I just squash them if they are too bad - I gently run my gloved hands up the stem where they are. You don't really need to squash them - making them fall off the bush works. Or, I use a hose to get a good blast of water. Since you do not use pesticides, you will soon get ladybugs and other critters (here we get huge flocks of tiny birds) that eat aphids). Just don't panic - they will not kill your roses. They will disappear in a short amount of time. I am lazy and let nature take care of most of them, and the roses are fine.

Jackie

In the fairly uncommon years when we get aphids in numbers, they are usually followed by big flocks of teeny little birds. (?bush tits?) Those little guys settle on the roses, eat like mad for a day and disappear. I love it. The last few springs, we've had MANY ladybugs -- but as a last resort, there's the garden hose.

Thanks, Jackie-

My main concern is that all of my roses are still in pots. All in the same area of the yard. So the little green vermin are on multiple plants. I did squish all that I could find while berating the chickadees for not taking care of the problem... Tomorrow, I'll check to see how many I missed.

I laughed to read online that a heavy downpour would take care of aphids. Not! We've had heavy rains for the last couple of days with more expected soon. (And, yes, I'd gladly send some H2O to the drought-stricken west if I could!)

The squishing isn't too gross, but spraying with water sounds more appealing. I need to get a new nozzle/gun thingy for the hose, anyway, but a spray-bottle sounds more convenient than lugging the hose around.

I also read that hoverfly larvae eat lots of aphids, so maybe that's why I keep seeing hoverflies near the rose plants. (It isn't because there are any blooms lately.) I didn't see any hf larvae yet, but maybe I will soon.

I appreciate the reassurance, and hope they will not become a real nuisance.

Virginia

A dear friend's advice re aphids:-

Turn your head away, reinforcements will be arriving soon& if there's no food they won't stay.

SO I take a big gulp when I see them & keep walking, within a few days the cavalry (usually ladybugs & hoverflies) shows up & they stay long enough to reproduce. I love seeing ladybug larvae, they have such voracious appetites.

Jane

vmr, I keep a lot of plants in pots. I don't really spray too much but when I absolutely have to I use NEEM oil spray. Growing in pots are an advantage because you can tip the pot onto its side OR what I like to do is get a brick or two and tip the pot onto those, putting it at an angle. They you can easily get under those leaves with the sprayer. Just make sure the pots are well watered first so the dirt is compacted down and won't fall out. I believe that oil/soap sprays will work on aphids as well.

I got cottony scale on my mandevilla vines and they were on bamboo tripod type trellises and tipping the pot made it so easy to get into those little cracks and crevices with the sprayer that the cotton scale like to hide in.

smithdale, I'm sure that's good advice about waiting for reinforcements... only I had an aphid problem last summer that didn't go away. Not on my roses, but on some fragrant Evening Primroses that were otherwise healthy and blooming every night. After more than a month, it finally got so bad, I had to cut them down to the ground.

In that case, though, there were ants 'farming' (and protecting) the aphids, and that isn't the case (yet) with the roses. I've seen Asian ladybugs and their larvae in the yard, but not so far- it's still getting pretty cold (30's) at night, so I don't know why the aphids are already so busy.

A soon as I see anyone besides aphids on those roses, I will stop with the squishing, but these are mostly first-year roses, and I don't want to risk losing them.

Thanks,

Virginia

Sultry, tipping the pots does make it easier to get to the darned things. I'm hoping the problem won't get to the point where I need to use NEEM, but I understand it can be used carefully to limit the damage it can cause to beneficials.

Nice tip about the bricks, too- good for keeping both hands free.

Thanks again,

Virginia

Virginia -- starting my new garden often has me wanting to go out and get some kind of "-cide" but I've held off so far. The first year, the aphids found my roses, and there wasn't much I could do besides spraying them with the hose. The second year, companion perennials went in -- and I noticed aphid-predators started to appear. Ladybugs not only appeared, they started breeding in my garden -- as did praying mantises and hoverflies and all sorts of other things I've found that like aphids for breakfast.

I read that umbellifers (relatives of carrots) are known for drawing in beneficial insects. I like the blooms of Queen Anne's Lace, but the plant gets rather ugly by late Summer. So instead, I direct-sowed Orlaya grandiflora. I also notice the hoverflies love the Achillea, and roses planted near them had most of their aphids disappear rather fast. It's tough when your roses are all in pots, but perhaps you could have some other pots with plants which attract beneficial insects. Another trick I've heard is that while aphids are attracted to roses, they're even more-so to Nasturtium. Perhaps you can have some in pots to draw aphids' attention away from the roses.

BTW, please do let me know how that 'R. moschata' cutting does for you this year -- I want baby pics!

:-)

~Christopher

To attract beneficials I grow lots of chives, alyssum, tansy & achillea amongst my roses, also kale in one spot that I allow to flower, it draws them in too.

