Organic ways for pest control on roses

11 years ago

I would like to thank GatorRose for the clever trick of using STP to catch thrips. Here the thrips in sunny places are eaten by wasps, but I still have thrips in shady places with less wasps. For some reason I kept thinking that STP stand for "Sinking Toilet Paper" until I found that STP stands for a motor oil "Scientifically Treated Petroleum". Question: can I use petroleum jelly instead?

With the regard to JAPANESE BEETLES, this year they get drugged on Geraniums and I can smash them easier. I'll plant more Geraniums, Larkspur, and Four o'clocks. Catmint DOESN'T WORK in my garden, nor do marigolds and garlic chives. Other organic methods for pest control:

Posted by GatorRose none (My Page) on Sat, Jul 7, 12

"An unconventional method of helping to control thrips, is to use a red or blue solo cup, paint the outside of the cup with STP motor additive, turn the pot upside down on a stake near the rose of concern. I know this sounds wild...but trust me it works, the thrips stick to the STP and the cups if you hide them behind or in between bushes doesn't look too bad! "

Posted by mehearty So ME z5a (My Page) on Thu, May 19, 11

One year I planted 4 o'clocks throughout the beds. Supposedly, they are toxic to beetles, and the beetles adore them. ***evil laugh*** I didn't notice the population decreasing but I did see many beetle carcasses around the 4 o'clocks. **maniacal laugh**

Posted by Diffeq none (My Page) on Sat, May 19, 12 at 23:46

I found that putting 2 tablespoons of garlic powder into a spray bottle with water and spraying the plants causes the Japanese Beetles to leave and not come back.

Posted by GarrukBloomspeaker 4 (My Page) on Thu, Jul 5, 12

I have had great luck using geraniums and marigolds to keep them away. The Geraniums appear to create a very sedative-like effect, which makes removal a breeze.

Posted by Trudi_d 7, Long Island (My Page) on Sun, Jan 1,

~ larkspur and four o clocks they attract and kill japanese beetles ~

I grow both and don't have too many JBs.

Posted by gardenguru1950 SunsetZ16 (My Page) on Sat, Aug 8

The most common "eater" of rose leaves in California is the Bristly Rose Slug, the larvae of the Rose Sawfly. The sawfly is a pudgy little wasp. It lays its eggs on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves and the caterpillars feed on the UNDERSIDES of the leaves. The rose slug is tiny, no more than 1/4-inch long and very slender, and it's the exact same pale green as the undersides of the leaves. It's the critter that "skelotinizes" rose leaves.

Posted by greenhaven N Illinois 4b-5a (My Page) on Fri, Jul 3, 09 at 7:37

Wasps are natural predators, so discouraging wasps hunting around your roses is ENcouraging rose slugs. Insecticidal soaps can work, but they take up to 24 hours to work and you do risk collateral damage to your "good" bugs, especially honeybees.

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Comments (15)

buford
11 years ago
I have found that 100+ degree temps get rid of both thrips and JBs. But alas, no roses want to grow either.
olga_6b
11 years ago
Buford, we have triple digits temp in MD for 10+ days and JBs are in full force here. I can collect gallons of JBs every day. Not sure temperature helps.
Olga
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strawchicago z5
Original Author
11 years ago
We had high heat in 100's for a few days which didn't bother Japanese beetles at all. I have to harvest ALL my fragrant roses in bud-form before the bugs eat them. I find out that if I cut roses in bud form, 1/4 opened, then the blooms release more scent in the air-conditioned indoor temp.

If I let the blooms fully opened in the hot sun, they lose all that precious perfume, and the scent only attract more bugs. I suspect the JB eat flowers for moisture. The thicker and more succulent the petals, the more they attract JB.
olga_6b
11 years ago
The problem is when you have JBs in heavy numbers, you will not have " rosesin bud form, 1/4 opened". Buds will be eaten when they are pea size, many days before any petals could develope.
Olga
GatorRose
11 years ago
Petroleum jelly is worth a try...I KNOW the STP works (oh by the way, I have used Dollar Store STP type product and it worked well too), have used that method for over a year now. And to add, the solo cups are great conversation starters! :) Folks always want to know what are those cups for...
henry_kuska
11 years ago
Has anyone tried this?
"New biocontrol for Japanese beetles: Gardeners can take some home to release in garden" See bottom link.

