Question

rose bud caterpillar   QUESTION: I live in Toronto, my 5 year old rose (carefree beauty) that is now 10 - 12 feet tall is covered in buds. I also have white small caterpillar like bugs that are eating the young buds before they have a chance to open. There are also whitish webs and lots of miniscule black seeds around the caterpillar. I have sprayed with SAFERS rose and flower insecticide, it does not seem to really be helping as the caterpillars keep reappearing. Maybe the black seeds are eggs? Any thoughts what I can do?

ANSWER: If Safer Soap isn't getting rid of them then you will need something stronger such as Orthos RosePride and Insecticide spray. The whitish webs are spider mites and thy are very hard to get rid of unless you use a stronger spray on them. The caterpillars look like the Tent ones and the black bits are their excrement.

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QUESTION: Thank you for your feedback, why has this happened this year? Do I have 2 problems, spider mites and caterpillars or are they one problem in different stages? Will they re-occur for the next blooming, is their anything preventitive to do?
thanks, terri

Answer
Hopefully the spider mites will be killed in the cold of the winter but I would still watch out next spring and look for their webs. Then I would spray again with an insecticide making sure I got the spray on the underside of the leaves as that is where the spiders live and eat. Caterpillars are the juvenile stage of some sort of moth and they may not be back again as these types of insects  just lay their eggs where it is convienent for them. They could only be passing through your garden. The best time to get rid of insects is when you see them as there are no sprays you can use to make sure they don't come back. Rain and snow will wash the chemicals off.