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aphids and leaf rollers

Missy, Traverse City, Mi Z5

14 years ago

I live in Mid-Michigan and am having a terrible time with aphids on my roses. I have never seen them so bad. I use Bayer systemic products and they are not helping at all. I spray them off with the hose and they are still eating my rose buds. I am also seeing a lot of small green worm like insects that are curling the leaves on the roses. But they also appear to be eating the buds. I take care of my mom's gardens and she is having the same problem. I use the Bayer all in one systemic on her roses and it has not helped with her aphids either. Are any of you experiencing this problem this year? If so, what are you doing to alleviate the problem?

Comments (6)

scardan123
14 years ago
Not on roses but on the young cherry trees. However, I used bayer systemic and everything dissapeared. Try eventually using soapy water or using natural predators.
The worm-like insects may be Arge ocropus / Arge pagana.
They should be affected too by bayer systemics. Are sure you are using them correctly ? I was always very satisfied with them.
Missy, Traverse City, Mi Z5
Original Author
14 years ago
I have been using the Bayer systemics for years and I apply them as directed. The aphids are making a mess of my yard, because I have a lot of huge maple trees that the aphids are attacking and the sticky honeydew is everywhere, on everything.

The little green creatures are rolling the leaves on the roses, and they look exactly like the pictures I have seen of leaf rollers. But they also appear to be eating the buds.
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wayner123, Three plants of the same variety, are grown in a homogenous mixture and under exactly the same cultural practices. One plant exhibits an abnormal symptom at the growing area. The first reaction is that there is something going on in the roots and or conducting tissues. If this were true, all three would be affected. Therefore it must be something external and affecting only the one plant. An insect comes to mind. Aphids? Thrips? Leaf roller of some sort? Stem borer? The implication here is that this is the first visible sign of what is likely to be a more widespread presence of the offending (offensive?) organism. A minute examination of the other plants is indicated; a seek-and-destroy mission - if you will pardon the expression. There is the remote possibility that the roots of that particular plant encountered a patch of "salts" and cause a "chemical" burn. This can be considered in context of your fertilizing practices.
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Lindens, little leaf in particular, have their own species of aphids that will infest the trees seasonally. Extensively planted as street trees in London, they are in the process of being systematically removed simply because of this problem - sticky honeydew being dropped onto parked cars and passersby. To the best of my knowledge, ants farming aphids are a restricted to only certain species of aphids, therefore I'm not sure you will accomplish much by restricting the ants, especially since they have not yet been apparent on the tree so far. Spraying the tree with a strong stream of water is probably your best bet for control with minimal side effects :-) It serves to dislodge and even destroy the aphids as well as washing off the sooty mold. And easy to do with the frequency required. Insecticidal soaps can work also, but you have to actually coat the insects to effect proper control and you've already determined the difficulty of that with a 35' tree! And insecticidal soaps can create a phytotoxic situation if the timing is not considered properly. Systemics can certainly help. Bayer produces a tree insect systemic that is quite effective against sucking insects like aphids. It is an imidacloprid-based product and is quite toxic to bees but if used as a systemic, relatively harmless to anything other than sucking or boring insects. Not sure that I'd consider systemically treated fallen leaves as 'poison bombs' - just as harmless and compostable as any other untreated leaf. Remember that this will be an ongoing battle :-) If you want to keep the linden, you will have to deal with the same problem every spring.
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I moved to a new home and the sun isn't as abundant due to trees. Probably 6 hours sun tops in this location. As such the watering has been less frequent. I have probably been watering them twice a week. At my old location it was 12+ hours sun a day, so they dried out a lot quicker. I have used Miracle-Gro tomato plant food on them once since transferring outside on 5/31. You're right that the older leaves are green and the new ones are lighter. Top pic is some hybrid habanero, bottom is bolivian rainbow.
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michaelg
14 years ago
Leaf-tyer caterpillars feed on the foliage. That's why they build shelters among the leaves. They are inside during the day, very easy to find and squish them.

Trust me, aphids are not a serious problem. Everyone has them in spring, but they don't do significant damage. Just wipe off the heavily-infested growth tips with your fingers or knock them off with a spray of water if you are watering. Or you can spray the new growth with insecticidal soap.

I presume you are using the All-in-One soil drench product. Most people here recommend against it because you are applying much more chemicals to the garden than needed, the Merit component can cause spider-mite outbreaks, the insecticide doesn't work consistently, and the product is very expensive.

The Bayer Disease Control containing only tebuconazole, applied with a tank sprayer, is very effective for blackspot. Most growers don't apply insecticides routinely
sararose28
14 years ago
I am having the WORST hard time with aphids this season also and nothing is working. Very, very frustrating! I have yet to find something that works consistently on my pesky aphids and have resorted to literally donning gloves and pulling the little buggers off with my fingers (along with the other methods). In other words, I have no advice, but I feel your pain, trustmissy! Good luck - let me know if you find something that works consistently!
daisy735
14 years ago
I have terrible problems with aphids also (!)here in Zone 5b area.MI. You are not going nuts. I am using Bayer products-perhaps all the rain has flushed it thru the soil more quickly than usual(?)One month ago(?) Lots of damage in my yard...l am looking for a solution too! I do not have little green wormy creatures-would be happy to see anything that would sit up and fight! Show me the money! People who say aphids do not do significant damage have not been in my yard...(!)trustmissy-goodluck.
michaelg
14 years ago
Daisy, what type of serious damage do your aphids do?

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