I've also read that a wide range of plant material also helps, my excuse to keep cramming in more plants!

Jane

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

Jane, I have to confess that I've never had much luck with growing chives- they come up and then disappear. This past year the ones I planted out vanished, but I do have 2 survivors in a pot that stayed in the "squirrel cage" (to keep the gray devils out, not in). They've never flowered, but they did survive the winter, so maybe I'll finally have some success?

Achillea is on my shopping list for sure now (see the above post)! I may buy a few plants, and try planting seeds also. Although I have a backlog of seeds that I still need to plant- not enough dirt, not enough pots, not enough protected space. But I will keep trying.

Thanks,

Virginia

When we first grew roses, we sprayed. Faithfully. Then, after a few years, our young dog began to seizure. And, make no mistake -- when we sprayed, he seizured.

There was no question about any more spraying. It stopped right there. But we had been spraying for a few years, and there was NO balance here. We had slain the beneficials along with the "bad bugs." It got pretty ugly.

It got ugly, and it stayed ugly for a good year, and then, we started to see a change. We saw ladybugs and larvae, and we began to see those predatory birds, too. We developed a huge population of lizards.

We also got rid of roses that mildewed all of the time, rather than now-and-then, and we eliminated the bad rusters -- the ones whose new foliage rusted as it opened. And the dog seizured less and less, until in his final years, he stopped entirely.

We now have three healthy dogs, and a lot of happy good bugs, and bees and the like, and the roses are pretty happy, too. Aphids, when they DO show up, don't stay long.

Jeri, I'm looking forward to achieving that kind of balance. We have plenty of bugs, birds and lizards here, but it's just been so cold and wet recently that only the birds are active, and they're chowing down on the higher calorie peanuts, suet and sunflower seeds, rather than the aphids.

I know that the wrens, titmice, kinglets and chickadees help keep the scale off my camellias. I doubt any of them would turn down an aphid snack if they knew where the snack bar was. This coming week should bring some warmer weather, so the Carolina Anoles should also be out and about.

I'm glad you figured out the connection with your dog's seizures. Pesticide/fungicide/herbicide exposures aren't all that great for people either, and it makes me sad that for so many people, those chemicals are still the default responses to any environment that isn't "under control".

Virginia

Virginia -- I'm happy that rose cutting is looking so good! I know it will take a year or two before you get something substantial out of it, but I hope you get to experience some bloom on it this year, so you'll know what it smells like.

I got a bunch of seeds from Select Seeds and Swallowtail Gardens. The former carries Orlaya grandiflora (a nicer Queen Anne's Lace look-alike), and the latter has a nice selection of Achillea seeds.

If you're in need of cheap pots, consider nursery liners. I got mine from Greenhouse Megastore, in the 1-gal and 2-gal size. I used them for growing-on bands before planting them in the ground, and saved them all after that. I'd certainly prefer something more decorative for a long-term planting, but if you're looking to start seeds or young plants, they make an economic choice. I also save flats from annuals purchased as plants for seed-starting. If you want to make your own seed-starting mix, you can try my recipe -- 1 part peat moss, 1 part compost or dehydrated manure (I used Bovung from Home Depot), and 2 parts vermiculite. If you're starting a bunch of seeds, it's cheaper to get big bags and making your own than buying premixed bags.

:-)

~Christopher

Christopher, thanks for the dirt recipe. I've been using a mixture of compost with sand, peat moss and Rose-tone mixed in. My husband is the chief-compost-sifter, though, and he recently broke his collarbone and many ribs, so he isn't quite up to sifting again yet. I have no recent injuries myself, but I'm so uncoordinated at things like that that it takes me forever to sift. Also, the recent rains make it impractical to try until things dry up for more than a day.

Your recipe did make me wonder if I should substitute some Black Kow composted manure for the usual compost? I have a bag of it on the porch that I'd bought for top dressing, but why couldn't I use it as a substitute for the composted leaves? Hmmm... I think I'll try it.

I would be delighted if I get a bloom or two from R moschata this year, but if not, I'll wait patiently for that famously heady, wafting fragrance. I hope I'll be able to send you something nice in return once y'all thaw out a bit.

I would love to have only decorative pots, but I mostly use (or reuse, rather) those plain black nursery pots. My gardening mentor has given me a steady supply of them, but small planting jobs have a way of jumping in line before the bigger projects, and using up all the pots, dirt, etc. I also have pots with plants that may be dormant or dead, so they'll remain occupied until I find out who's dead and who's only resting ("Polly Parrot, wake up!").

As for decorative pots, I have learned that many people who live in the upper-income bracket have a charming habit of disposing of perfectly good pots at various points in the year. When the yard crew arrives with the new stuff, out goes the older (but still very nice) stuff. Often there are perfectly good plants to be rescued also, and I'm not too proud to take other people's cast-offs.

Thanks again,

Virginia