Also recent research paper:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1603/EN10241

Here is a link that might be useful: New biocontrol
henry_kuska
11 years ago
"004 Root Application of Potassium Silicate Reduce Feeding Damage to Sargent Crabapple Leaf Tissues by Adult Japanese Beetles" (see link below)
There also is a 2001 report by A. M. Shirzai and F. D. Miller in the following:

Shirazi A.M. and F.D. Miller 2001. Root application of potassium silicate reduce feeding damage to Sargent crabapple leaf tissues by adult Japanese beetles. p. 390. Poster Abstracts. In L.E. Datnoff et al., (eds.) Studies in Plant Science: Silicon in Agriculture Vol. 8, Elsevier Science. B.V., Amsterdam.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for first article above
strawchicago z5
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you, Henry, for those link. Too bad I need a permit to buy the infected JB from Michigan State, in oder to infect the JB in my garden. It's nice to learn from the link that JB eggs die in dry clay, so next year should be better (thanks to the current drought here).

Someone suggested birds as predators for JB. That might be the case. When I first moved into this heavy clay place, there were no trees, but tons of Japanese Beetles. At that time I used a big plastic bag, disturb the JB so they fall down into the bag, then crush them. It was messy, I should had used a big paper brown bag.

Twelve years ago I planted 26 trees, put in 3 bird baths, and my neighbor feeds the birds. Now the birds far outnumber the JB. Yesterday I went JB-hunting, and could only kill 6 - the birds took care for the rest.
lola-lemon
11 years ago
Strawberry- thanks for the stp hint! I bought non toxic blue sticky traps and they do work! So i bet the stp works cheaper!
My daylillies harbor Huge colonies of thrips and yesterday i noticed my orange one just full of thrips i can not eradicate ! grrrrr. (roses look like heck this year).
Stuck a sticky trap out last night and this AM theres only about 10 thrips on the lillies and about 100 thrips on the cards. Squeee! When i saw that i practically skipped into the house singing zipadeedoo dah! (what a wonderful day!).
silverkelt
11 years ago
Ive tried planting 4 oclocks (wintersowed about 500 seeds) and used about 12 potted geraniums a few years ago .

the only thing they did , was give me enjoyment of flowers, however, I dont like the pelargoniums that much, they remind me of funeral homes for some reason(dont ask me why I dont like marigolds, but I do not care much for them either) , so I gave the ones I had away, I had some reseeing 4 oclocks for awhile, but they eventually died out..

they had no impact on my jbs that I could determine.

I might buy some of the cedar oil next year and spray it around, we will see.

I dont think using stp is all that organic either, what are you going to do with the product afterwards? is that any better then spraying? Im not sure it is.

Unfortently, with people with high #s of jbs, Ive yet to see a actual organic means of controlling them in any #s. I will continue to try, as I hate to spray, mostly due to having young children.

Silverkelt
buford
11 years ago
I think I meant the combination of high heat, drought and hard clay. I have read that it prevents the JB grubs from emerging. Whatever it was, we haven't had JBs since we had those awful drought years. So I guess it was good for something.

I may try the STP as well. I didn't know that thrips were in daylillies. I probably have tons in there. But they don't seem to ruin the flowers like they do roses.
dublinbay z6 (KS)
11 years ago
My understanding was that some kind of wasp (I forget which one) is the JB killer. Supposedly that is the natural control that places like Kansas and other farm states have introduced to keep the JB somewhat at bay.

Some places in Kansas claim they get some JBs. I saw a small handful in my garden--but they were all dead by the time I saw them. Not sure exactly how they died (while lying on the rose bloom), but I always say friendly words to any wasp that may fly past me--just in case!

That was the 1.5 day JB attack in my garden.

Kate
bluegirl_gw
11 years ago
I went no-spray many years ago. Encouraging birds, lizards, toads & frogs helped a lot. The rose area has a couple of bird feeders, three waters, including one big plant platter on the ground that the frogs love to soak in. Has some large rocks in it so tiny birds feel safe using it for baths & drinking. Please, NO OFFENSE intended, but I didn't have outdoor cats or dogs, which helps if you're trying to establish a wildlife-friendly yard. Yes, I LOVE pets!!! If you have outdoor pets, maybe you can place feeders & water in more raised or sheltered locations.

Hang a few bird houses in sheltered places & I'm careful not to disturb bird nests in nearby shrubs & trees. My dad's fruit trees (also native species) attract birds, too.
They sample a bit, but do little harm.

A few overturned broken pots under shrubs make good toad hideouts.

I have sprayed the veggies & some herbs that were getting gobbled. Used a solution of blender-shredded artemisia leaves--bitterest stuff I could think of--& it seemed to work. So now I clip stems & leaves to mulch them around the affected plants. Good luck.
Kippy
11 years ago
Not sure how they work, no JB's here but I read this article today

http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=482

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardensalive Link
Zyperiris
11 years ago
I think the best organic way is to leave it alone and let nature take care of it! BUT easy for me to say..I don't have those nasty JB's. They are gross.

Organic ways for pest control on roses

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buford

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Organic ways for pest control on roses

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