Second Pic.

Is this in Florida or the deep South? If so, almost certainly chili thrips.

Drat. Deep South. I just got the plant and am taking it back tomorrow.

I cut all the damaged parts off and put them in a plastic bag. I took the rose and the damaged parts back to the nursery. Their rose person looked and said, don't assume CT. She said she would assume heat damage first. Their insect expert took out a jeweler's loop and looked. He couldn't find any CT or insect damage. All he found was an aphid shell and it was empty. The rose is Graham Thomas.

I looked at all of their GT's and saw the same damage on new growth on all of them, but on some, there was new growth growing through the damaged growth, and it was fine. They just got these in a large shipment of roses. This is the 4th one I've gotten from this shipment and the first with any leaf damage. I looked at other roses they got in that shipment and there was no damage. Maybe GT is more sensitive to temperatures? The wholesaler they got them from sprays regularly for CT, and they spray all roses with spinosad when they get them.

So, I'm keeping the rose, and am very relieved. I've been growing roses for about 20 years and have never sprayed any of them for anything, and don't want to start now.

You may want to take a look at these photos of chili thrip damage before you breath that sigh of relief. I know that I am seeing some chili thrip damage in my yard just in the last few weeks.

Here is a link that might be useful: photos of chili thrip damage

Oh, Great! I have a few roses that look exactly like the photos.

Do the Box Stores sell Spinosid?

I just confirmed that I have Chili Thrips with a 30x
jeweler's loop. They were on a distorted young leaf.
They were about 1/4 the size of an adult aphid - so small,
I almost missed them. They are almost transparent, which also makes them difficult to spot.

plantloverkat, those were great photos of CT damage.

Malcolm, I'm sure glad you alerted us.
I'm off on a Spinosad search first thing in the morning.

Definitely looks like Chilli Thrips to me.

I'll spray my roses with the spinosad even though the nursery didn't find any on the cuttings I took to them. It was next to a rose I've had for years, and I don't want any problems. I'm not going to live in Fantasyland and believe that I'll never have them. They said to alternate with Acephate, but they were out of it because of the CT problem here.

The Spinosad that I got is Ferti-Lome's Borer, Bagworm, Tent Caterpillar & Leafminer Spray.

Plantlover, thanks for posting those pics! I don't have the cuttings to compare to your pics, and don't remember seeing those stripes, but they may have been there.

I just looked at the rose next to the suspect GT. It has new growth that has come on in the last few days, since I put the GT next to it. The new growth is all fine. I may have dodged the bullet this time, and this has convinced me to spray my roses now, even though I've seen no sign of CT.

Actually, the photos are from the University of Florida. Here is a link to the main chili thrip page that I found. If you scroll down the main page, there will be a link for "damage photos". Then once you scroll down that page of damage photos, there will be two more links for more photos: "Photo Link - 1" and "Photo Link - 2". The "Photo Link -2" is the link that I posted earlier. I have found these photos to be very helpful - I didn't even realize that my basil had chili thrip damage until I saw these.

Here is a link that might be useful: University of Florida - chili thrip photos

^ I think my chocolate bell pepper plant has them also. Blah.

Yes, it sure looks like chili-thrips to me... this summer has been devastating in my no-spray garden, and I learned what succumbs to and what survives these little monsters... my Belinda's Dream had them but she is OK now...., Spice, Champney's Pink Cluster, Prosperity, Ducher, Louis Philippe never had a problem, also they don't get BS, there are more that had the CT but are now leafing out OK. The Knock Outs got them bad but are starting to recover... My peppers got hit bad and did not set fruit, several died. I'm considering starting to spray again, this has been a very expensive summer....sally I

I called the wholesaler that this rose came from. They said they have no chili-thrips on their roses, and they look for them and other insects. The nursery I got it from sprays new roses with spinosad when they come in, and they couldn't find any trace of them, looking with a magnifier. The rose is Graham Thomas, and the wholesaler told me the DA's are really a northern rose, and can have some problems with heat in the South.

I'm confident now that this plant does not have them, even though I agree, it sure looks like it. This makes me wonder - how many people are assuming CT, without looking at the affected plant parts with a magnifier to confirm it? They told me the best way to find out is to send the plant parts to Texas A&M for them to examine (I'm in Texas).

eahamel, you said : "I'm confident now that this plant does not have them, even though I agree, it sure looks like it."
I'm certainly no expert, but a thought has occurred to me that just because you can find no chili thrips now, doesn't necessarily mean that there never were any chili thrips on the plant. You did say that the nursery sprays all new plants when they come in. Just as with any other insect damage, once the leaves are damaged, they stay damaged even when the insects are no longer there. I'm just throwing out an idea to think about.

I think just the fact that they are swarming in the Houston area and have been all summer makes chilli thrips pretty likely. Your pictures look just like what I have in my garden right now on multiple plants. As far as it being heat damage- I don't think so. Aside from it not being very hot, I didn't have ANY of this last year, and it certainly WAS hot then.

I know that it sounds pretty scary, but if there's only a little damage going on, I wouldn't worry too much.

Plant & Brittie, thanks for your comments. I agree with both of you. There may have been CT on that plant at some time, and the spraying at the nursery may have gotten them. I've cut all the new growth off and will keep a close eye on new growth as it comes in. It's definitely cooler now, and if what I was told by the nursery and grower is correct, new growth now won't be distorted. I've never had that kind of growth on any roses, but have never bought a heat-sensitive plant while it was putting on new growth, either. I have Tradescant and Golden Celebration, they've been in the ground for years, and they don't have that kind of growth, either. I've examined all the roses that I have, and none of the ones that are putting on new growth have any problems, so I'm thinking if there was any CT, it was gone by the time I got the plant home.

Brittie, if I see even a little damage on new growth, I'm going to go after it, with spinosad at least. My citrus have a lot of Asian leaf miner damage every year and they look awful, and I don't want roses that look that bad.