Kristi, it could well be your garden is drier and hotter than your friend's. As with aphids, you can frequently see pockets of infestation, where much of the other area seems unaffected. It all depends upon how sheltered the spot is. Anything which increases the humidity, protects from intense sun, restricts air circulation so it increases the "green house effect", making the area milder, more "nursery like" which is to their liking, can cause a proliferation of them in smaller (or larger) areas. I won't generally have issues with aphids here on this hill because there is nearly constant, at least, breeze and often wind. Not far away, in more sheltered places, on the same day, same weather, nearly same elevation, there will be insect and disease issues I simply don't have because I don't have as much of the "green house" situation. I will experience a bit of it in the front, walled garden where there are only a few hours of direct sun, the walls and dense foliage increase the humidity and mitigate the intensity of the heat, causing it to feel more humid and milder, but the rest of the area is windy, hotter and drier so they don't have the bug and disease issues the walled front area is guaranteed to. You might have just a few pockets of problems remaining after the heat hits. If your friends have more shade, more evaporation from dense foliage, less air flow, they may have repeated cycles of them where you may only have one or two. Nature doesn't live by calendars, clocks or geographic location (usually), but by conditions. If the micro climate supports the "problem" and what's necessary to enable it is provided, it will occur. Usually the west San Fernando Valley here has NO Giant White Fly because it is HOT and DRY, but a few summers ago, we had a very humid period and there were Giant White Flies all over the hibiscus where historically there never have been. In the Santa Clarita Valley, where I used to live, saw fly and giant white fly have never been known as it is always too hot and too dry with winters far too cold to support them. But, one summer, in a walled rear garden where there was frequent irrigation, no wind, higher humidity and filtered sun due to the trees, there were saw flies and giant white flies. None elsewhere in the garden and none on the neigbors' plants that I could see evidence of. It's like fungal issues, yours could be clean and next doors' terrible, without any preventative measures taken. It all depends upon conditions which support the outbreak. Only time and observation will tell for sure. Another 'wait and see' situation. Kim

Jimmy, that sticky surface is likely the sugars secreted by sucking insects such as aphids, mites and other sucking types. In damp conditions, it can form a black mold in it, called "sooty mold" as it looks like soot. Are there tree limbs or the foliage of other plants overhanging the roses? I've usually seen what you describe on plants which grow under some other foliage canopy and it more often indicates there are mites or other insects on the undersides of the overhanging foliage than on the roses themselves. That might not be your case, but in many years of dealing with other peoples' gardens, it's what I've encountered time after time. If there is other foliage hanging over the roses, look on their undersides for sucking insects. Eliminate them, or the overhanging foliage, and you will usually eliminate the sticky droppings. Dissolving that sticky stuff requires water as it is primarily sugar and water, with a small percentage of other elements of the plant's sap. In very cool, damp conditions with no potential for extreme heat or extreme sun, I've used very weak solutions of Ivory Liquid in hose end sprayers with copious water to remove extreme deposits which have been there for weeks. The use of anything is going to require water, whether it's plain water or Insecticidal soap. I'd think unless you need the soap to kill insects, you'd be better off not using it, but just rinsing it off with water. If it's only a little bit on a few plants, you can use a hand held sprayer to apply the water, loosen it with your fingers then spray it off. For larger, heavier areas, spraying it off with a hose to wash and rinse it is best. I'd make sure you take care of any infestation on any plants hanging over your roses first. If there are tree leaves or branches from a hedge or other shrubs providing homes for insects on other plants so their "honey dew" falls on your roses, washing it off now will only allow it to be deposited again as long as conditions remain conducive for the insects to continue feeding and proliferating. If you see aphids on your roses and the sticky deposits are only where those aphids are, and if the temperatures are correct for using Insecticidal soap without heat damage, that would help eliminate the aphid situation for a while. Personally, I would still rinse off the sugar water before applying the Insecticidal soap because both together can make a very nasty deposit on the foliage. If your heat is coming, that combination can burn the foliage worse than just leaving the sticky on it. Watch for ants. They eat the honey dew and will "farm" the aphids for it. Kim

Quebec's ban on pesticides and herbicides which was put fully in effect in 2006, is one of the toughest in North America. The only ones exempt are golf clubs. Even municipalities have to abide. I'm not sure about rotenone or pyrethrin, but if you have a brand name, I might be able to tell you if it's still legal. Here are some of the very few products still available for purchase: Raid and similar bug sprays, insecticidal soaps, non-selective weed killers such as Round-up and Wipe-Out, Scott's Weed-B-Gone (with ferrous sulphate) and Sephora. Some stores such as Canadian Tire, Rona, etal, keep these products under lock and key. I had a heck of a time trying to buy some rat bait at Canadian Tire. I asked a clerk for some advice and he refused to sell me any. Luckily, I notice some packages high up on a shelf which weren't under lock and key, so I returned the next day, got a little Rubbermaid stepping stool and helped myself. Here is a link that might be useful: Quebec's ban on pesticides law

I know this is an old thread but thought something I read may help. I have had a massive aphid problem lost a cucumber 3 watermelons 5 cantelopes and had them on a bunch of pepper plants they were on 2 apple trees loquat etc. It was making me crazy, In my search for a solution I ran across an article about someone that had 3 identical plants in 3 identical pots that were placed as close to each other as possible. The differance was the soil, one pot had kmart soil and that plant was covered with aphids while the other 2 had no aphids at all even though they were touching each other. One pot had some custom soil mix in it but did not say what it was. The third pot had a mixture of soil and Green sand. I looked up green sand and found that it is basically an organic fertilizer with a lot of minors in it the npk is 0 0 3. I did not have any green sand but will get some soon. What I did have is an organic fertilizer that I bought by mistake which is a 4 1 1 but has a lot of minors in it plus some beneficial bacterias in it. I got it at Ace and it looks like tan mouse turds. I have been using it on the blueberries since I almost killed one with 26 0 0 last year. I tried it on all of the effected plants and now I cannot find an aphid on any of those I used it on. I had not used it on the loquat but did today so I will watch it for results. The name on the bag is Whitney farms I think. I also have made sure to spray around the base of the trees for ants. hope this helps someone. I will get some green sand soon and try it next.