont damage the shallow roots., keep well watered too.
Good luck, enjoy your lovely Roses.
Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.

Except gmb27 posted that new buds are forming. So it must be a repeat bloomer.