Rose bug ID help please

[PartyintheKitchen]

Hi, I'm fairly new to gardening, really loving it. Making lots of mistakes I'm sure but I feel happy making changes to our first ever garden.

I have a David Austin rose with a group of visitors, see pic. What on earth are these little things?

I don’t know what it is, but you can spray or slosh soapy water over the bush (washing up water is sufficient) so that the soap prevents the bugs respiring through their skin. That’ll do for em. Also grow chives beneath your roses, it keeps them healthy and well!

@IAmcuriousyellow brilliant, thanks for your top tips! Chives, i had no clue.

Could I do the same to a clematis? it's being eaten alive by slugs/slug larvae. Baptism of fire with the bugs/disease. I think my baby oak has some kind of fungus

Have you tried slug traps? Soapy water is useful against the insects but slugs are a different matter! Please don’t use slug pellets though, because they’ll kill the birds/hedgehogs that eat the bodies as well. So a yogurt pot or similar with beer in sunk into the ground will be irresistible to them, they’ll tumble in and drown, you can just tip them out beer and all and refill the pot. Or there are barrier methods like egg shells, wool, hair, that they don’t like to cross. A really mean one is to put a little pile of bran underneath something to keep it dry, like a broken clay pot or something, the slugs love the bran but it swells up inside them... The birds can eat those, they’re super nutritious along the lines of a stuffed date 😋. Enjoy y9ur gardening!

Thanks so much @IAmcuriousyellow - really appreciate the advice!

Ah you’re welcome! What’s with the baby oak tree? Got a photo?

Gladly, I'll snap a pic in the morn and send it through. It just looks a little like white patches on its leaves. My 4 yr old grew it from a seed in a pot, it's a lovely little thing. I have no clue where to plant it though.

Till the morn!

I wouldn't do anything to kill a bug until you have proof it's damaging the plant beyond what it can bear. Most plants will tolerate a little damage. And anything you do to kill pests will also kill the predators who are eating your pests.

You mean the brown one that looks like a tiny frog on the stem?

It's a froghopper, aka cuckoo spit bug. If you poke it, then it will spring off at high speed.

A froghopper, well I've learned something new today. I have noticed they spring off when I touch them. I don't think they're eating the rose,I'll leave them be for now but thanks for all the useful info and tips. There's so much to learn! Thanks all.

See attached for the wee oak, he's in a pot until I find a spot that will cope with an oak. I think it's some type of fungus perhaps?

Also attaching a pic of my poor chewed up clematis. I've put the beer & yogurt pot into action, operation Drunk Slug commences tonight!

Thanks again for all the advice, this newbie appreciates it.

I used to have these all over my garden, covered in spit in early summer. I just hosed them off. Seemed to do the trick. The spit was unsightly and not something I wanted on my cut flowers.