Q. I have roses with sticky leaves from the aphids feeding
on them. I need to get them under control before they start to become a
problem. I found some Insect and Disease Control sprays at the nursery that have
worked in the past. Any opinion about them?
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| Aphids in the spring on rose buds, leaves and flowers suck plant “juices”. From these plant juices sucking insects like these aphids release a sticky “honeydew” that full of sugar that attract ants and bees. |
A. They do work and if you’re not opposed to using
insecticides then use them. If you look at the list of ingredients, those
pesticides which control insects and others used for disease control contain both
an insecticide as well as a fungicide. You usually do not need both ingredients.
In
climates where the humidity is high (not the Mojave Desert), rose diseases like black spot, powdery
mildew and botrytis are prevalent. In these climates, it’s probably a good idea
to apply a multipurpose insecticide plus fungicide spray. In our climate,
diseases are less of a problem due to our lower humidity. If it were me, focus
on an insect control chemical rather than a combination of two chemicals in the desert. Why
apply a fungicide if you don’t need to?
We had a problem with aphids on rose buds last month (30 plants) they covered every single buds, tons of them. I used neem oil mix with water and dish soap sprayed on them. It really worked and safe, I sprayed mornings and nights repeated for 3 days.
Thanks for your comments. That helps other readers as well.