oh no. I have never used pesticides. The garden guys (two men in their 60's) assured me it was very mild. They picked up the bottle, pointed to the imidacloprid ingredient and said that it was not very toxic at all, just to water my plants with it. They told me it would not kill worms (my biggest concern, as it was going in the ground). Does it kill worms? Even when I'm digging a bed I'll carefully move the worms as our soil is Southern California clay and those worms are valuable to me! I'm horrified. I should have known. The boo is completely contained in a bed that's about 4.5' deep and 15' long so I'm taking heart that it's just about as contained as it could possibly be. Half life 180 days... ouch. That means at least a year before it's close to the original state. I read some of the links. Thankfully the issues are mostly due to spraying, which I didn't do. Putting it on the roots of a non-flowering (therefore no bees) plant shouldn't hurt honeybees. I learned my lesson though. I've never in my 15 years of gardening done anything with chemicals and the thought of harming the good bugs makes me nauseous. Usually the only "pest control" I do is smooshing snails and throwing slugs in the green recycling bin. Ants, spiders, etc are pretty much free to roam as long as they aren't black widows (those get smooshed). My great-grandma used to make the kids cut their own switch. I'm sure a few lashings with a bamboo switch are what I deserve...

thanks for sharing.I haven't had to make the mix as yet. I don't disturb the aphids and wanted to share with you.I posted here, because my problem seemed so huge inside the green house.So I put about 100 lady bugs ,they consumed all the aphids that were in there at the time , placed some eggs and left the greenhouse.I know that more aphids were to come.So now I have an army of larvea working like little vacum cleaners consuming the aphids that hatched after the lady bugs left.I was so excited watching them cleaning up the peppers.I make it a habit not to disturb the aphids ( their food source)and in my opinion spraying lady bugs with a sticky liquid so they can't fly is wrong.I would never do that.Let the lady bugs eat what they want , put the eggs ( and they will if there is enough food for them in there) and let them leave if they wish to go.They know that the larvae needs lots of aphids, so they don't want to deplete the food supply.Mother Nature will take care of things.The instructions on the box should not encourage to spray, but rather instruct to leave plenty of food for them and perhaps give the above brew receipe .I have lots of lady bugs around my yard because I let the aphids just be there.If the situation gets out of hand and no lady bugs visible I use safer soap and surely the lady bugs arrive to help me out.I never had to actually buy lady bugs.I just placed some in the green house , but they came from my yard. I hope the lady bugs born in my green house will stay there .When there is no more food for them I do plan to make the brew recommended here.I will put it in the greenhouse .Thanks a lot..

Hi Christopher- Yes, I am still very new to this rose-growing thing, so I know it takes time for the pest/ beneficial balance to get established. Things should be warming up soon, and I'm hoping (really hoping!) we won't see any more freezing temps. The good bugs should be hatching out soon, and I bet they'll be hungry. I was very excited to see Ladybug larvae last fall, and there were some hoverflies hovering near the roses within the last couple of weeks. No signs of hoverfly larvae yet, but I did look online so that I'll (kinda) know what to look for. I had some Nasturtiums last year that I grew from seed- the aphids didn't find them last year, but maybe they will this year. Queen Anne's Lace is pretty invasive here, but I do plant Dill and Parsley and let them bolt. This year I have bronze fennel also, so the umbellifer angle should be covered... eventually. You mention Achillea, and that's the only plant I've been thinking to buy ready-grown this spring. I just don't have the kind of budget that allows for buying lots of flowering plants in the spring, and I tend to worry about what's been sprayed on the big-box flowers. So, I'll call around to some local nurseries to see what kinds of Yarrow they have, and make sure they haven't been sprayed with neo-nics. The local Native Plant Society offers the species (if I get to the sale in time), but there are so many pretty cultivars, that I may go that route. Here's a photo of R. moschata I took today. She unfurled those charming leaves not long after her arrival, but otherwise looks just the same- I guess that's semi-dormancy? The aphids haven't found her, and hopefully won't. She'll get a larger pot soon, but it's raining again now. I'll let you know when she gets growing- it shouldn't be long now... even my 'Mortimer Sackler' that arrived in the fall already dormant is showing tiny bits of green... Thanks, Virginia

I highly recommend the Bayer tree and shrub granules for aphid problems on bamboo. Your plants will thank you and im not super into using chemicals and I tried to avoid that stuff for a few years, once I tried it my plants leaves got bigger more of them, none of the black sut that can develop.... its a winner in my book...