Thoughts on control? I will hit them with some insectididal soap tomorrow, but will they just come back with if the ants aren't taken care of? I bought some bagged compost from a local home improvement store that starts with an 'L' and I think it was infested with ants. I have some Spinosad that I bought to hit the ants from the compost; will it kill the ants? It lists fire ants under insects control but doesn't say if it works against the others. I also have some diatomaceous earth that I can try to use, if I only knew how to get it over all the ants. Thanks, Adam

Thanks Kim. This is exactly what I found. A lot of my babies have very red new growth. And that's where I found them....Good thing I had my glasses on! I usually find them when I'm showering my roses in the morning. This time I saw them later in the day and had to squish them with my fingers. Yuck, Aphid guts. I see you haven't had any luck yet finding Dottie Louise. I am good at web searching, (part of my job) and if I can be of help, I would be pleased to. Well, I have to tell you about this..... The first David Austin I ordered from Texas was absolutely perfect. It has grown like a weed and is going to be very beautiful. I ordered another that I couldn't get through Regans, and it arrived in awful shape. It was stuffed into the (very long) box and had 5 spaghetti like canes that were from 3.5 ft to 5 ft long. (I measured) The rose must have been in the tiny pot for a very long time. It was also too tall to travel for that length of time (4 days) with no water. The ends of the canes were dried crispy and 2 canes didn't even weather the journey. No more ordering online. I will have to look at the rose before I buy it. I got Wm Shakespeare from Regans, very much past the season for buying container roses, and I thought THAT ONE was sickly. Nothing like this one. Let me know if I can help you search for your rose. I am very thankful for all the help you have been for me. andrea

That wee larva inside the spit is a Spittle Bug, the larva of a froghopper, as it is known, A sharp steam of water can knock the wee bugger off the plant, but just washing away the foam will not necessarily do that. Once the foam is gone you can usually see to wee larva. The other brown, soft, slimy thingys are a bit more difficult but most likely are slugs, or the larva of any one of a number of insects. If a sharp stream of water does not do a good enough job of control (often just knocking these wee buggers off the plant is enough), and Insecticidal Soap is no help perhaps moving up to Neem Oil products or eventually to a pyrethrin based pesticide may be necessary.

Does anyone know what these bugs are and what I should do about them (if anything)? I've gotten some of them off with a strong spray of water, but some still remain. Thanks for your help.