Catepillars. Spinosad or BT (Bacillus Thurengensis) will get 'em. Just need to spray the buds if that is the only damage you see.

BT won't work if it is sawfly larvae, some of which eat holes in buds. Spinosad will get both kinds of worm. Read labels to find the active ingredient.

Thanks very much!

Don't curculios leave that kind of damage behind?

Curculios make a small-bore puncture rather than a tunnel.

Are they easy to see? The punctures? Or do you mainly see the effect on the buds?

How big a hole are we talking? Because I've seen wevils do that to buds; just stick their little nose straight into the bud, leaving a nice series of bullet holes as the flower opens. This would be a perfectly round hole, with no munch marks around the edge, and probably only about a mm across.

Lara

Bullet holes? You sure you don't have any enemies that are jealious of your roses? LOL... Just teasin.
Best of luck with your problem!

Curculio weevils piece the bud with a needle-like snout. When the flower opens, it has many small holes as though struck with a load of bird shot.

Additionally with the most annoying Curculio weevil you will often find buds that are damaged, dried out and just hanging loose from say a candelabra of buds. Man I really hate those guys:) They have been the most acute pest I've had this year so far.

Kate

Rose curculios are in one of the weevil families and thus have chewing mouthparts (like caterpillars). The difference between them is that the chewing mouthparts of the curculio are at the end of a narrow "{{gwi:306059}}", and thus are very small (& so also the holes they leave behind after feeding). (Only young caterpillars, or the caterpillars of small moths also have chewing mouthparts similarly small.)

Even so, the mouthparts are still chewing mouthparts, rather than {{gwi:306060}} such as those possessed by the true bugs and those of the other sucking insects such as aphids, leafhoppers, mealybugs & scales.

The holes are about the same diameter as my pinkie finger, maybe a little bigger. As the hole gets deeper the circumference gets smaller. I've always removed the buds so I don't know what the would look like if they opened.
I looked up curculio here:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.marinrose.org/rosecurculiodam

The holes in these photos look a lot smaller than the holds in my rose buds.

Oh no, that's not curculio damage at all! That may even be the feeding damage of a passing snail or slug, but if not them then a caterpillar.

Grasshoppers or katydids are another possibility.

Thanks for posting this! I am suffering the same problem with my beautiful pale pink Lambert Closse rose bush. Any tips on what exactly I can spray the bush with? Pretty sure it's a caterpillar doing this damage....

1. Look in the vicinity for a worm and kill him.

2. If it is sawfly larvae or caterpillars, and a number of buds are affected, spray all the buds with spinosad (see the first post above).

I think it is too early in the season for katydids in zone 5a.