Roses The Straight Scoop Part 4 - gardening

Flower & Garden Magazine, July, 2001 by Ann Hooper

Third, any spray materials home gardeners can buy are not dangerous to people or pets when used according to the directions on the package. In response to the Environmental Protection Agency discontinuing the use of many spray materials it considers unsafe, the chemical manufacturers have responded by developing "new" chemistry that is much less toxic and more effective than spray materials have ever been. They are expensive, however, but are used less frequently and in smaller amounts, so they are extremely cost effective.

* CRITTERS

ROSE MIDGE - These minuscule flying insects devour developing rosebuds, leaving you with strong, healthy-looking plants, and no flowers. They have a short life cycle, and, if left on their own, can keep a rose garden bloom free all season.

Best Prevention and Treatment: Scatter the surface of the soil in your rosebeds with diazinon in early spring and again in mid-July.

Damage Control: Prune back the flowerless cane to allow a new cane to grow.

APHIDS - These small bugs are green in the East, pink in the West, and can suck the life out of rosebuds and tender stems.

Best Prevention and Treatment: Orthene, horticultural oil, insecticidal soap.

CANE BORER - This bee finds a freshly cut rose cane and drills itself down the center until it finds a comfy place to lay its eggs, killing the cane as it bores.

Best Prevention: Seal freshly cut canes with Elmer's[R] Glueall, orange shellac or Rose Stick Cane Sealer.

Damage Control: Cut the affected cane back, an inch at a time, until you reach strong, white pith (center) without a hole.

JAPANESE BEETLE - These miserable creatures can decimate a rose in no time flat. Some rosarians say that Japanese beetles were put on the earth to masticate, fornicate and procreate. And that's about right. Japanese beetles haven't made it across the Rockies (yet), so this pest is prevalent in the eastern two-thirds of the country. Control of these beetles is difficult, since you have to get the insecticide right on them. I keep a spray bottle filled with an insecticide handy and give the beetles a squirt whenever I see them. Japanese beetle traps attract the beasties from miles around, so let your neighbors do the trapping.

Best Control: Sevin, Orthene

CUCUMBER BEETLE - The proper name for this nasty bug is the corn root-worm beetle. They chomp rose petals similarly to the way Japanese beetles do it. And they're just as hard to control. These beetles can be found in most parts of the country except the Northeast, and are particularly plentiful in rural areas where crops are grown.

Best Control: Sevin, Orthene

RED SPIDER MITE - This mite is hard to spot until most of the lower leaves of your rose plants turn goldish-brown and drop off. You will see tiny red spiders on the undersides of the leaves, and perhaps fine webs where they've really made themselves at home. Mites have a short life cycle, and once they're evident, must be treated three times, a week or so apart, to kill all the life stages.

Best Prevention: Avid, Floramite, Savey, Hexygon, Kelthane