With multiple losses, you need to check with neighbors up wind to see if they have a rose in their (often back) yards that hasn't bloomed lately. Somewhere nearby is a source for the mites. Your spring last year might have been drier than other years; that seems to encourage the mites to spread and in the southeast it happend in spring and fall, when temperatures are 70-ish to low 80s. The problem with coming up with a miticide that kills one specific species of eriophyid mite is that studies have shown that a miticide that works on one species may not be at all effective on another mite in the same genus. To the best of my knowledge, Bayer isn't looking at effectiveness against any eriophyids.

Cedric, do you have spider mites on your roses now? If so, that would be somewhat unusual. It is more common to find them after a spate of warm/hot and dry weather. Intris is right, however: they can be dislodged with a concerted spray from the hose. As you pointed out, spider mites hang out on the underside of the leaves. For the hose spray to be effective, you therefore must be prepared to spray up from the bottom of your roses. This usually means that the hose wielder gets wetter than he or she might have intended. And since you never get all of them on the first attempt, repeat hosings will be necessary. I would spray every day or two--you don't want to give the next generation a chance to reproduce. Kay

I had a problem with spider mites when I was growing my baby cuttings inside on a window, but the moment I planted them outside, the mites were gone. When I had them inside, I would take them to the sink every day and spray them the leaves with water, and that seemed to get rid of them. Maybe you could hose them down every morning. I've also heard that preying mantis were good for eliminating spider mites. Also, are you positive that it's mites? Maude

If you feel you need to spray with a miticide, try something with the active ingredient abamectin. There are other miticides on the market, some are specialized so you need to know for sure which mite you're spraying against. Not all are advisable for roses due to the potential for tissue damage. Spray in the evening twice with 10-14 days between applications (or follow the label). If temps do not regularly exceed 83F you can mix that with light summer horticultural oil in the first application. Oil will destroy the eggs. Spray on the canes also. Always do a test spray to make sure you have no tissue damage.