You might try a real hard blast of water on them.Otherwise get some Rose Defense..Humm Neem oil

The tiny bugs are aphids. You can wipe them off with your gloved fingers to break up massive encrustations, otherwise they are pretty harmless. They come every spring and then go away after predators catch up with them.

You can pick off caterpillars and smush them. A few might become attractive butterflies, but the commonest at this time of the year are tent caterpillars. After they have defoliated pecans, cherry laurel, etc., they drop to the ground and crawl around looking for something else to eat, such as roses. They can do considerable damage.

I just left the local garden center were I was innocently looking at a Lilac tree, when I mentioned there was a caterpillar on the tree, the owner immediately searched the tree, found the caterpillar and squashed him in front of me. He said they can and do eat a lot of rose plants. He said to eliminate them from your garden.

Bacillus thuringiensis or BT can be effective in treating some types of caterpillers--this bacteria is one of the safest biological weapons used by gardeners--the poison is extremely specific and generally considered safe to humans and most beneficial insects.

I thought aphids, little disgusting things, sucked all the moisture from new buds and dehydrated and weakened new growth.

Zack_lau - where can you purchase Bt? Do you use it yourself? I would like to get it for my gardens.

Trichogamma wasps (tiny wasps that are harmless to people) prey on caterpillar eggs. Sevin and orthene are supposed to work on caterpillars, too, if you want an insecticide.

If aphids do no harm, then I better let them be. I was thinking of spraying with something, then noticed a lady bug, and thought it might kill it as well.
Thank you all for the advice.
~Natalie

A heavy encrustation of aphids persisting a week or more will leave cosmetic damage in the form of leaves with reduced size, cupping, and mottling. So, if I feel like it, I partially clean up the worst-infested shoots by wiping or spraying with the hose. Soap spray kills aphids effectively and could be used if there are few predators present.

Most roses are capable of repelling aphids from the flower buds once those develop to a certain point. And there is a whole army of little monsters that prey on aphids. It just takes a while for them to catch up. I've never seen a rose plant severely damaged by aphids.

Chickadees, Bushtits and warblers love those little caterpillars and aphids! I also have quite a few apple, pear and plum trees and have never had a problem. A strong spray from the garden hose will also take care of those aphids.

I use to spray for bugs but this year I vowed not to. I have been seeing ladybugs attacking the aphids and evenidence of earthworms. I blast the aphids with a strong spray from the hose or as michaelg stated, use my fingers to brush them off. If I see a caterpiller, I just move it to one of the trees.

I purchased Bonide Thuricide from a local nursery. It seems to work just fine on a lot of caterpillers, though it doesn't touch rose slugs.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Slug article

You might want to check and see if you can identify your caterpillar at www.whatsthatbug.com (there's a list of all sorts of bugs and insects on the left side of the page). You might find that it's something that won't do much harm, or even if it eats a few leaves, it's worth it for the beautiful butterflies. Dave's Garden also has some bug identification.

We've found with aphids that as they are seeming to get out of control, the ladybugs move in and make short work of them. Check out the ladybug larvae on one of the bug ID sites so you can recognize one of the really good guys (and a real ugling duckling!)

Definitely find out if a bug is a good guy or a bad guy before taking any action. I noticed little "caterpillars" on my roses, and after squishing a few, it dawned on me to ask on the forum. I then found out they were hoverfly larvae and they're voracious eaters of aphids! I had to get over my mindset that caterpillar = bad. I think the larvae are considered "maggots" though....ewwww :)

They're fascinating to watch. They just reach out and grab an aphid. Here's a pic with one in it's mouth:
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Eric

Back when I used to have orange trees, we'd get these ugly caterpillars that looked like bird poop and would stick out these ugly red "antennae" when alarmed. They'd chomp holes in a fair number of leaves, and the neighbor, who couldn't stand a less-than-perfect leaf and wouldn't put up with any living creature in his yard, sprayed like crazy. His yard was "perfect"--and perfectly sterile. We left those ugly caterpillars alone, the orange trees survived just fine, and we really enjoyed our gorgeous eastern swallowtail butterflies.

Another plus about identifying your caterpillars--if they're eating something you don't want them to eat, you might be able to plant something they'll like even better keep your butterflies.

Those were caterpillars of some species of swallowtail butterfly feeding on your Citrus. I'm not certain of the species (I'd have to check since I've never lived in a Citrus region and haven't ever learned what swallowtails feed on Citrus where), but there the only ones that extend that sort of an organ when disturbed.

Yep, they were Eastern swallowtails. Nasty looking caterpillars. GORGEOUS butterflies. We had both the yellow and the dark variants.

I noticed today that a couple of my rose buds only partially opened up then began to fade. I plucked them and disected one to see if I could find an offender. To my surprise I found a small worm or caterpillar in the center. Any idea as to what it could be and how to prevent more of my precious flowers from succombing to this? Thanks for the advice!