What is this thing on my roses?

last year

Discovered this very strange mass/insect/alien? on some of my rose canes today. Theyre about the size of a pea and look like a pale pink wad of bubble gum. I plucked one off the cane and it was blood red on the underside. Aside from being a little creeped out, I’m utterly perplexed as to what it might be. I was initially thinking some kind of scale but I’ve never seen scale this size that looks like this. Does anyone have any ideas?

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Comments (7)

Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6
last year
last modified: last year
The forms scale insect can be found in boggle the mind. The size and shape of your scale, which it very likely is, scale, is really bizarre indeed, but scale it almost surely is.

I would pick them off if they are few in number. If that is not practical, a couple consecutive sprays to all your roses, not just the scaled ones, with Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer is what I recommend to do. It kills by systemic means, so as the scales eat, they die. Spray all surfaces of your rose bushes to the very beginning of the 'drip from foliage' stage of wetness, no more. Do it every 2 weeks for 2-3 sessions, total. They should be clean of the scale then.

Moses
rifis (zone 6b-7a NJ)
last year
“ …a little creeped out …”

From Merriam Webster dictionary:
: to cause (someone) to have an uncomfortable feeling of nervousness or fear

ibd518: is it nervousness, or fear (in your case)?
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Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6
last year
last modified: last year
Rifis, take a look at the unbelievable amount of devilish looking scale insects you will see on an image search on the internet. They're nightmare material! They remind me of the giant ocean isopods that are deep sea denizens, and there are the isopods who invade ocean fish mouths, eat their tongues, and live there. In the fish's tongue place they reside, both making the fish loose vigor and scaring the lights out of any fisherman who catches such an infested fish.

Moses
lbd518 (7b DE)
Original Author
last year
Thank you, Moses, for both your affirmation of it being scale and validation of my feelings regarding such insects! - devilish-looking they are indeed. I did a bit of extra digging and believe these to be some sort of wax scale. I promptly removed the handful of them that were attached to my roses and will follow up with a systemic as you suggested if the problem persists. For better or for worse, these were large enough and in a quantity that did not make it difficult to remove one at a time.
Moses, Pitt PA, cold W & hot-humid S, z6
last year
last modified: last year
Since it's approaching winter now, if any problem is evident in spring, 2025, then is the time to take an insecticide response if necessary. Remember, they start out very small as hatchlings and can go undetected in their early stage of growth, so keep a watch out and act accordingly.

Moses
lbd518 (7b DE)
Original Author
last year
Will do and thanks again!
rosecanadian
last year
They do look like isopods. Good thing you noticed it early. :)