Roses will never get black spots and will 'fight' fungus if you do easy 10-second task

As autumn sets in, gardeners run the risk of seeing their once beautiful roses become infected with a fresh wave of black spot. This common fungus thrives in cool, damp weather, and with falling leaves and lingering moisture, your plants are living in the perfect environment for the disease to spread. If left unchecked, black spot can strip foliage and weaken plants.

Fortunately, an expert gardener and content creator, Gardening With Ish, has shared a simple 10-second task with one simple ingredient that will "fight" against the black spot infection. Beginning his video on Instagram, he revealed: "Today in the garden, I'm going to show you how I fight fungal infections with baking soda."

What is the black spot infection on roses?

Black spot is a common rose disease caused by the fungus Diplocarpon rosae. Though it rarely kills the plant, it can weaken the plant's health. As the infection spreads, leaves turn yellow and drop prematurely, reducing the plant's ability to make energy.

Symptoms include dark, round to irregular spots with yellow margins. According to Gardening Know How, the disease is most likely to develop when leaves remain wet for long periods, especially if old, infected plant material is left in the garden.

Why baking soda?

Ish went on to share: "Baking soda or bicarbonate of soda is absolutely fantastic in your garden. Not only has it got antibacterial and anti-fungal properties, but can be turned and diluted into a simple spray in order to protect your plants from all sorts of fungal infections.

"That's like black spot, even things like powdery mildew, which can be such a pain but easily dealt with." To make your own "anti-fungal spray," Ish states you need an empty spray bottle and a teaspoon of baking soda per 500ml.

Once the ingredients are in, give the bottle a good shake to mix everything together. Set the knob on the spray bottle to mist and water your roses very lightly once a week.

Ish also recommends snipping a few leaves off your plant to allow airflow through, which should help "massively" to prevent black spot. Gardeners should also only be watering directly on the ground and not the foliage, "creating less moisture means less chance of fungal infection."

Other natural methods

According to Gardening Know How, garlic is also great at preventing infection. The expert shared: "Garlic is a natural fungicide and is disliked by many pests, so it makes an excellent companion plant for roses.

"Onions and chives have a similar effect. While planting garlic nearby won't cure black spot, anecdotal evidence suggests it can reduce infection rates."