Home | Environment | Cultivation & Gardening

Ten Insects That Are Troublesome For Our Roses

By: Becky Day

Read More About Cultivation & gardening

We love our roses, but unfortunately there are insects each year that love them just as much as we do. There are some common insects which have a tendency to munch away at our roses. If we can get a handle on them early, we can get rid of them before they devour our roses. There are actually 10 most typical little buggers.

1. The first one is the most common one and the one we all cope with on a regular basis. Aphids, these types of little buggers are tiny, pear-shaped pests that appear in colors including black, green and red. They love to gather 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 will leave behind a trail of sticky, sugary material referred to as honey dew, which could become infected with a black and ugly material called sooty mold. Because honey dew is sweet, this may also appeal to ants. Fortunately aphids are easy to control. If you wish 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 eliminate the sooty mold. Roses also provide their very own natural way of helping out with troublesome insects, a large number of quite beneficial insects, for instance lady bugs, have a tendency to buildup on rose bushes and manage the aphid issues on there own, before serious damage can take place. A different alternative is a product called Merit that has the ingredient imidacloprid in it and it is relatively eco-friendly. Malathion and acephate are common chemicals that work as well. Ensure you always read the label and follow the instructions closely before implementing.

2. Spider mites can be yet another common problem we all know much to well. Spider mites are tiny minature spiders that you can hardly see without some form of magnifying glass. If there are very many of them, you can see their very fine webbing on the underside of the leaf. Spider mite like to suck on the juicy plant parts as well. The leaves little by little become a yellowish color with a shiny, silvery look to them. If not dealt with the plant begins dropping its leaves and will ultimately die. Spider mite tend to break out if the temperature is very hot and dry in the summer months and on dusty plants. They can spread from plant to plant quickly so it is important to treat them. You can control spider mite with insecticidal soap or summer oil, targeting largely the underside of the leaves. A daily heavy, 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, for instance Avid.

3. Thrips are another almost invisible troublesome pest. They feed on flower petals that causes the petals to become discolored, the buds become deformed as they open. Thrip tend to favor the light-colored rose varieties. Insecticidal soaps are effective and also insecticides such as acephate and Imidaclorid.

4. Rose midges as they are referred to are another very small, almost invisible pest that feed on 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 just not yield flower buds. Insecticidal soap may 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 wicked very small, worm-like larvae that bore into recently cut or the new canes and feast inside of them, causing the cane to die or become severely damaged. Be warned, borer may be very difficult to manage. Look close at the infected cane and you will see a small 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 into the bud union, almost certainly you will lose the rose plant altogether. Cutting off all harmed cane is probably your best strategy. Very few sprays on the market work, however , you might be able get some of the larvae as they fall to the ground after feeding, by using parasitic nematodes close to 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.

Next we have the beetle family. There are 4 that are most common that feed on other kind of plants but in addition enjoy the juicy plant parts of the rose bush. Beetles are not very easy to get rid of. They take flight and also have a smorgasboard as they move from plant to plant. Insecticidal soaps do help as does Neem and pyrethrum which control adult beetles. Chemicals like carbaryl and severely help as well.

6. The June Beetles are about a inch long and are reddish brown to black. They often feed at night. Turning the soil might help to expose the grubs to birds. Floral-scented traps that catch the attention of adult beetles can be purchased, but keep in mind, these traps may bring in more beetles than you had before. Keep these traps at least 100 feet away from your roses if you choose 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 types exist. They tend to take big bites out of the rose just as it is attempting to open up.

8. Japanese beetles are 1/4 inch long and possess coppery bodies and a metallic green head. They prey on both flowers and foliage, often skeletonizing the leaves.

9. Rose chafers as their called, are 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 taking a lot of small bites. Caterpillars can be controlled with acephate and caterpillar sprays.

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

For green landscaping and gardening ideas check out Front Yard Landscape and Cordless Lawn Mower

Please Rate this Article

 

Not yet Rated

Click the XML Icon Above to Receive Cultivation & gardening Articles Via RSS!
Additional Articles From - Home | Environment | Cultivation & Gardening
Sign Up for a free account.
Our other websites
All about SEO
Beauty Tips Forum
Submit Articles
Member Login
Link Us
Submission Guidelines
Ezine Notifications
Article RSS Feeds
Sitemap
New Stuff
About Us
Developer
Good shopping portal
Link to Us
Contact Us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service

counter easy hit

Powered by Article Dashboard