Thanks Michael. I have a lot of blooms now after using the Bayer's 2 in 1, and sprayed Bayer's complete insect killer (front yard), Bioneem ( back yard) a couple of times. But I still have a lot of roses only have 50% of the buds can make it to bloom, and still have some roses without any blooms, I knew I didn't put enough amount Bayer's 2 in 1 on all the roses. I didn't put any around once bloomers, Polar Joy rose trees, newly planted bare root roses (planted in late May early June), now I see midge damage on those. It's time to treat them. I got one beautiful bloom out of MAC two weeks ago after 2 years of no blooms, that's a good start ....... Which product contains cyfluthrin-only? I googled it and found eBay has it-Cykick($38). Is that the one? I tried to spray only Bayer's complete insects killer for midge last year, It didn't work without Bayer's 2 in 1. I am willing to mix the fungicide and cyfluthrin only. If that can kill midge and I don't have to use Bayer's 2 in 1.($45 per treatment) If I still have to use both of them, it would cost me even more than current treatment($45+$38), I learned cost accounting, can you tell? :-) Thanks for a great idea.

I don't know anything about Capt. Jack's, but I do have those red beetles and they are definitely a serious pest for lily lovers. This applies to the true lilies not daylilys. Anyway, the red beetles show up as soon as the lilies start to grow. You can find them wandering among the lily leaves laying eggs. I hand pick them at this stage. Once the eggs hatch, the resulting larvae are brown and cover themselves with their own excrement to camouflage themselves from predators. They are easy to see as they look like a brown gooey mess on the underside of the leaves at then end of an elongated hole in the leaf. At this point you can use a spray of water to clean the leaves from these ugly creatures. Alternatively, one can use the same approved poison that you use on rose pests.

As has been pointed out the CLM isn't a deal breaker - it's mostly an aesthetic thing. How young are the trees? How bad is the scale infestation? I'd be far more worried about the scale than the CLM. When I overwintered my trees last winter there was one that was difficult to get to so I didn't do a great job of spraying it or scouting it for scale or honeydew. It wasn't until the leafdrop started that I got in for a closer look. By the time I had the scale under control (imidacloprid) it almost completely defoliated. If the trees are young and the scale infestation is out of control and there are no flower buds then I would dose it again with imidacloprid (and remove any flower buds during the next few flushes to protect the bees - imidacloprid should never be applied before a flush or when flowering is expected). It does take some time for it to be taken up and you should be mindful of leeching when watering for about a week. You could also manually wash each leaf or use oil sprays or etc. I'm sure rhizo or someone will chime in with organic options. But do get the scale in check. --- Until recently there was zero scientific evidence of the role of imidacloprid in CCD. Note that the link above talks about the toxicity of imidacloprid to honeybees. It has been known for a very long time that imidacloprid is toxic to honeybees even in small doses. That's why every label indicates that it should not be applied when flowering is expected. The concentration in the plant drops with time. A whole host of insecticides are toxic to honeybees but are still considered (mostly) safe to use in terms of honeybees when label directions are followed. What had NOT (until about a month ago) been proven was any linkage between CCD (disappearing bees) and imidacloprid. There's a new paper from the Harvard School of Public Health to be published in June ( http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/2012-releases/colony-collapse-disorder-pesticide.html ) that *does* appear to prove there's a connection to CCD even at very small doses. So yes, most neonictotinoids will likely be banned in the near future.

New organic way is to understand each rose rather than blindly spray it with Bayer like ARS recommends. In my alkaline clay with pH near 8, roses grafted on Dr.Huey are quite healthy ... Dr. Huey's root secret plenty of acid to release potassium from rock-hard clay. Saw the neighbor with Angel Face (grafted on Dr. Huey), tons of blooms, and 100% healthy for many years. But multiflora-rootstock is a blackspot-fest in my alkaline clay. Multiflora-rootstock doesn't secret enough acid to un-lock potassium in my hard-mineral-clay. Wimpy own-roots that don't secret enough acid isn't best for my heavy clay. I had a Kordes rose, Deep Purple as own-root which was 100% healthy in loamy & slightly acidic potting soil .. but broke out in blackspots when I put in my hard clay. New organic way is to understand that each rose is different in its need for different minerals. Dave and Deb Boyd, zone 5a, noted that Double Delight and Oklahoma have a higher need for iron. True, I put red-lava-rock (high in potassium & iron) on Double Delight, and it blooms lots. But red-lava-rock was a disaster for Betty White .. its white petals turned brown at the edges. New organic way is to understand that roses like a STABLE environment FOR HEALTH. 1) Stable moisture: After more than a week of no rain, I peeled off 2 inch. of alfalfa hay, in full sun ... the soil is soaking wet underneath, with tons of earthworm. I peeled off grass-clippings as mulch, decent moisture, but less than alfalfa hay. The driest spot is under 2 inch of wood-chips, and it was in shade !! Zero earthworms, soil is bone-dry like the wood-chips above. 2) Fluffy and loamy: I put various additives in many holes in October. Dug those holes today, June 29 .. that's after 9 months. The holes stuffed with leaves are moist and fluffy like chocolate cake. The holes stuffed with crack-corn (high magnesium) was fluffy at first, but corn's stickiness and high-magnesium glued up with my clay into concrete. The holes stuffed with woodchips is really dry and glued up with clay like concrete. The holes stuffed with alfalfa hay is soaking wet, but gluey & compact, due to alfalfa's high-magnesium & calcium. The holes with alkaline clay broken up with coarse sand and gypsum is very fluffy, lots of earthworm. 3) Stable pH: Clay has the best buffers (hard-minerals) to neutralize acidic rain. But loamy soil, like potting soil in my pots .. cannot buffer the acid in my fermented alfalfa-tea, nor too much acidic rain. I have to top my pots with alfalfa pellets and pea-gravel for their buffering capacity. Alfalfa at pH 5.8 is high in magnesium and calcium. Pea-gravel has pH of over 9, high in calcium & magnesium & potassium.