Rose buds being eaten

Does anyone know what this is. The rosebuds never open.

ARGH!!! I have the same problem on some of my roses! I think it's some sort of caterpillar but let's wait for someone to help!

budworm damage. you can buy Bt in liquid or powder form and spray or sprinkle it on the roses. it's harmless to people, pets and other bugs. when the worm/cat ingests it, it messes with their digestive system and they stop eating and starve to death. it works within 24 hrs.

Perfect. Thanks for letting us know! I actuallly sprayed Bt all over my garden yesterday, so that came in handy! Do these guys eat the leaves too? I have damage on the leaves but I was thinking it could be beetles...

well, it is most probably rose slugs if it's just on the roses. Bt does not work on rose slugs, i don't think. they are the larvae of sawflies and Bt only works on cats and certain wormy folk. you can spray dr.bronner's castile soap and water and that should take care of anything that the Bt doesn't.

Bummer, I thought I was killing them with Bt! I haven't seen this Dr. Bronner's soap for sale around here...would dish soap/water work too?
HOw about sluggo? Or doesn't that work for rose slugs?

no, no sluggo. dish soap won't work the same way. it kills aphids alright, but the dr.bronner's has oils in it which smother them. if you have insecticidal soap, that will work. i use dr.bronner's for everything now. it's clean, safe and doesn't burn. i get mine on amazon but lots of places sell it if you google it. i think even target sells it.

I think i have a stupid question !! what is Bt ??

It stands for bacillus thuringiensis. Dipel and other trade names have this as their ingredient.

LAS

Thanks, las. As soon as I hit send, I knew I should have just googled it !!Thanks for the retail product name. Someone also suggested neem, but I wasn't able to find it in any of the insecticides at Lowes. Can anyone tell me a retail product name on that ? I'm a new rose grower w/ a new garden so I'm sure I'll be back. Thanks again. pp

Out here both Garden Safe and Safer brands make neem products but I'm sure there are a bunch of other brands too, it's not patented or anything so lots of people make products with it. You're going to have to read the labels though, the brands that sell neem products also make products with other actives. It's a common active in natural and organic insecticides, so you can hopefully focus your search a little bit by just looking at those products rather than the conventional pesticides which won't have it.

Check out "Safer BioNeem vs Green Light Neem" in "Garden Products." David_Paul cleared up a lot of confusion for me!

LAS

Would Neem help with those rose bud worms? I've been using Neem on everything!

i would think neem would work on them. i love neem too and use it mainly for blackspot now that i use the dr.bronner's for insect problems. wouldn't be without either one (or Bt either).

But the smelllllll.....lol

Wow, I'll top all of you with a crazy question. I have bought Dr. Bonner's peppermint soap in the past for family use and as I understand they are all castile soap. It sounds like a real safe cure all, but can you tell me more? Is there a Dr. Bonner's fragrance free that I should find out about? Sorry for the silly question but you gotta dumb way down for newbies with dying rosebuds.....ok, while you guys are being so amazingly gracious and helpful, how about telling me the concentration of water to this Dr. Bonner's soap? I'm embarrassed for asking.

Dr. Bronner's castile soap; is available in lots of grocery and health food stores. Try Whole Foods. It's good for many things (they are all on the label) but I never heard of it as a spray for pests. Good suggestion.

Me neither. But I use Neem (the horribly smelling stuff) for pretty much everything, and I guess what trackinsand was saying is that either neem or bronners soap could be used. Neem you can get at any big box store or garden center.

there are a lot of different ones, scent-free, peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender. they all work the same. i use the eucalyptus because amazon has free shipping on that particular one. you can use a big sprayer but if you just want to spot spray, i put about a teaspoon or more (i just eye it) in a 16 oz. hand sprayer bottle.

hi all....

I just saw this post after dealing with the same problem lately (on both my mini rose buds and gladiola petals) I was told in the insect id forum that some sort of mini grasshopper or mini katydid was my culprit....I posted pics...anywho to make my long story short, can these products get rid of these pests too?? since at this point I'm really no to sure who the culprits are. Thanks

wowsa...someone in San Diego!?! that's a first for me here, howdy neighbor ;o)

~lissa

Perfect, thank you trackinsand for the answer! I'll be on it this weekend, and amazon.com is my friend for free shipping and good deals. I hope I don't screw this up but I'll keep you posted.

just to put in a clarification here, let me say that the castile and neem have both worked well for me for different things. the castile has worked the best on insects. i cannot guarantee that it will work for everybody the same way but if you aren't happy with it, please don't blame me. just put the bottle in your shower and use it yourself (something you can't do with neem!). there seems to be something in the castile soap that dessicates the soft bodies of insects very fast and it has worked on harder shelled insects too (like weevils), so i am extremely happy with it. it's hard to kill spiders and wasps because they usually require a special ingrediant in the product, but this stuff kills them too. i don't go around killing spiders or wasps but had occasion to use it on my porch. it was an experiment and i was surprised when it worked. good luck!

Hi Lissa! It's good to see a neighbor here! : )

Trackinsand, no excuses, if I end up using Bronners on the plants and Neem in the shower, IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT! LOL!!! : )