It would only work, if it would in the first place, if you installed a drip irrigation system. Of course, there's the rainy season which you have no control over. Perhaps the 'crew,' would be trained off your roses and leave the canes alone afterwards. Or perhaps only sporadic reapplications would only be necessary.

Moses

Ingrid - that's good news...hopefully they stay away. :)

Moses, I do have drip irrigation to the roses but since it's also connected to large bushes I only turn it on once a week. Meanwhile I'm watering the roses multiple times a day, so I'm not sure how that would work. Right now I'm just going one day at a time to see how it all works out.

Are you watering your roses on a good schedule? I think that if they are mulched adequately and your drip system is working properly, and set on a timer, you rarely need to hand water.....just adjust the timer or rearrange emitters to maximize water efficiency.

Moses

I'm watering them like crazy because the squirrels ate so many of their leaves before I realized that a chicken wire barrier around the individual roses would not be adequate. They climbed over the barriers and by the time I put barriers on top too the damage had been done. Since that time I've seen pitifully little growth so I'm watering them a lot (plus it's really hot now) until I can get them to begin growing again. I'm beginning to wonder if that will even happen since it's been some weeks and they still haven't recovered. Oh well, I've got three more roses arriving at the end of September and I'm putting suits of armor on those!

On the other hand, the leaves are where a plant loses most of its water ... so with no leaves, the need for water is less.

Didn't know the roses were leafless! Never feed a squirrel again. Resist the urge, no matter how sweet and endearing they make themselves. I know you are against drastic measures taken to "reduce," their numbers conventionally, but live trapping and removing to sites too distant for them to return, if legal, will definitely go a long way to making this dilemma much lighter to bear.

Moses

I wonder if the hot sauce would deter the ants living in some of my rose pots?

Ingrid - have you told us what your new roses will be? If so, I've forgotten. lol