Question
i have a couple of questions.  first my mini roses are getting brown spots on the leaves and the rose buds are turning brown and not opening.  i live in the mountains of north Carolina i have 7 roses and three of them are doing this, my yellow one, my white one and my pink one.  the rest are fine. my next question is that on my huge red one that i have had for 3 years i have an ant infestation, big carpenter ants are eating the buds right off and are chewing holes in the leaves, i have looked and cannot find anything to kill ants that is safe for roses, have even tried putting grits around them and it's not helping.  please help me. Brenda

Answer
The brown spots sound a lot like the rose disease called Black Spot. Any rose fungicide will solve the problem. Just look on the label for black spot. Sevin is what a lot of people use for getting rid of ants but I have found they usually send out more troops. Again any any killer that kills them by taking back the insecticide to the nest is the best one as carpenter ants can get into any wood on your house. There is a home made ant killer which I understand does very well. Here is the recipe.Ant Killer Recipe
1 teaspoon boric Acid (you can get this at Wal Mart)
6 tablespoons sugar
2 cups hot water (this water must be really hot)
Mix ingredients and pour over cotton balls (cotton out of med's bottles works too)
Put mixture in cottage cheese type containers with lids and poke holes about 1/8 inch up from the bottom.
Don't worry if you have more ants the first couple of days after third day ant problem should be gone. Hope this helps.