Are they those little green caterpillars?

No ,I think they are Easern Tent Moth caterpillars.

Nothing.
I have 400 roses and use no pesticides. Nature has created a good balance with predatory insects and birds taking care of my problems. When I do get any insect damage, I quickly walk past it so I don't see it. The way I figure, bugs got to eat also!
Unless you have a perfect leaf phobia or exhibit, do you really need leaves with no holes? Remember, many caterpilars are baby butterflies so killing them may be killing butterflies.

BTW, saw my first swallowtail Saturday. I get lots of butterflies all summer

If it's only one little hole, why deprive yourself of the bloom???

If it's for picking them for the house, even there, imperfections aren't noticed in a bouquet. Nature isn't perfect.

Jeri

Thank you.. I don't really care about small pest problems--just don't want to lose all my blooms.. wasn't sure if they would eat all my roses.. I will just take a watch and see attitude...

Caterpillars can be controlled/eliminated with Bacillus Thuringienses, which I believe is considered organic control. It has little residual effect as it must be ingested by the caterpillars for it to work (it makes them stop eating). I'm not aware of any problems with Bees, but you may want to do your own check if that's a big concern for you......Maryl

I use to use BT for caterpillars until it was pointed out that if I kill the caterpillars then I kill the butterflies and months too.

In Ohio praying mantis are considered useful.

Here is a link that might be useful: link for above

To the best of my knowledge the vast majority of butterflies do not use rose bushes as foder for their caterpillars. The moths that lay their eggs on roses (and other vegitation) are not generally considered desirables (corn ear worm, cabbage loopers, saddlebacks etc), and are prolific enough that they probably will not be eliminated from the environnment if a few back yard rose bushes are sprayed once in awhile with BT.....Maryl

BT is good for tent caterpillars, but I just hunt them down. Haven't used an insecticide in years.

For rose slugs (green sawfly larvae on underside of leaves), soap can work. For both slugs and moth caterpillars, the insecticide in Bulls Eye, Monterrey Insect Killer, and Fertilome Bagworm spray is less harmful to beneficials than other synthetics.

Are you sure all of the holes are from caterpillars? If any of them are perfect circles or parts of circles, those are made by leaf cutter bees - they are taking the leaf parts for their gardens where they grow bugs that make nectar - the damage will stop soon - it is seasonal.

What I use in my garden for pests are:

lady bugs
soldier beetles
praying mantis
a tiny little bird that arrives in enormous flocks to eat aphids
water from the hose to squirt things off it they bother me
my fingers

Jackie

Oh Jackie! You get those little brown cutie birds too?
Aren't they GREAT?

It's so much fun to watch them in action, I almost wish I had some aphids for them, but this year's HUGE crop of Ladybugs seems to have taken the matter in hand.

Jeri

I'm surprised nobody has said it yet---"The Hand of Death!"

I get aphids, rose slugs & japanese beetles. Best method for me is a yellow dishwashing glove on my right hand and a-pickin' I will go.

Also a good shot of water from the hose.

Everything's sort of out of balance right now with seasonal temps, normal rain amounts, etc....so I don't have The Usual Suspects present in the garden. In other words, the good guy/bad guy ratio is skewed right now. Later on it will balance out & I can put away The Hand of Death.

Jeri - yes we do, and I remember now - they are called bush tits. They are the size of a hummingbird, but the shape of a chubby sparrow.

I noticed them first because of their really high, squeaky call - all of a sudden some large tree will start this very high pitched squeaking, and then I know they have arrived. The flocks they are in around here are really huge. The first time I noticed them a large flock descended into my front garden, and landed & were hopping & darting all over all of the rose bushes. I thought they were eating the roses, until I paid attention and realized they were eating the aphids! They left after about 20 minutes, and there was not an aphid in sight. Now they come every Spring when the aphids are at their height. ANOTHER reason not to spray or introduce poisons into the garden!

Jackie

I wish those birds would come my way because I have some very big aphids for them to dine on. Until then, the hand of death will have to do.

Yup. We never had bush tits, until we quit spraying. Now, we get to enjoy them almost every spring.

Jeri

Queenbee, this is a very touchy subject. You will mostly hear from the folks who do not use pesticides. The ones that do are most likely afraid to chime in here. You would do best asking your local rose society for info and recommendations on how to combat the many pests roses have. Just my two cents.
I used to spray a few times per summer (3 at most) but didn't at all last year, with good results. But I am in a mostly problem-free area with almost no fungus and none of the really terrible rose pests.

Some/many/most(?) local rose societies are dominated by rose "exhibitors". I do not recommend asking a rose "exhibitor" if your interest is in growing garden "enjoyment" roses.

I know it must be very discouraging to see what is happening; I quit using pesticides quite a few years ago, and it took awhile, but looks like everything has balanced itself out and have no or few problems anymore.

I guess I'm one of the "no pesticides" posters, but I get much pleasure out of seeing all the ladybugs, bees and butterflies, among other beneficials, I get every year! Yes, I do get the leafcutter bees late in the summer, but they don't cause any harm so don't worry about them.

Back in the 70's and 80's we imported and bred German Shepherds; I sprayed, dipped, did everything "necessary" to keep fleas and ticks at bay to keep them 'healthy', which I'm sure didn't do anyone any good!

What Henry said is important to keep in mind. I don't exhibit, but I have a lot of other plants in the garden that we consume. I'd rather not eat something related to Raid! when I make a lovely tea or mint julep.

That's my main reason for not using insecticides. The other reason is that when I did use them in the past, things went haywire. I had all kinds of other weird pests show up. It just got to be too much to track & monitor.