When I checked the Roses Forum under "protect while spraying" I found these info: "From Henry Kuska, grower of over 1,000 roses from Ohio: Title: Combined exposure to endocrine disrupting pesticides impairs parturition, causes pup mortality and affects sexual differentiation in rats. Another one from Henry: "Retinal degeneration was two times more common in applicators who had used fungicides. Results were similar in North Carolina and Iowa." More from Henry: "It appears that the "hot U.S. fungicide spray of the month" is Bayer Advanced Disease Control for Roses - This is a tebuconazole based fungicide. It is being phased out in Europe, banned in the state of New York, and not available for garden use in Canada. The concern is especially directed towards fetuses and infants as they are particular susceptible to endocrine disrupting substances." I posted a thread entitled "Pics of fungal growth, corn meal, and Austin roses" in the Rose Forum detailing how I dusted my corn meal. Refined corn meal from Walmart did not work, throwing at the base of the bush did not work. Someone posted a good question "if corn meal is a good fungicide, would it harm the beneficial Mycorrhizal fungi?" For that reason I kept the corn meal on the leaves, rather than in the ground. For fungi control in the ground, I posted a thread "Suppression of pathogens and pests by soil bacteria" in the rose forum. It detailed how black spot fungi is suppressed by normal soil bacteria plus flora in horse manure. In contrast, mulching with tree bark in a wet climate encourages black spots, with 25 different varieties of fungi in decayed wood, particularly artillery fungus, or shotgun fungus. Since WHOLE-GRAIN corn meal works best with the fat in the germ layer, I used a flour sifter to dust the lower 1/3 of the bush. I dusted August 1, September 1, September 17 (after 20+ hours of rain), and again in September in the midst of 5 days of rain. Only 4 dusting to get zero black spots on 10 Austins. Our first frost is soon to come in October, they keep all their leaves. The feed store doesn't sell corn meal, only cracked corn $5 for a giant bag (enough for a decade!). I used Nutrimill flour grinder to grind to dust. You can buy Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Mill whole-grain corn meal at the grocery store for $2 to $3 per bag. Health food stores have it.

I can't tell for certain what she might be by the image, but the description fits that of one of the solitary wasps, perhaps the Cicada Killer wasp judging by how large you say it is. There are several species of solitary wasps, and many of them dig holes in the ground for nests. She will defend her territory vigorously, and can sting. Can't help you with the beetle without a picture, or a very good description.

We had a bad flea beetle infestation about 5 weeks ago, so I know where you're coming from. Here's what I learned about flea beeting fighting: - While it's true that there is no one perfect solution for getting rid of the flea beetles, there are some things that 1/2 work. And if the plants are mature, adult plants, as opposed to seedlings, getting a 1/2 solution may more than do the job. Insecticidal soap helps, though it takes 3-4 applications to whittle down the flea beetle population. There is another product with insecticidal soap and sulfur; I believe it's called "3 in 1" from Safer brand. It specifically mentions flea beetles as a target. I bought some but never used it, because by the time it came my insecticidal soap was doing the job. - Flea beetles are actually mainly a risk to seedlings and immature young plants. By the time a plant is mature, it should be able to withstand a medium-sized flea beetle infestation. As noted above, I was fighting and fighting the flea beetles with the soaps, but eventually decided to just see what would happen next. Having probably killed 1/2 of the population, the remaining half simply couldn't do enough damage for me to bother with them. They eat little holes in the leaves, but in a full sized mature plant, having them commander 8 or 10 leaves for partial destruction really doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. I mainly just flick them off with my finger now, whenever I see one. The soap treatment gets them down to a reasonable number, after which you can just flick them off the plant. Now, one thing to know is, by the time you're seeing the symptom - round holes in leaves - you are actualy at an advanced stage of the problem. The flea beetles deposit larva in the soil. They grow up and become adults, and move to the leaves. So that's where the leaf holes come from. But it's the larva hanging back in the soil that are the actual problem, since they eat the roots, and can totally destroy the root structure. Also, they overwinter in the soil, where you never see them until next year, when they mysteriously reappear. Again, using soap to whittle down the adult population on the foilage will minimize the larval deposits in the soil, from which the next generations appear. Now, I read someplace that flea beetles basically go through two generations on a plant. So...adults on the leaves, leave eggs in the soil, they become larva and eat roots, then grow up and go onto the leaves, and then they do an egg drop into the soil for the second generation, which then reappears 2-3 weeks later on the leaves. My point being that if you can get through the two generations of destruction, you sould be done with the flea beetles for the year. In the end, some of my plants have unsightly foliage with flee beetle holes, but after appearing to be an epidemic for a week, the frequency of holes died down, the soap killed a lot of the adults off, and the problem has really receeded in importance. So I guess I'm saying it's like the opposite of aphids, where you need to get really serious until they are all stone-cold dead. Just food for thought.

Thanks for the responses. Further investigation has unfortunately revealed a green, dark-headed caterpillar, and a silky cacoon with something inside, which, with the help of the internet points to this being a webworm nest, although all the references I accessed indicate the caterpillar should be brown. Not a serious pest apparently but one I will keep my eye on. I think an application of BT is in order.