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Garden Clinic Roses

What is this thing on my roses?

2 months ago

Discovered this very strange mass/insect/alien? on some of my rose canes today. Theyre about the size of a pea and look like a pale pink wad of bubble gum. I plucked one off the cane and it was blood red on the underside. Aside from being a little creeped out, I’m utterly perplexed as to what it might be. I was initially thinking some kind of scale but I’ve never seen scale this size that looks like this. Does anyone have any ideas?

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Comments (7)

Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z5
2 months ago
last modified: 2 months ago
The forms scale insect can be found in boggle the mind. The size and shape of your scale, which it very likely is, scale, is really bizarre indeed, but scale it almost surely is.

I would pick them off if they are few in number. If that is not practical, a couple consecutive sprays to all your roses, not just the scaled ones, with Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer is what I recommend to do. It kills by systemic means, so as the scales eat, they die. Spray all surfaces of your rose bushes to the very beginning of the 'drip from foliage' stage of wetness, no more. Do it every 2 weeks for 2-3 sessions, total. They should be clean of the scale then.

Moses
rifis (zone 6b-7a NJ)
2 months ago
“ …a little creeped out …”

From Merriam Webster dictionary:
: to cause (someone) to have an uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or fear

ibd518: is it nervousness, or fear (in your case)?
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The white plastic bags, scarecrow and garlic/egg mixture worked well on my upper level, but I resorted to large cages around each bed on the lower level as spraying that was too time intensive. This past spring I fenced the majority of the perimeter including access to my upper level, only to find they were now entering through my "back forty" where the split-rail seemed to have a welcome mat on it. I'm currently working on fixing that 5' fence to which I'll scab posts to attach chicken wire. Fortunately it's not too visible. Of course, now they'll just entire my parking area and front yard, so I'm not done with the fencing yet. My perimeter fence ended up cheap, but it's hidden by a hedge. I really feel with a lot of roses and little time fencing is the only way. Some people have made a successful one out of metal posts and heavy fishing line. Good luck, summersrhythm. Maybe they won't find you. : )
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Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z5
2 months ago
last modified: 2 months ago
Rifis, take a look at the unbelievable amount of devilish looking scale insects you will see on an image search on the internet. They're nightmare material! They remind me of the giant ocean isopods that are deep sea denizens, and there are the isopods who invade ocean fish mouths, eat their tongues, and live there. In the fish's tongue place they reside, both making the fish loose vigor and scaring the lights out of any fisherman who catches such an infested fish.

Moses
lbd518 (7b DE)
Original Author
2 months ago
Thank you, Moses, for both your affirmation of it being scale and validation of my feelings regarding such insects! - devilish-looking they are indeed. I did a bit of extra digging and believe these to be some sort of wax scale. I promptly removed the handful of them that were attached to my roses and will follow up with a systemic as you suggested if the problem persists. For better or for worse, these were large enough and in a quantity that did not make it difficult to remove one at a time.
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Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z5
2 months ago
last modified: 2 months ago
Since it's approaching winter now, if any problem is evident in spring, 2025, then is the time to take an insecticide response if necessary. Remember, they start out very small as hatchlings and can go undetected in their early stage of growth, so keep a watch out and act accordingly.

Moses
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lbd518 (7b DE)
Original Author
2 months ago
Will do and thanks again!
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rosecanadian
2 months ago
They do look like isopods. Good thing you noticed it early. :)
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