We have rose slugs here from May until November. Some areas the rose slugs do not last near as long. Depends on what type and how many generations they produce. Rose slugs can be found on the underside of the leaves but the curled rose slug feeds on the top of leaves. Anyhow, you can pick them off with your fingers Or spray. I spray our roses out front every 15 days with Spinosad as soon as I start seeing leaf damage in late Spring. Safers insecticide soap also works. Follow directions as Spinosad can harm bees and do spot test spraying with either product as some rose leaves seem sensitive to the soap or oils... Curled Rose Slug feeding... Other types of rose slugs mostly feed on the underside of leaves... Here is a link that might be useful: Spinosad

Resurrecting an old thread here: I'm inspecting my weeping hemlock for adelgid and for the most part I do not see any white fluffy spots. However, there are some very small amounts here and there. Also, I've cleared some brush out in the back yard to leave more space for a nice hemlock tree (maybe 15' high or so) that was starting to get crowded out. Apparently my neighbor planted it years ago on the property line (actually on my side). It looks healthy, but I'm seeing a good amount of white adelgid spots. What can I use this time of year (June) that will help both plants? I'm reading that oils and/or insecticidal soaps are safer but may not work as well. (Oils are only for the fall as well?). Does anybody have a recommendation for a foliar application they think will be effective?

There's probably untreated squirrel and bird poop in your yard. Gross? Your right, but I'm not buying/collecting it by the ton and voluntarily spreading it throughout my yard. The US Government (which is very trustworthy and full of brilliant individuals) has found a way to "process" your waste and turn around and sell it to you as Organic Fertilizer. Think about it for a minute. Quote "U.S. residents generate 22,000 tons of sludge every day, and by federal law, that sludge can no longer be dumped in the ocean. The Environmental Protection Agency now reclassifies that waste as "biosolids," and farmers spread it on their pastures." Quote: "It's made from everything you flush down the toilet, and everything industries put down the drain. The EPA does set limits on nine heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, and lead. But the agency does not regulate or even monitor the levels of potentially deadly dioxins in sludge." "There are no regulations for PCBs and no monitoring for pesticides." Quote: "Selling sewage sludge to farmers for use on cropland has been a favored government program for disposing of the unwanted byproducts from municipal wastewater treatment plants." No matter how you slice it, it's still human poop. look at the facts and how our government us looking out for US. http://www.ejnet.org/sludge/ Here is a link that might be useful: Sewage Sludge

Well, your problems only have some chemical relationship. I didn't mention it in the corrections, but magnesium is probably a slight (very slight) culprit in your soil tightness. There's not much you can do about it except wait for it to dispel itself, although the recommended gypsum might help a little bit. I mention a few things below, and recommend a few things to put you into the "perfect" groove, but there's really only one major correction to make--phosphorus. So I rode that to the top. The secondary correction, dispelling the sodium (and also raising the calcium a touch) is just below that, but it's really optional. Phosphorus 116: On the low end, 200 would be the target here. We use starter fertilizer, any brand, to raise this. Just get the cheapest, they're all in the same ballpark. Phosphorus levels have no impact on soil hardness, but do influence overall growth and penetration of grass roots (and growth of the top). Sodium 2.1%: A bit high, which is riding your pH up a bit. Grasses won't have any trouble tolerating this, although other sodium sensitive plants may start having issues here and there. While sodium will harden a soil, this isn't that excessive. Combine that with... Calcium 64.4%: Just fine, really, and it doesn't require adjustment. However, a little more won't hurt, and we have to raise this to dump out some of the sodium. We can use gypsum (calcium sulfate) to lower sodium and raise calcium at the same time, and you don't need much. Gypsum is available at most landscape and gardening stores, and I've seen it at Home Depot. Gypsum won't influence your pH--except perhaps, in this case, to drop it a hair as the sodium dispels. Sodium is an extremely alkaline ion. The rest of the stuff: ME 7.7: This implies a sandy to silty soil, almost certainly a mix of the two with minimal clay. Adjustments can be in decent quantities, and the soil will tend to stay stable for decent periods of time. OM 5.2%: Firmly in the Good range, so you don't need to add organic material on any emergency basis. Certainly I'd always mulch mow, mow your fall leaves, and consider organic feeding, but this is not an emergency. Larger amounts of OM will tend to loosen and lighten your soil. Sulfur 12: Normal, with plenty of margin to accept the gypsum. Magnesium 19.3%: While a significant excess, this isn't a major problem. It can make soils tight and hard, but your amounts really aren't that excessive. Still, no magnesium is required, and avoiding magnesium sources until this drops back into the normal range is a very good idea. So when lime is required, don't use cheap dolomitic (lime with magnesium in it). Avoid Epsom salts on all plants. Potassium 4.9%: Perfect. No potassium is required, although you don't have to specifically avoid minor potassium sources. I actually prefer a slight excess of K. Minor Elements: All fine. I wouldn't mind giving boron a minor tap, but it's so minor I'm not going to bother. I do mention iron below. Iron 163: Fine, really. This certainly isn't deficient, but if you want to raise this (very slowly) for better color, feed with Milorganite. Over the years it'll slowly lift your iron number. Recommendations: September 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. September 15: Apply 10 pounds per thousand square feet of gypsum. October 1: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate. Memorial Day, 2016: Apply starter fertilizer at bag rate.