Many years ago when I first encountered rose slugs, I tried Neem Oil. It seemed pretty useless to me.

Periodically over the years I have tried Pyrethrins, and I've been under the impression that they kept the slugs from getting quite so far out of hand. Still, I hate to spray.

I haven't sprayed for a few years, and I squish without mercy, but the temptation is always there ....so, I wonder, what is a "massive infestation"? Do/does slugs on most of 250 roses qualify? A A R G H

I think it might!

I've never had so widespread an infestation. Usually, just a few here, and a few there, which is no problem.

Either we get fewer of 'em, or something eats 'em.

Jeri

I have no problem squishing on most of the roses but for some reason my Rosa mulliganii is covered with them and it would be impossible to deal with the whole plant.

No problem with rising temperatures. I'm on the coast with lots of fog. But I am concerned about bees which love mulliganii's flowers.

Diane

Rose-slugs! Fortunately I've never had 'em.

Bill

Thanks for that Jeri. I am always curious as to what other people's perceptions are of what constitutes an annoyance vs a plague. Of course it does depend a lot on how we tolerate mess and bother, and in general my roses/garden are expected to provide a riot of color and texture and not individual perfection, so the status of individual leaves isn't terribly important, but/still....sometimes even I balk at the look of the leaves when I get up close to smell/deadhead/etc. Just maybe a dose of Pyganic will be in the cards this season to try to put the brakes on the cycle of infestation.

Neem is toxic to bees, and to most beneficial insects. Plus it doesn't work on rose slugs. I haven't found anything 'safe' that works on rose slugs. If they get to where I just can't squish them anymore, I spray once with some toxic death-ane systemic insecticide and get it over with.

Thanks, Reg, that's what I figured. And, thanks for the reminder lesson (at Antique Rose Forum). What/which systemic insecticide do you recommend/use?

Oops, I meant thanks for the lesson over at the Rose Forum....:-))))

No, the neem oil that is readily available in the US has no effect on bees unless you spray the bee with a smothering coat of oil.

Raw neem oil has an insecticidal fraction called azadirachtin. Most of the oil is processed to remove the azadirachtin for separate sale (mainly to organic farmers, I suspect). The leftover oil is then marketed to naive gardeners. The label says "water extract of neem." It is just oil, probably no more effective than canola oil. However, any oil with smother small, soft-bodied insects if applied directly to them (a smothering coat).

Neem that still has the azadirachtin in it is sold as "whole neem oil." You can probably find it online. You might also find an azadirachtin product somewhere. But the neem oil at typical garden centers has no insecticidal effect beyond just being an oil.

Either Safer's soap or any oil can kill rose slugs if it coats their bodies. But spraying this thoroughly is as much trouble as squishing (as people say above).

The recommended chemical insecticide is spinosad. It is relatively safe and easy on the beneficial insects.

But I just squish.

I have sprayed spinosad before, if there is nothing blooming nearby. If you spray in the evening when the bees aren't around, it'll dry at least, which is better, too.

Just spray near the areas being eaten up. Don't try to coat all the foliage, either. They'll eat the leaves you spray in time to die from it, imho.

It's really bad for bees, though, so look at what is blooming and where.

I don't know if they work as I need to replenish mine but praying mantis are voracious eaters and they go under the leaves of roses. Egg cases available at nurseries. I am having lots of rose slugs this year.

infestation to me equals complete defoliation.. some chomping I ignore.. all my roses get a few chomps, I live with that.

But with my latest rose slug infestation, they competely defoliated my quadra 1/3 from the base up, I sprayed (prebloom) then washed off the next day so hopefully for the most part I didnt kill any bees.

Some of my other roses have some, but again I didnt spray any of those , Ive let a rampant infestation (in the hundreds to the thousands and lost a entire rose season about 5 years ago becuase I was ignorant of the issue. I also lost a couple roses that were in weakened states, the complete defoliation of the plants in the prime season didnt help Im sure)

If there is more then can be squished in like 15 mins of searching , its time to do something else.

The morning after I sprayed quadra, a quick glance showed about 2-300 of these ugly things litered on the ground. That to me is a infestation.

Silverkelt

What did you use Silverkelt?

My Rosa mulliganii is completely covered with skeletonized leaves.

Diane

In my experience, has been greatly beneficial for killing rose slugs and caterpillars.