Oh no!! I hate that! It could be any number of critters - rabbits, squirrels, field rats, etc. Many of us on this forum do cage our roses with chicken wire or the like especially when a plant is getting established the first year or so. Some folks use granular/spray deterrents. What kind of critters have you seen in your garden?

I have rabbits eating my roses too. I have to use chicken wire for the young roses.

I put a security camera pointed at the roses, and have yet to catch an animal doing it, even though branches have still been chewed. I did catch a small animal, smaller than a squirrel, running across the sidewalk, but didn't catch it chewing on anything that I could see on the camera. The motion sensitivity on the camera is pretty good, but a dark animal against the dark mulch is very hard to see at night, even with the light on. I doubt it is anything as big as deer, though we do have lots of rabbits in the area. I guess I'll try a wolf-pee spray and see if that helps any. Thanks for the suggestions!

I’d contact Elmer Fudd to get rid of those wascal wabbits. If Elmer agrees, wemember to be vewy, vewy quiet while he is hunting......

Rabbits, most likely. That's the kind of damage they do. Some stems they eat and some they just bite off and leave. A good cage like Jim 1961 made for his Julia Child will work. Make yours just like his. Looks like Jim's is 16" high. It needs to be at least that high, don't go any lower. 24" high is even better. A big rabbit will be able to reach over a short cage as he stands on his hind legs and reaches over the top of it. They can stretch like a slinky! The fence wire Jim used with the 2X4" openings is good, chicken wire is too shaky. Rabbits will stand up leaning on chicken wire and feast on the rose bush they can now reach as it buckles in under their weight.

Unfortunately baby rabbits can get through a 2X4" opening so a ring of 1' high chilcken wire fastened to the fence wire cage at ground level like a collar, is needed.

Rabbits can destroy a rose garden. I'm truly sorry for your problem, but there is a solution, and a passive one that works 24-7. Looks a little odd, but it works.

I am experiencing the same issue. However my rose bush is enormous. It’s at least 12 feet high and climbs an arbour over my side entry door. I come out in the morning and there are pieces of it anywhere from 3’ branches to just little bitty new growth shoots lying all over the ground below it. It cannot be a rabbit and although there are deer around there is no evidence of their tracks in the garden bed below. We also have a resident porcupine but my husband is reluctant to believe the bush could support the weight of such a critter. Any suggestions?

Might be wind damage, could be squirrels. Are the cuts clean, flat or angled, or look more torn off? I don't remember how to differentiate between deer and squirrel damage; I think squirrels left angled cuts and deer leave flat ones.

I put a red pepper spray on my roses after finding that all the buds on my two foot tall 'Pretty in Pink Eden' had been eaten off. I picked up a ghost pepper plant to make a more potent spray for next year. After all my pots have been dug in, after loosing buds and tips on my climbers, it's war. I'm done; I want whatever #$@% it is to feel pain when they try to chomp my roses again.

I’ve done a little research and apparently porcupine are a menace to roses. I’ve recently seen one on my property. The dogs caught sight of it and thankfully he obeyed when I screamed “no” at him! Or we would have more problems!! The cuts are angled. We’re setting up the trail cam tonight. It is motion sensored and has night vision! Bring it on pest!

I am having the same problem, but only with my climbing rose where something chewing off the new shoots. I have seen the new shoots bitten off way on the top of the arbor, so it is difficult to believe rabbits doing all the damages, therefore, I am thinking perhaps squirrels are the culprit, but again I never see any squirrels near the climbing rose. What would be the best pest repellent on the market (or local home improvement store)?