It is really important to get a correct diagnosis before you proceed on any course of action. Is it possible to have a local rose expert examine either your roses right in your garden or take cut damaged tips to a dependable professional nursery for their diagnosis? Rose Midge Fly damage is what I suspect, but of course, needs to be confirmed by an expert. The damage comes in two forms, but always appears on newly forming growth tips. Earliest Form The tips can range from shoots just beginnng to emerge from a stem at as short as only 1" long to a fully extended shoot, several inches long. just as the tiny bud (or bud cluster), begins to form they stop growing, stay frozen in size and when touched usually just fall off. The damage looks like a lit match was held to the tip in an attempt to burn it. The emerging foliage at the tip is brittle, stunted, shriveled and so dry it just disintegrates to powder when rubbed between your fingers. The forming flower falls off its burned stem. This stem must now be trimmed back to a thick section that will sustain satisfactory new growth and wait 45 days more (for a hy. tea), for a new flower to grow and to open on that stem. Later Form Sometimes damage will occur to a growing tip when the flower is more advanced in its development. The female midge fly did not discover this luscious stem earlier. Some 'burning of tip foliage is seen, but the bud is still attacked to the stem although it is now severely stunted/disfigured. It has either a crooked neck, 90 degree bend, or part of it appears to have been bitten away, or both conditions may be found on the same bud. Such damaged flowers will continue to grow but are always undersized, monstrously ugly and misshapen when finally blooming. There is no organic treatment for midge fly I am aware of. Bayer Complete Insect Control as a spray or soil drench works for me. I understand that grub proofing granules used on lawns are also effective when spread in rose beds, but I have never used this method. Midge Fly will completely deflower your rose garden all summer long. This is the worst insect pest of roses in my garden. Thorntorn

Cornell insecticidal soap recipes vary slightly on different websites. If memory serves me, mine had the base recipe of 1/2 teaspoon Dr Bronners liquid baby soap and 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda . Can't remember if I used a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar about 1/4 teaspoon, and about 5 pumps of the dog spray in 24 ounces of water shaken in a spray bottle. My friend gave me the dog spray 4 years ago, I dont know where she bought it . Ingredients are Neem oil, Lemongrass, Catnip, Citronella, "and other essential oils" it did not list. After sitting on the counter 3 days the spray bottle smelled so strong I threw the rest away before it blew up. All of this was experimental, i had nothing to lose since all of my blooms were decimated. You might want to test a recipe on a small area before blasting your prize rose. Super Supplements might have a good substitute for the Dog spray. My strong advice is don't inhale and dont use it on the dog.

Thanks Patty and Rebecca. Dynatrap! Dang that auto-correct!! I did search on Amazon but couldn't find one that had the amount of blue like yours does. I wonder if it makes a difference? I think other commenters thought that the blue would attract thrips and midges-then Zap!! A bit pricey when there are roses to buy ;-) but worth it. We have dogs and heart worm is very prevalent here. Actually two of our past dogs were diagnosed and treated for it. Plus we have Eastern Equine Encephalitis here to worry about as well as West Nile Virus. And now a new deer tick illness that has killed, I believe, 8 people in Massachusetts. And we thought lyme disease was bad enough. Some of the beneficial nematodes, Nemaseek being one, list ticks as a target insect so I'll be purchasing some in the spring since I read summersrythm's post that said they need over 45 temps to survive. mad- So the little suckers don't drown? I would think the eggs would be encapsulated somehow though to protect against drowning like a chicken egg. Would the go into a kind of suspended animation and not hatch until the conditions are favorable? There's just so little info available on detailed rose midge life cycle. How do you handle new spring rose purchases? No killing frosts at that point. Would a quarantine work? If so, for how long to break the cycle? Do rose midge breed and reproduce from spring through frost? And I thought the monthlong assault of Japanese beetles was bad enough. sharon

riffs, we targeted the flies that were all over our open garbage container. It sits just under the deck so all we have to do is lower the trash bag, give it a slight swing and let go. It drops nicely into the bin so we don’t have to go up and down the steps. If you are thinking of trapping flies make sure you don’t set it up in the house as their bait will cause a maggot to throw up it stinks so bad. The flies love it…. Gross doesn’t even come close to describing the smell…. Have fun…. I didn’t tell Moses that you had to fill the jar 1/4 full with water so take that into account if you are using cotton balls for midge flies. Maybe a piece of wood under the cotton to keep it dry. The flies try to exit and can’t find the holes in the cap, tire and fall into the water to drown. Also, there was no way I was going to open the jar to dispose of the dead flies (including the live maggots), so we swapped the jar caps off an empty mayo jar. Tossed the full one into the trash, added the remaining half of the bait to the new jar ….etc We have no flies so the jar is almost empty… Moses, it sure would be great.... they would most likely build a statue of you if it works, give it a shot....