Same Day Delivery
Orders received by 11 a.m. Monday-Saturday CST can be delivered in the Mpls/St. Paul Metro area on the same day. We do not deliver on Sunday.
Rose Insects and Diseases 
Roses are great! Wonderful! Beautiful! And they can drive you crazy! Some summers, you go all season without any problems at all and others it just seems like one after another. Despite the challenge growing healthy roses may present, millions of gardeners participate enthusiastically year after year. And this has gone on for centuries. Nothing else in the garden quite matches the beauty and elegance of the Queen of the Flowers.
There are varieties that are much more resistant to these problems, and others that sustain very little damage. Usually this information is printed on the label attached to the rose, if it is not ask at the Information Desk at Bachman’s and we will be glad to find that information for you. As a group, species roses and hardy shrub roses tend to have less insect and disease problems. You need to be watchful with all roses so that you can avoid and/or minimize pest problems.
Cultural practices are important with roses. Actually, you can have a great deal of control over pest problems with your roses. First of all, plant them in the right place and in the right soil. Once planted, mulch and avoid spraying water on the leaves. Then be watchful. With roses, an ounce of prevention is worth much more than a pound of cure.
If using chemicals bother you, there are several organic, environmentally safer products available. Insecticidal soap, pyrethrum and pesticide oil will take care of the vast majority of your insect problems and plain elemental sulfur is a good fungicide.
The most common rose diseases are black spot and powdery mildew they account for the vast majority of disease problems with roses, but you might have an occasional problem with canker or rust. If you find a few black spots or powdery mildew, you can I still treat the plant, it is not too late. Remove any diseased leaves and be especially careful to avoid getting the foliage wet. A fungus causes both these and fungicides are most effective as preventatives. If you notice either of these problems early, routine spraying will probably prevent their spread. Since both black spot and powdery mildew carry over in the soil, if you just let it go, you have almost guaranteed your roses will suffer again next season. These cumulative stresses will eventually kill the plants. Roses that are suffering from diseases go into a steady decline.
You can also treat the soil. When you use a broad-spectrum fungicide on the soil, you will minimize the harmful fungus… but you will also kill many beneficial fungi that contribute to the health of your soil and your plant. It is important to clean up any infected leaves as they fall and remove them from the area and keep the soil mulched to minimize dirt splashing up onto the leaves.
Most of the insect damage on roses in our area is from aphids and rose slugs. Whitefly, beetles and caterpillars can be a problem, too. Less often, you see leafhoppers, scale, spider mites and thrips. The list may sound frightening, but you rarely have more than one or two insect problems in a season. Aphids are the most common rose pests. They are soft-bodied pear shaped insects that line up along the most tender buds and leaves. They are sucking insects. Aphids are vulnerable to almost all insecticides. Start by washing most of them off, and then treat the few that remain. Watch closely to keep them from taking over. Rose slugs are actually the larvae of a type of sawfly and can do a lot of damage very quickly, sometimes eating chunks of leaves away, sometimes making a skeleton of them. Rose dust seems to be the most effective, since it stays on the leaves. If you notice big pieces of the leaves are missing on your rose bushes it is usually a caterpillar of some type. Look over the plant carefully and you might find the culprit hiding under a leaf or lying along the stem, often the same color as the leaves. If the missing piece is almost perfectly rounded, you might have a problem with leaf-cutter bees. They take pieces around the size of a dime back to their nests. It is best to identify the specific pest when you can. There are systemic insecticides that are absorbed by the plant and kill insects for several weeks at a time or you can target the specific pests as you see them, starting with the least toxic product first. There are several good rose care products that combine systemic insecticides with fertilizer, and sometimes with fungicides. It is up to you whether you want to treat on a regular basis to prevent problems, or deal with problems as they occur.
If you are not sure what is happening we would be glad to help determine what is happening to your rose. Snip off a twig that shows what is going on and seal it into a plastic bag.
Recommended Products
Bachman’s-Grown Roses
Various Styles of Trellising
Bachman’s Garden Food 10-20-10
Quality Hand Pruners
Various Insecticides and Fungicides
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