Iceberg Rose/Styrofoam Cover

by Betty
(Brampton, ON)

I was given a beautiful Iceberg rose bush last summer and wanting it to survive the winter I used a styrofoam rose cover (for the first time). The weather has been really nice here so I took the cover off of it 3 weeks ago. It was covered in mold. Can anything be done to save it?


Doug says that generally once you put the plant out in the sunshine (removing the cover) the mold will disappear. But if you're concerned at all, pick up a bit of lime-sulphur spray and spray it with that - complete coverage as the leaves won't have started growing. This organic control should whack any problems.

The rose isn't dead just because of the mold - it may be dead underneath all that and the mold came along (in which case there is nothing to be done).

But not an unusual situation using a plastic based wintering system (no air gets through and this lack is perfect for mold development)