The only thing that works for me is blasting them off with water, they are tough!

thahalibut - thank you. I will give that a try. I hope they don't just fly right back on the leaves. But anything is definitely worth a try. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again.

You sure they aren't leaf hoppers?

If the weather if cool, hort oil, which isn't easy to spray on the bottoms of the leaves, works really well. Just be aware that if you're headed toward freezing temperatures a night, the oil will hasten winter leaf drop.

I thought they were whitefly but maybe they're leaf hoppers. How can I tell the difference?

Go to Baldo Villegas Bugs and Roses website.
Scroll down to the pictures of whitefly.

One thing you'll find is that where whitefly lay their eggs, there are these swirls of white powdery stuff. ICKY.
I rub them off with my fingers.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful: Baldo Villegas Bugs and Roses Website

After looking at site, I believe what is attacking my roses is 'whitefly' - Everything is calm until I shake a branch or two and they all fly around, giving me the 'heebie geebies'

Well, they give me the heebie jeebies, too.
I LOATHE whitefly!

Yes. A garden hose is a good tool.
Also, go through the plants to see if you can find out where they are colonizing, and wipe out those eggs.
As I said, white, fuzzy spirals, on the underside of leaves.

In my garden, they didn't colonize the roses, though they visited them too d*mned often. I found the eggs on the underside of leaves of fuchsias, begonias, plumerias, brugmansias, and sometimes on citrus.
You need to find those, and wipe them out.

Jeri

Thanks Jeri, I gave my roses a good spray from the hose today. I'll take a look at the undersides tomorrow again. Much appreciated.

In my experience, it seemed like the white flies were just "resting" on the roses. They didn't damage the roses at all. After a couple of days, without my doing anything, they were gone. I have a no-spray garden and I guess I don't have any plants that they like, so they really don't seem like much of a problem.

I haven't seen them for a couple of years, but a few years ago when it seemed like they just covered the roses, all I had planted in the garden at that time were roses.

Smiles,
Lyn

Thx Lynn, my roses don't seem to be damaged either. The flies are a little less today but they're still there. Mine are climbing roses and I want to tie up a couple of canes but everytime I touch a branch they start flying around my head, I jump and prick myself on a thorn. lol

I'd forget about them for a bit and do something else in the garden. (There's always too much to do in the garden at this time of year.) I'll bet money that I'd rather spend on new roses that they will be gone shortly and you can go back to working on tying up canes.

Now if you were writing about rose curculios, I could go on a rant about those critters. o;)

Smiles,
Lyn

Yep, you are soooooo right Lyn. I think the cold nights are killing them off because I only saw a couple of them flying around today. Yes, now I can tie up the canes. Thanks Lyn for your help on this.

There's an odd thing about whitefly and roses.

For the most part, when there have been area-wide infestations, whitefly have gravitated here to the plants they seem to prefer to colonize -- Begonias, Brugmansias, Plumerias . . .
HOWEVER, there have usually been just a handful of roses to which the little b**tards seemed to be drawn. They've covered those few roses, ignoring everything around them, and I don't know why that is so.
I finally got rid of Ralph Moore's 'Strange Music,' which I loved, because if there was a whitefly within 5 miles, it would find THAT rose.

Jeri

Jeri.......

That's really interesting, Jeri. My only experience with them has been up here in the mountains of NOCAL. I am guessing that your warmer climate makes it possible for them to stick around. Thanks for the heads-up.

Smiles,
Lyn