Too bad you don't have the whole pic of it, Baldo would like a pic of it probably on the rose. I know it's a monster, but it's beautiful, must be beautiful in a moth form too. Terrific pic and I feel your pain, I fought these last summer, or my own version of rose slugs and budworms. I take them and feed them to the 100's of toads who have arrived now, I get a lot of satisfaction from that:)

Just when you think you can't stand the nasty bugs anymore, the good bugs swoop in and demolish them. It has been several years since I've even checked my roses for aphids. Of course if you have used chemicals (killing all the bugs) for a few years, it may take time to build up the good bug population. Usually within a week of seeing the aphids, you can find the lacewings and ladybugs. Or a spray of water from the hose knocks the aphids to the ground, and it takes them awhile to climb back up. Quick and cheap.

Rose slugs are part of the big picture of growing roses, and if you have the patience to wait it out with minimal measures like squishing/removing the worms (if you find them), and spraying with strong streams of water or the insecticidal soap to remove the ones you can't see, it will pay off in time. The good bugs like the wasps Patty describes will come in to eat the worms and you won't see the damage from there. That's why you don't want to spray pesticides for these. I don't think the slug bait works on these types of bugs, since they're not ground crawling slugs like the bait is for (those soft bodied squishy beige lumps). These are only called slugs in names, but they're actually larvae of a fly so they don't live on the ground. That is why you're not seeing improvement from the slug bait, lkayetwvz5 - you'll need to spray some water at the leaves themselves to dislodge the pests. The leaves themselves will still have whatever chewed parts they have, and it doesn't hurt the plant to leave them. Once you tackle this generation of slugs, the new leaves should grow in fine. Cynthia

@grasswhisperer I saw your pictures and it reminded me of my new roses getting eaten to the ground exactly like that earlier this spring. I've been using a small sprinkle of Milorganite around them all since then, and they've been left alone and grown nicely. I have tons of deer here in upstate NY, and they haven't touched any of the climbing roses I planted on the front side of my fence (where they could easily grab them without even hopping over). Research Milorganite a little...might help your new roses and hostas. Some people don't like it's ingredients, and it's also a slow release light fertilizer. But I probably sprinkle less than half a handful around each plant, not near the base just around the area of each plant, probably a foot or two outside of the plants themselves. I don't bother much with my hostas in the front of the house, just haven't gotten bitten by the hosta bug yet ;) Plus they're eaten to the ground no matter what every Spring/Summer by deer/rabbits, so I just never bothered. But I sprinkled the Milorganite around them this spring when I got it, more as a test to see if this stuff actually works to repell the animals like I'd read. First year I've seen their leaves get bigger than 5 inches without animal attacks. Seems to work well.