The curculios no longer breed in my garden and have to find it. When I see my first one, I disbud the whole garden for their estimated life cycle above ground. I saw my first one last night and have almost finished disbudding all of the roses in the back yard ... four more to go. Then I'll disbud the caged roses out in front.

I got almost a full first flush with undamaged blooms, but some of the roses where just getting ready to pop. The dang bugs have been active in other gardens for about four weeks.

Oh well, the roses will be healthier for the time out. The temps are headed for the triple digits.

Good luck with your roses.

Smiles,
Lyn

Is it possible to have a local rose expert examine either your roses right in your garden or take cut damaged tips to a dependable professional nursery for their diagnosis?

Rose Midge Fly damage is what I suspect, but of course, needs to be confirmed by an expert.

The damage comes in two forms, but always appears on newly forming growth tips.

Earliest Form
The tips can range from shoots just beginnng to emerge from a stem at as short as only 1" long to a fully extended shoot, several inches long. just as the tiny bud (or bud cluster), begins to form they stop growing, stay frozen in size and when touched usually just fall off. The damage looks like a lit match was held to the tip in an attempt to burn it. The emerging foliage at the tip is brittle, stunted, shriveled and so dry it just disintegrates to powder when rubbed between your fingers. The forming flower falls off its burned stem. This stem must now be trimmed back to a thick section that will sustain satisfactory new growth and wait 45 days more (for a hy. tea), for a new flower to grow and to open on that stem.

Later Form
Sometimes damage will occur to a growing tip when the flower is more advanced in its development. The female midge fly did not discover this luscious stem earlier. Some 'burning of tip foliage is seen, but the bud is still attacked to the stem although it is now severely stunted/disfigured. It has either a crooked neck, 90 degree bend, or part of it appears to have been bitten away, or both conditions may be found on the same bud. Such damaged flowers will continue to grow but are always undersized, monstrously ugly and misshapen when finally blooming.

There is no organic treatment for midge fly I am aware of. Bayer Complete Insect Control as a spray or soil drench works for me. I understand that grub proofing granules used on lawns are also effective when spread in rose beds, but I have never used this method.

Midge Fly will completely deflower your rose garden all summer long. This is the worst insect pest of roses in my garden.

Thorntorn

Is it possible to have a local rose expert examine either your roses right in your garden or take cut damaged tips to a dependable professional nursery for their diagnosis?

Rose Midge Fly damage is what I suspect, but of course, needs to be confirmed by an expert.

The damage comes in two forms, but always appears on newly forming growth tips.

Earliest Form
The tips can range from shoots just beginnng to emerge from a stem at as short as only 1" long to a fully extended shoot, several inches long. just as the tiny bud (or bud cluster), begins to form they stop growing, stay frozen in size and when touched usually just fall off. The damage looks like a lit match was held to the tip in an attempt to burn it. The emerging foliage at the tip is brittle, stunted, shriveled and so dry it just disintegrates to powder when rubbed between your fingers. The forming flower falls off its burned stem. This stem must now be trimmed back to a thick section that will sustain satisfactory new growth and wait 45 days more (for a hy. tea), for a new flower to grow and to open on that stem.

Later Form
Sometimes damage will occur to a growing tip when the flower is more advanced in its development. The female midge fly did not discover this luscious stem earlier. Some 'burning of tip foliage is seen, but the bud is still attacked to the stem although it is now severely stunted/disfigured. It has either a crooked neck, 90 degree bend, or part of it appears to have been bitten away, or both conditions may be found on the same bud. Such damaged flowers will continue to grow but are always undersized, monstrously ugly and misshapen when finally blooming.

There is no organic treatment for midge fly I am aware of. Bayer Complete Insect Control as a spray or soil drench works for me. I understand that grub proofing granules used on lawns are also effective when spread in rose beds, but I have never used this method.

Midge Fly will completely deflower your rose garden all summer long. This is the worst insect pest of roses in my garden.

Thorntorn

Thorntorn has a great username and an interesting control strategy. Let me offer one qualification, though. The disorder called "bent neck" (bud held rigidly at a 90 degree angle) is commonly just a birth defect where the tissue of the flower neck thickens on one side. pulling the bud over. I wouldn't want everyone who sees a bent neck to go into a rose midge panic. Of course, buds with midge can wilt over limply.

Dr Huey, a vigorous rootstock rose, is a very attractive target for midge. You might be able to use it as a midge trap, regularly pruning off the infested new growth. You may also be able to trap midge with sticky traps close to the ground--white has been suggested at the best color, but I've used yellow since that is easier to find.

An indicator of midge damage is the color black--the ravaged parts of the rose will often turn black.

I've tried removing visible larvae from the roses but that had little effect--it could be that they would have been picked off by predators anyway. Logically, the midge inside the buds would have the best chance of survival--so this year I'm removing any buds and foliage with signs of midge.