It would be good to indicate roughly where you live, since pests in Florida are different from those in Arizona.

Spinosad is a good insecticide for unidentified worms, since it works on both sawfly larvae and caterpillars. It is relatively safe and relatively easy on beneficials. It is sold as Bulls Eye, Fertilome Borer Bagworm, and Monterrey.

I'm very surprised that the Bayer spray didn't kill them, though. It should kill virtually any insect if applied according to label.

I think it's Helicoverpa virescens, commonly geranium budworm, aka tobacco budworm. We have them here now and then.

Here is a link that might be useful: geranium/tobacco budworm

The blotchy slug-like thing in the top picture looks different from the pale segmented thing in the second picture, and neither looks much like Hoov's link. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

When mine looked like that I simply cut all the buds off and flushed them to make sure those moths didn't come back. I lost all the flush on one floribunda in July. Now it's slowed to 4 a day.

I should have said I pluck the budworms off and I cut the buds off that look like this and dispose of them where they can't return.

That looks too small to me to be a budworm. And they're usually green. I've seen enough budworms to last me a lifetime. They destroy my petunia flowers every year. I surrender! No petunias next year! BT has a marginal impact, because frequently the moths lay their eggs INSIDE the flower bud and they eat their way out.

Deanna

The pale segmented thing that is curled could be a beetle larva.

I wonder if it's a fruitworm. If you go to this link and scroll down to "Hosts", one of the hosts of the cranberry fruitworm is roses. They eat the buds.

I don't think it's a budworm. Brown goo doesn't come out of the blooms from budworms. And it doesn't look like a budworm to me. Like Michaelg, I was also wondering about beetle larva as a possibility too.

Whatever kind of worm it is, trichogramma wasps might be the solution. They parasitize the larvae.

Deanna

Here is a link that might be useful: Fruitworms

That gooey mess on your bud is a larvae from a moth that un noticed will grow into a larger budworm. I wish you had made this thread two days ago, I could have taken a pic of Fragrant Plum with a similar bud. I took several photos ones like this and one like these and sent them to Baldo, he verified that these are similar to what is being found down in LA area and in northern CA. It is a very big problem right now.

Unlike you when I first found it I wiped the goo off Chicago Peace and then took the pic. That's Chicago Peace petal so it would show how small the catepillar is.
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I just found a new infestation on a new flush on a mini flora that most of the new buds will have to be destroyed.
I don't know what particular budworm it is, Baldo said he couldn't tell me without seeing it, but it is budworms.
Leslie

I had a similar worm but it was green drilling holes thru mu buds, I think dusting them with ummm. . . the Bayer dust might work, or the Bayer Disease and Insect Control not sure which one I used.

I told you I had a real problem, here is a small bud tonight on Moonstone. I could tell I had a problem and when I peeled off the sepals I peeled out a budworm too. I believe that the buds you have with that much damage have several larvae in them not a single one, hence all the extra 'mess'. I still find ones that look like yours, more often I find these like what I've pictured now.
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This is a very small bud and the budworm is the size of a pencil lead, comparatively a bud ready to open is this.
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The 3rd to the last and the 2nd to the last picture, with Leslie's hand in it, IS a tobacco budworm. The worm on the Chicago Peace petal is not - they don't have horizontal stripes. Insecticidal spray will not faze them. They've built up immunity to it. In order to die, they have to eat material that has either BT or Bullseye on it. Both of those products make the worm stop feeding, so it eventually dies. Those products are safe for beneficial insects, because beneficials don't eat parts of the plants. Trichogramma wasps parasitize these varmints, and they can be ordered online if you do a web search. I know Gardens Alive sells them.

You have my sympathy. Tobacco budworms are voracious eaters, and will completely destroy all the blooms.

Deanna

Bumping this old thread since I have tobacco budworms everywhere now, especially my petunias and roses. They are decimating the buds. This is a new pest to me. Have you guys had it on your roses?

Yes and they are destroying my buds!! im really frustrated by them. i had a good flush going til they came