Whether they can or can't crawl back up, new crops of them hatch out all the time. Like aphids, Japanese, Fuller, Curculio and other beetles as well as all other insects which suck or chew the plants, you have to continually battle them during their "season" using whatever methods you've selected. I'm not recommending any method nor attempting to encourage you to go "nuclear" on them, but the less toxic your method, the more interactive you have to be with the control. With more generations regularly hatching from eggs, and more eggs being deposited as long as conditions favor their reproduction, new "slugs" are appearing daily or every few days. So, if you're knocking them off, picking them off or washing them off, you have to be diligent at it. Pick, knock or wash them off daily or every few days as your time, energy and infestation dictate. Or, go with an organic control like the bacterial Spinosad, which knocks down all of the hatched slugs at once for two weeks. That has to be sprayed twice monthly unless it's all washed off by a heavy rain. Yes, it can kill the predators, too, but all "insecticides" will. The point is, you have to determine whether you want to constantly battle them or take stronger measures against them. They not only cause unsightly damage, but ANYTHING which reduces the green leaf area of the rose, inhibits, reduces its ability to feed itself. Reduce the leaf surface area sufficiently and you inhibit the plant's immune system, weaken the plant,by causing it be malnourished, making it more susceptible to other damaging factors such as fungal attacks and potential freeze damage in winter, if that is a possibility where you live. Kim

You need to find what is doing the damage first. It looks like caterpillar feeding, although it could be slugs or other chewing insect. If the damage is continuing to spread, they must still be present and probably are not hard to find, so go have a look under the leaves, on the stems, etc. and see if you can find anything. If not, you may need to go out at night with a flashlight to find them since some insects feed at night. Once we know what is causing the damage, then we can decide what to do.

Hi Clara, The best thing to do is take the eggs and leaf to your local county Cornell cooperative extension office for identification and remedy. Here is a link that may help. Good luck. Kareen http://ipm.ncsu.edu/vegetables/pamphlets/peppers/peppers.html Here is a link that might be useful: Our pond and gardens

Honestly the best method of reducing their numbers is to mulch over the grass :-). It probably sounds counter-intuitive, but most of these leaf eaters (cuban may beetles included) spend many months as grubs feeding on grass roots before emerging and feeding on tree leaves. My lychee tree in the front yard (which has grass) gets devoured by those evil little white aliens, but the lychee in the back (where there is no grass) basically has no sign of leaf damage. Also, the damage from the cuban may beetle has been drastically reduced after I got rid of the sod. Once the grass is dead, they will still linger for a year or so - you won't starting seeing a reduction in the amount of grubs for several months. I suspect they are feeding on the dying sod roots. But after about a year, you should see a drastic reduction in population. As a short term remedy to cut back the population a little on a tree that is too young to defend itself, sevin would certainly be warranted. I really hate using it myself because shortly afterward I'll find hundreds of dead millipedes and other beneficials all over the ground :-(. And I'm also not totally sure how effective it would be, since sevin never really worked that well for controlling the cuban may beetle (in my own experience). Jeff