Rose bush leaf problem

[Bix]

My rose bush has flowers and buds but the leaves look like something is chewing them. Any suggestions on how I should deal with this?

Thanks, Bix

[Hortman]

Hello Bix. Ken here with The Home Depot in the Chicago area. Sorry to hear about
your rose leaves. I went through my sources and found three pests that chew on
rose leaves. They are Japanese beetles, rose slugs, and leaf cutter bees.
Japanese beetles are copper and green, up to ½ inch long, and can devastate rose
flowers and leaves. Go out in the early morning or late in the evening with a bucket
of soapy water. Shake the plant and pick off the beetles and drop them into the soapy
water, which will kill them. You can kill them as grubs in the spring with milky spore.
Remember that using sprays will also kill ladybugs.
Rose slugs are the larvae of sawflies. They feed from May to September for 2-3 weeks
and then turn into adults. If you don’t have a lot of roses or the damage is minor you can
mechanically remove the leaves and kill the slugs that way. If you have a major infestation,
then chemical control is probably needed. Any contact insecticide labeled for roses will
kill the slugs.
Leaf cutter bees cut semi-circle holes in the leaves. Usually there is very few of these bees
in the garden and the health of the plant is not in danger. Leave them alone. The damage is
usually minor. Here is a link to help with identification.

North American Insects and Spiders / Tree Encyclopedia

I hope this helps. Take care.

[Bix]

Thanks Ken. I will go out later in the day and see if I can spot any of the critters you mentioned. I only have a few rose bushes so I should be able to effectively deal with the problem. I do, however, have a large number of other flowers. Do any of these pests also affect other plants?

Bix

[Hortman]

Hey Bix. Ken here again. The Japanese beetle has a bunch of plants it chews on. Here is
a link to a list of plants and other information on the beetle. Take care and good luck.

Japanese beetle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[victoria stiles]

Thank you Bix. It is a easy, nice and a effective solution.