I'm pretty much a newbie to roses but my guess would be to find out what kind of insects are eating your leaves. Then I'd get rid of them and deal with the BS. Of course, the experts might have a different suggestions or tell me to stop giving advice. lol

The following was stated: "the experts might have a different suggestions or tell me to stop giving advice. lol."

H.Kuska comment. Remember the definition of expert is: one who knows more and more about less and less.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for Google search of definition

Thanks you two! One vote and one neutral. LOL

The only bugs I have seen are about 1/2" long with yellow stripes running along the length of their long lateral sides.

I can't find that bug online anywhere.

I'm am prone to trying to deal with the bugs first. Nothing aggressive, just soap and baking soda on those that need it.

Can't wait to hear what others have to say.

You all are great. So neat to in the midst of people who are passionate about their roses.

Scott in PA

henry...lol

DNTQuilter. Can you take a photo of your bug and post it?

I will try tomorrow. I took pics this evening of the leaves, but it was with the iphone. Not even worth posting. :(

It was raining today and there were no bugs in site. :)

Scott

I'm no spray and just live with bugs and blackspot.

Holes in leaves? Check for rose slugs on the underside of holy leaves. They may be tiny (1/8"-1/4") this time of the year. They can grow to about 3/4"-1" later on in the year.

I just took this pic the other day. They are still tiny...

{{gwi:285359}}

But they can grow to this size....LOL (about 1" long)
{{gwi:284441}}

Catsrose, I didn't have to spray in my first year, and I'm stressing over needing/wanting to know. However, and I didn't mention this before, our landscapers just laid mulch, and I feel like that might be contributing to the problem. They only mulch every other year. When I planted my first roses last year, we mulched with commercially prepared mulch in bags, and not very deep. I fear the mulch used by the landscapers may not be "as clean" as the others. I know that their mulch is famous for growing fungus balls in the humidity of August.

Sorry to ramble, but I'm just trying to proceed cautiously to do what's best for the investment that I have in my 10 rosebushes.

Scott in PA

Or, an 'expert' is the person who knows one more thing than you do. Or, an 'expert' is a 'has-been drip'. Kim

Jim,

I think you diagnosed my problem. While I haven't seen the slugs, they are going after the same new leaves like yours and the damage looks identical.

How do I get rid of these little suckers?

Thanks!

Scott

Well, here is a picture of my little critter(s). Oddly I can only find them on Barbra Streisand. Darn thing is blurry, but I think you can see it well enough to identify.

Thanks much,

Scott

The pests usually have a season and eventually go away on their own. Or a predator will show up and take care of them. And black spot only happens when the weather conditions are right for it. So basically you could just do nothing and have both problems disappear on their own.

Seil, I like how you think!

What I did this morning was mix a solution of 1/2 gallon water, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp dawn, and 1/8th cup of bleach. I sprayed down Barbra whose BS got significantly worse over the last few rainy days, and just the few parts of two other roses that look like that are being eaten by something.

Those yellow striped bugs, who were only on Barbra, quickly went away. They were not happy with me.

I inspected for rose slugs and couldn't see any. Maybe it was too early in the morning?

At any rate, I'm using Bayer 2 in 1 granules on a monthly basis, and so next weekend my new bushes will get just their second feeding of that.

I'm not going to resort to commercial sprays unless something gets out of hand.

My regimen of the 2-1 granules held us through the season just fine last year. So I hope to not have to really spray.

I am feeding with rose-tone on a monthly basis beginning this year, and I worked a good organic soil into the holes of the new plantings and worked some into the ground of the 1 year olds.

Thanks for your thoughts on the matter.

After keeping marine aquariums for years, I'm a believer in no sudden changes to an environment, unless absolutely necessary (as in "life saving").

Scott in PA

Search "Lady bug nymph" I think you will find the bug you located to be one of your future rose garden heroes.

They snack on rose slugs

Scott: if you can grow Barbra Streisand in Pennsylvania without fungicide spray, then you are a god. I bow to you.

Instead of using bleach take a look at this thread about using hydrogen peroxide. Much less toxic!

Here is a link that might be useful: hydrogen peroxide thread

Hi All,

Thank you so much for the input.

Jim - later this morning I found rose slugs. Then I freaked!

Also found powdery mildew and these strange little flies crawling all over everything. I really think it is the tan bark that sparked the problems (at least insect wise)

Cecily - I'm not a God, so me thinks BS is here to stay on Babs :(

Kippy - Happily I manually removed the lady bug nymphs and tossed them in the yard.

I landed up spraying with 3 in 1. It is just too early in the season, and we have had funky weather, to risk losing my investment. I understand that the plants need their foliage this first season to help feed the roots.

Seil - I will read-up on hydrogen peroxide. Perhaps that will be a better alternative to keeping Baby healthy throughout the season.

Again, my sincere thanks to all who have chimed in.

Scott

Scott, I am also in PA. We just had a lot of rain and now my roses have black mold spots on some of their leaves.

I know of those bugs you posted about. I've been using Bayer 2 in 1 and haven't seen them since.

This post was edited by sunflowersrus222 on Sat, Jun 8, 13 at 15:53

Sunflowers--
I use 2 in 1 also, but the new roses have only had one feeding of it, so it's probably not reasonable to expect that it would be through the bush yet.

That was a great soaking rain for my two bare roots, but as for the larger bushes - NOPE!!

Scott
Mechanicsburg, PA

Are you sure it's not a ladybug? The babes look nothing like the grown ones, and they are the good guys you want to have. That's the problem with spraying and systemics, good and bad are killed.

Lady Bug Nymphs you want!

In eastern PA I see many small worms, aphids, etc. on my roses. I ignore them except for some hand squishing. They disappear eventually with little damage. Lady bugs, wasps and other predators are the cure. If 2 in 1 contains a general insecticide, it is likely a poor choice of action. You may be killing these predators as well as bees.

In my garden, black spot will become serious if I don't spray. It is not possible to grow HT roses in E. PA without some kind of fungicide.

Zyperiris - yes, I learned yesterday that those nymphs are a good thing. Thank you.

Harry - 2 in1 is a fertilizer and disease preventative. It's when they introduce the #3 that the insecticide comes in.

Everything looks so much better today. That damned mulch they put down was crawling with everything (including the nymphs, which I read online, they often come with pine mulch),

All is peaceful out there. Today. Breathe, Scott, breathe.

My biggest chore now is keeping the bare root roses that I planted 6 days ago wet. There are some canes sprouting, so I'm happy about that.

Scott in PA

I have HT roses and am in eastern PA. Haven't had any problems with fungus yet. I keep mine well spaced for ventilation. The only rose bush I have with a fungal problem is an old red rose bush that was here when we bought the house 20+ years ago. Not even sure what it is. But there is a very large forsythia bush planted on the neighbors side of the fence. I don't know if that bush holds a lot of moisture or if its just blocking the air flow. Today I trimmed her forsythia way back and rounded it out for her so hopefully my rose bush will grow better without all of that competition for air and space.

Where abouts in PA are you? I'm right on the Delaware River north of Philly.

....and a lady bub nymph just crawled across my laptop screen. Too funny!