Insect Attack

The onslaught has begun for the season with thrip arriving  just in time to spoil the blooms for the coming Spring rose shows.

Stop complaining, champ...our show is next weekend and my blooms decided to arrive a week and a half early......different from last year....they arrive late and yet same time prune(probably due to extreme cold nights) where this year was warmish nights compare to last year.... the only winner here was the hospital who have about a hundred blooms for free ...oh! and the people who help themselves to these blooms.......

The trials and tribulations of a rose exhibitor. It is said it is a good character builder.

Ausrose wrote: It is said it is a good character builder.

Pffft!!!!....... bloody frustrating if you ask me.......[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

John when I look at a magnificent specimen of Memoire at the perfect exhibition stage I picked this afternoon and see the thrip damage I must agree with you.

neptune wrote:Stop complaining, champ...our show is next weekend and my blooms decided to arrive a week and a half early......different from last year....they arrive late and yet same time prune(probably due to extreme cold nights) where this year was warmish nights compare to last year.... the only winner here was the hospital who have about a hundred blooms for free ...oh! and the people who help themselves to these blooms.......

John...where would the next show you mentioned,,be held.

Guildford Town Hall, Paul....next weekend.....

neptune wrote:Guildford Town Hall, Paul....next weekend.....

thankx John what would be the opening times ta muchly

1-5pm on Saturday and 9-4pm on sunday....

neptune wrote:1-5pm on Saturday and 9-4pm on sunday....

thanks john

are you going?......and if so when do you think you would....

neptune wrote:are you going?......and if so when do you think you would....

probably sunday around 1-2pm I think

How *does* one control thrip without spraying the evil stuff all over the place?
Don't know how anyone has any white/cream roses to show at the start of the season. :/

(My roses all come with added bonus earwig. Bastard things.)

I am experimenting with neem oil in the form of eco-neem.

   Very effective on a broad range of chewing and sucking insects
   Made from 100% botanical ingredients and registered organic (Australian Organic)
   Safe for beneficial insects (only insects which eat the sprayed plants are affected)
   Economical (100ml makes up to 50 litres)
   Very stable form of neem

Doug, I had a play with neem oil a few years ago and I found that on very hot days the oil acts like a magnifying glass and burns the leaves....have you heard of this..?

My main concern is my bees .... but if this stuff kills fullers weevil then I'll probably convert. Not all roses seem as susceptible to the weevils so it would be selective application.

John all oils can burn leaves if applied in temps greater than 30 degeee. At the moment I have a small amount of leaf burn as temperatures on the dark side have been as high as 34 degrees of late.

Oils being sufficants in general don't affect bees however neem oil has other insecticidal properties that may be detrimental to bees.

Ausrose wrote:John all oils can burn leaves if applied in temps greater than 30 degeee. At the moment I have a small amount of leaf burn as temperatures on the dark side have been as high as 34 degrees of late.

I understand this , Doug,....but I was applying it at 5am.......

I try to apply oil mixtures late in the afternoon so it has the nights to be absorbed but even then if the next day is 30 plus degrees there will be a degree of leaf burn.

neptune wrote:Doug, I had a play with neem oil a few years ago and I found that on very hot days the oil acts like a magnifying glass and burns the leaves....have you heard of this..?

Same here John, in my experience in using oil, is that it causes major leaf drop, Just stips the bush, no matter what the temperature is, so I wont use oil under any circumstances anymore.

I have used some form of oil in my insecticide, miticide and fungicide mixtures going back some twenty years and found the amount of leaf burn to be acceptable considering the alternative of defoliation by black spot, spider mite etc. It should be note I never use oils with Mancozeb/Wetable Sulphur.

As soon as the rain finishes and we get some hot days spider mite will be on the go. I suggest all rosarians become diligent as if you remember last year spider mite was in plague proportions and it was devastating.

notice I had a little bit of mildew on a couple of roses, so today I go out to spray. As I walked past huge swarm of little critters were going every where in the air. What tha, were they midges or something like that, so I honed in to find out. AHH!  they were Leaf Hoppers, hundreds of little baby ones, I have had a few in the past but this is ridiculous. So I've sprayed with some Malathon and will check out things in the morning.