We love our roses, but unfortunately there are insects every year that love them just as much as we do. There are some common insects that have a tendency to munch away at our roses. If we can get a handle on them early on, we can eliminate them before they devour our roses. There are 10 most typical little buggers.
1. The initial one is the most common one and the one we all cope with on a normal basis. Aphids, these little buggers are tiny, pear-shaped pests that present themselves in colors such as black, green and red. They love to accumulate in dense heaps on the new growth and on the flower buds. They suck the wonderful juicy plant sap with their needle-like noses. They leave behind a trail of sticky, sugary substance known as honey dew, that may become infected with a black and ugly material referred to as sooty mold. Since honey dew is sweet, it can also entice ants. Thankfully aphids are easy to manage. If you prefer to do it naturally, powerful bursts of water from the garden hose will knock them off the plants although you need to do this several times. You might want to spray them with an insecticidal soap. This soap may also get rid of the sooty mold. Roses also have their own natural way of helping out with troublesome pesky insects, a large number of quite beneficial insects, such as lady bugs, often buildup on rose bushes and take care of the aphid problems on there own, before significant damage can take place. A different choice is a product called Merit that contains the ingredient imidacloprid in it and is relatively eco-friendly. Malathion and acephate are common chemicals that do the trick too. Make sure you always read the label and follow the instructions closely before utilizing.
2. Spider mites are another common issue we all know much to well. Spider mites are very small minature spiders that you can barely see without some type of magnification device .. In the event that there are very many of them, you can see their very fine webbing on the bottom of the leaf. Spider mite love to suck on the juicy plant parts also. The leaves slowly become a yellowish color with a shiny, silvery look to them. If not treated the plant will start dropping its leaves and will gradually die. Spider mite tend to break out when the weather is very hot and dry in the summer months and on dusty plants. They are able to spread from plant to plant quickly so it is vital that you treat them. You can control spider mite with insecticidal soap or summer oil, targeting mainly the bottom of the leaves. A daily major, hosing down of the plants will help keep the spread of spider mite down. If they get totally unmanageable, you might have to resort to use of miticide, such as Avid.
3. Thrips are another almost invisible troublesome insect. They feed on flower petals that causes the petals to become discolored, the buds become deformed as they open. Thrip have a tendency to favor the light-colored rose varieties. Insecticidal soaps work as well as insecticides like acephate and Imidaclorid.
4. Rose midges as they are referred to are another very small, almost invisible pest that feast upon the new growth, especially the flower buds, the flower bud shrivels up, turns black and falls off. The rose bush may well look just fine but will merely not yield flower buds. Insecticidal soap might help a bit but this insect requires something extra heavy duty in order to get rid of it. Use of Diazinon or chloropyrifos is required to attack the soil-borne larvae.
5. Rose stem borers are evil very small, worm-like larvae that bore into recently cut or the new canes and feast inside of them, triggering the cane to die or come to be severely damaged. Beware, borer can be very difficult to manage. Look close at the infected cane and you will see a little hole where the bore have entered. Cut below this area down far enough to get to the healthy tissue of the cane. Sadly if the borer have reached the base of the cane and bore themselves down in the bud union, almost certainly you will lose the rose plant entirely. Cutting off all injured cane is probably your best strategy. Very few sprays on the market are effective, however , you might be able get some of the larvae as they drop to the ground after feasting, by using parasitic nematodes near the base of the plant. To prevent the type of borer that enter in thru the cut cane, an inexpensive and effective treatment would be to use elmers glue on the tips of every cane after pruning.
Then we have the beetle family. There are 4 which are most typical that feed on other kind of plants but in addition delight in the juicy plant parts of the rose bush. Beetles are not quick to get rid of. They take flight and also have a smorgasboard as they go from plant to plant. Insecticidal soaps do help as does Neem and pyrethrum which control adult beetles. Chemicals such as carbaryl and severely help also.
6. The June Beetles are about an inch long and are reddish brown to black. They generally feed at night. Turning the soil may help to expose the grubs to birds. Floral-scented traps that attract adult beetles can be purchased, but beware, these kinds of traps may bring in more beetles than you had previously. Keep these traps no less than 100 feet away from your roses if you decide to test them.
7. Cucumber beetles are about 1/4 inch long and are yellowish green in color with black stripes or dots on their backs. Two different kinds can be found. They tend to acquire large bites out of the rose just as it is striving to open up.
8. Japanese beetles are 1/4 inch long and possess coppery bodies and a metallic green head. They feast upon both flowers and foliage, often skeletonizing the leaves.
9. Rose chafers as their called, are yet another beetle that are tan-colored with long legs.
10. Last but not least, the caterpillar, they occasionally feed on the foliage or flowers of the rose consuming a lot of little bites. Caterpillars are usually controlled with acephate and caterpillar sprays.
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