A home gardener has shared a simple trick to keeping roses looking healthy all-year-round. Black spot is the ‘most serious’ disease for roses, but there are ways to prevent it.
13:13, 11 Jul 2025Updated 13:15, 11 Jul 2025
Roses can be blighted by black spot(Image: Tunatura via Getty Images)
Roses are famed for their elegance and luxurious appearance; with a stunning variety of colours and styles, they’re a perfect match for any garden and surprisingly simple to care for.
However, there’s a particular disease every rose aficionado should remain vigilant against. Black spot, a fungal infection, can manifest as purple or black patches on leaves, leading to their downfall.
It’s recognised as the ‘most serious’ disease roses may encounter, but fortuitously, there are a few tricks to combat this problem.
How to treat black spot
On treating black spot, one green-fingered enthusiast shared: “I’ve found that tea and coffee bags emptied around the base of my roses eliminated black spot. None this year at all, my roses have never been healthier.”
A yellow rose’s leaves sport black spot(Image: kemirada via Getty Images)
Experts from The Spruce concur that coffee grounds, being nitrogen-rich, can bolster soil quality and stave off disease like Fusarium wilt fungus if utilized aptly. Equally, tea leaves, thanks to their tannic acid content, serve as an effective fertilizer, reports the Express.
Yet, it was also cautioned by another gardener that despite its potential in thwarting black spot, it’s not a guaranteed fix.
Treating black spot with baking soda
For those who find tea and coffee don’t do the trick, another household item stands ready to assist. Baking soda is also touted by The Spruce as a possible preventative aid against this menacing rose disease.
All you need to do is dissolve one teaspoon of baking soda in one cup of warm water, then add up to one teaspoon of liquid soap. Then, spray your rose leaves thoroughly with it every couple of days.
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Not only can this protect against black spot, but powdery mildew too, which is another fungal disease that roses are susceptible to.
Why is black spot so dangerous?
One of the reasons gardeners detest black spot so much is due to its ease of spread. Pruning off the affected leaves can help, but they must be disposed of immediately, and you should never leave them scattered around your garden.
According to the experts at Garden Design, black spot usually won’t kill your plants during the first year or two. But if it persists, it will make them more susceptible to other diseases and they may die off during harsh winters.
Black spot thrives best in damp, humid environments, so the summer months are when you’re most likely to see it in your garden.
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