I'm going to take a beating but here goes. I don't believe you are seeing midge damage. Midge damage takes two forms and none of it looks like wilted tips. I know that this was said but I have never seen it. Where a leaf attaches to a stem is where you would see your new growth buds. It's a favorite spot for midge to bite and lay their little maggots. When they bite it kills the new forming lateral bud. But that is above the leaf set so the leaves do not wilt. The next spot that they can hit are very young buds. Where they can attack the youngest top shoot giving you an easy to see match stick look. But most damage is not easy to see.

An example on your last photo all the way on the right. The first leaf set with the wilted end has not been midge. If it had been midged you would see a tiny black spot just above where the leaf set joins the stem. Then if the bud eye had started to grow it would be brown crispy and no longer able to grow. But that area is fine with no sign of midge damage

I think you first thought was right it is a young rose that can't take up enough water yet. Since the roots are so young. I have a whole bunch of wilted foliage out there. However it is not midge damage. I have checked closely. We just had a whole bunch of lightening plus I fertilized since temps cooled off it seem like a good time. Well it is a good time but there is a whole bunch of fresh young growth that wilts easily.

Plus I have had more than my share of roses that don't bloom in their first year.

Thanks Patty! What a relief!!! I was so sure I had yet another bug to deal with here. The two pictures in my original post were the roses that just started having "burn" on their new growth...they've been growing and blooming fine up until the past week or so. My Tangerine Sky pictures turned out blurry. Below is the best one I got of it. All season, the new growth and leaves have been burning on it...which I thought odd, but not overly disturbing considering our weather, and since it's a baby climber, I wasn't worried about no blooms. BUT then I started reading the midge posts, and just freaked out. Thank you for taming my fears!!!

Patty is correct. What you are witnessing is probably due to environmental forces, but is certainly NOT midge damage. Midge results in growing tips that suddenly distort and then stop growing. If you catch the insect at the right stage, you can see very tiny white worms hiding in the center of the damaged tip. It is very conspicuously unlike any other type of damage.

Your welcome Pat. Still does not look like midge damage. But boy that last photo does not look good. I don't mean to sound alarming but is there any chance that chili thrips were imported.

I have thrips and the last photo does not look like thrips. How hot has it been, it looks like they are cooked. Mine look like every summer on the new growth. Arizona

Thank you Campv.

We've had heat indexes like that and I have some roses (still in pots, kept on the east and north side of the house) looking like this. This thread makes me feel better about the chances of it just being environmental stress. Thanks pat_bama!

Pat- It's great for you that this isn't midge :-) Could this also be caused by a root system that is not developed enough to support top growth or take up adequate water? I have outer tips that wilt like this but when I water they are fine although they seem to wilt quickly again.

Don't be too certain about chilli thrips not overwintering in z7. They have been seen in Barnstable County, MA which encompasses Cape Cod and is z7a. Add this to the list of destructive insects. It seems like it never ends!

Sharon