`I have several rugosa roses that have aphids and I have heard that they
don't like any sprays or such on their leaves. The aphids are really bad
this year and I have tried blasting them with water but they seem to just
hold on. Can we use soap water on them and at what ratio do you mix the
soap and water. Thank you for any help.
Sharon in MN

I heard that you can buy ladybugs at a good nursery. Ladybugs find
aphids to be tasty.

"sharoncapps" <sharoncapps [at] cableone.net> wrote in message
news:4477887C.2080406 [at] cableone.net...
> `I have several rugosa roses that have aphids and I have heard that they
> don't like any sprays or such on their leaves. The aphids are really bad
> this year and I have tried blasting them with water but they seem to just
> hold on. Can we use soap water on them and at what ratio do you mix the
> soap and water. Thank you for any help.
> Sharon in MN

Here's one article I found that might
be helpful:
http://www.rosemagazine.com/articles04/rugosa_roses/

Note especially the following section:
"Most specimens do not like to be sprayed with anything (except plain
water). I do not recommend applying any pesticides or fungicides, even if a
rarely seen bout of black spot is noticed."

That suggests me to that plain water wouldn't be
a problem as a spray.

Here's another link that suggests that water
spray isn't a problem for rugosas:
http://www.answers.com/topic/rugosa-rose

You might also check out the Safer line of
products, and try spraying a small section to
see what happens.

Gail
near San Antonio TX Zone 8

Hi Sharon, unfortunately, as Gail suggested, Rugosa's won't tolerate
being sprayed with anything bar water. Blasting them with water, as you
are doing, should help remove them. Are you holding the hose up really
close? Just keep going over them until they're all off , usually they
can't hang on. I also squash them (we have water restrictions here, so
can't use the hose at the moment) Put some rubber gloves on and just
run your fingers firmly along the bud stalk and bud, squishing down as
you go - not the nicest thing to have to do, but it does work, though
blasting them with the hose is quicker. Also, as higgledy suggests,
ladybugs are a natural predator, so you could always try that
alternative. Aphids will produce another colony quickly so you will
have to water blast/squash them every day or so for several days - take
15 mins a day to do this on a daily basis - you'll eventually win!
Also the honeydew that aphids produce attracts ants, which discourages
natural predators like ladybirds, hoverflies etc.so ant control is also
needed. Banding the trunk at ground level if you can with grease or a
cardboard band with something sticky applied to it, or even foil will
stop them from walking up the trunk. Regards Elsie