Not sure but mine look the same. I just dosed them with Bayer all in one for roses and hope it helps since I am getting black spot too. Could be aphids.

I hit mine with Orthenex. I believe it is thrips. The damage happens before the bud opens and sometimes they don't even open at all. Mine look much better now. Follow directions and repeat as directed. Existing buds are likely already deformed.

Here's a thread from the Organic Rose Forum on thrips that might be helpful. If you do a search on there you will find several threads on the subject, but this is the only one I read.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thrips ...

roselee - nice link...........you may convert me..someday.
:)

I know Justin; it's hard it is to make the leap from chemicals to organics, but there were several incidents that led me in that direction including my mounting sensitivity to them.

Believe me -- I NEVER believed it when the 'organic folks' said gardeners actually had less problems with insects after going organic, but I found from experience that it's true. It takes a couple of years before things balance out, but they do.

I'll still see a few thrips now and then and there is a little browning of petal edges at certain times of the year, but the roses aren't crawling alive with them like they used to be when I was using chemical sprays and systemics. Now I see insects, some tiny, that I never saw before and it's really a bug eat bug world out there while I relax and breathe easy ... LOL!

I rarely use pesticides until things get really out of control like now. Every plant in my yard has some sort of bug eating it. Snails, slugs, squash bugs, thrips aphids and little green worms and cut worms and some sort of brown beetle are having a field day. I have had enough, lol. I won't use anything in the greenhouse because I have geckos and other lizards in there but the outside stuff has to have some help. Its bad enough to pick snails and worms in there all day.

A gardener's gotta' do what a gardener's gotta do -- as the saying goes ... LOL.

But I found by using integrated pest management practices, as many of you do, I needed to use insecticides (chemical or organic) less and less until now I am down to the occasional use of a few organic remedies, like neem oil, beneficial nematodes, orange oil, and BT.

Plus by using mostly organic fertilizers it seems the plants are better able to protect themselves, their tissues are tougher and their other built-in defense systems are stronger.

There's a lot on line about IPM. Here's just one:

Here is a link that might be useful: Integrated Pest Management

I don't see any insects in the picture. What do they look like?

Many roses, especially some antique roses, ball in high humidity and rain. Perhaps this could be the case.

Thrips are extremely small. You can barely see them with the naked eye. There is a picture of an immature thrips on the link below. The adults have wings.

Botrytis blight will keep buds from opening and will cause browning of the petals that looks somewhat like thrips damage. It is prevelant in early spring's rainy weather. Sometimes the buds rot through and through and just fall off. I also thought about the rose above possibly having a touch of botrytis. I'm no expert, but it looks more like thrips damage to me.

http://www.marinrose.org/botrytis.html

While out in the garden this morning I noticed three different kinds of VERY small spiders among the rose petals. Hopefully, they were eating thrips.

I also noticed this bug and several of his buddies on Blush Noisette. Maybe they were searching out thrips as well, or they may have been after pollen.

Almost certainly this nympth of a soldier bug was hunting thrips among other insect edibles.

I didn't see any thrips even in the macros shots of roses, but probably a few are there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thrips ...

Roselle,Thankyou so much for all the information. I hope I have some of these good guys in my garden. I am watching closely and my rose bush has new buds. I am going to try the organic approach if I begin to see any damage. This time I will try and get a real close shot to see if I can capture those Thrips.

Below is a link to a thread about thrips that's on the Antique Rose Forum. It contains some links about beneficial insects, and the plants that attract and keep them around, that might be helpful.

How are the roses doing now? Have you been able to spot any thrips deep in the petals? If it was Botrytis blight, or some such problem other than thrips, hopefully the roses are looking better about now. None of many buds on my Blush Noisette rose bush were opening earlier in the year, but it is flowering beautifully now.

Here is a link that might be useful: Predator for thrips in a no-spray garden?

I had thrips this year too for the first time. I pick pruned until my beneficials woke up and ate them all gone :) PJ

ibheri what is the picture of that rose? Its beautiful :)

Jessica, that is Belindas Dream. Its an earthkind rose and pretty much the best performer in my yard. This yr she barely had thrips to my surprise and is just finishing up her second flush.

Im gonna have to get that!! Its so beautiful!