Pest management is complex, if you want to learn, a good place to start is here: Integrated Pest Management This lecture is presented in two parts. Each part is 90-minutes in length. Recorded in Sacramento County in California's Sacramento Valley, this lecture is by Mary Louise Flint, Ph.D., Director, IPM Education and Publications, UC Statewide IPM Project and Extension Entomologist & Cooperative Extension Specialist. Education: B.S. Plant Science, University of California, Davis Ph.D. Entomology, University of California, Berkeley Appointment: 100% Cooperative Extension Research Interests: Integrated pest management of landscape, agricultural and garden pests; biological control of arthropod pests; alternatives to pesticides; adoption of alternative practices by practitioners; innovative delivery of pest management information. Topics discussed in the Integrated Pest Management Lecture: * IPM references and resources * Preventing pest problems * Natural common enemies * Making less toxic pesticide choices * Controlling aphids, scales, caterpillars, coddling moths, tree borers, snails and slugs, and lawn insects. You can watch the programs now online: Just make sure you have Real Player installed or download it free. Integrated Pest Management Part1 90 minutes Integrated Pest Management Part 2 90 minutes You'll want to bookmark the following link to Professor Flint's Lab Research on: Controlling Pests in Gardens and Landscapes: Vegetables and Melons I promise you'll learn one or two things to put in your gardening bag of pest management arsenals. ;)

Sounds like leaf hoppers. They come in color ranges from pale yellow, to white, to light green. The adults are 1/8-1/4" long. The nymphs are small with tiny wings. They suck on plant juices and cause patches to yellow and possibly die. Your best organic solution would be insecticidal soap. If that doesn't work, any contact insecticide should. The "really" organic solution - let some chickens wander around the yard for a bit. They'll make short work of ground insects.

So you can tell by looking at the plant whether you have thrips or not? You didn't see any evidence of them in my photos, yorkrose? Yes, I have had winter moths for the past four years. It is really a pain, but I keep observing to see how it changes from year to year. This year they were late, but they did show up. They weren't as bad as previous years. One year my two Maples had very visible holes all over the tree. This year I can't see a lot at all. It's even more annoying when they drop down onto plants in the yard. But on the other hand, there are lots of birds that have started camping out for the abundance of food. I see starlings especially like them and are in the trees hunting and pecking. I've seen sparrows eating them and this year I've been amazed to see Orioles hopping around in the trees eating them. So I've held off on using the BT. Right now I think with the few roses I have, hand picking and close observation may keep things manageable. I hope! [g] Kate, are there bugs that eat the sawfly larvae? York Rose, thanks for that link. I see they are supposed to feed until mid June. I've already seen a noticeable dropoff in activity.

Just a thought here ... Spraying with a chemical pesticide for aphids is something like using a sledge hammer to kill a fly in your living room. Far, far too much destruction for the simple thing you wanted to accomplish. Aphids are vulnerable, soft-bodied insects. You can brush them off the buds with your fingers, or hose them off with water from a gardenhose. Birds love to eat aphids. If you avoided the pesticide, and left the aphids where they were, birds and predatory insects would eliminate them with no action from you needed. Only, when you spray with something like the Bayer Pesticides, you kill the beneficial insects, and repel the birds. :-( so when you need them next, they won't be there. Jeri