Aphids and roses

[Rainsdropskeepfalling]

Any tips for getting rid of aphids? My rose buds are covered...

Following!

Rub them off with your fingers ( I usually wear gloves to do this)
If the plant is healthy enough it won't impact on it much.
The aphids are Good food for birds and other insects

I dissolve bar soap in hot water then spray it on.

If you keep killing aphids then the predators will never find them and stay in your garden.

Get some ladybirds. They eat them.

Feed the birds! Especially bluetits who like the hanging feeders. Once they start coming to your garden regularly they will eat the aphids for you. I have seen buds covered in aphids one day in my garden and they are all gone the next day.

I left the aphids last year and long tailed and blue tits discovered them... aphids disappeared and birds flourished.

Roseclear. A quick squirt in the late evening after the bees have gone to bed. Job done. Aphids spread disease, and breed like nothing you've ever seen, so waiting for predators to find them is a bit of a lottery.

Sparrows are eagerly clearing the aphids from mine 😊

Thanks all. Alas I have a cat so encouraging more birds into the garden probably isn't good for them

@caringcarer where do I 'get ladybirds' from? I need a lot.

I have been squishing then but I have to get a step ladder out for the climbing rose so that doesn't happen too often

@raindropskeepfalling, try these.

www.dragonfli.co.uk/collections/aphids?src=GAds&gclid=CjwKCAjw36GjBhAkEiwAKwIWyVvP6BtyW4AzBV01Y_2kHtE16Knl1lCezShOIGsSano2pdZe3F54xxoCkIYQAvD_BwE

It is absolutely true that just leaving them means natural predators turn up to munch them. Forgot to spray them one year, never a problem with them again. Would occasionally squish / dish soap spray a new rose while it’s establishing itself but otherwise nothing.

All my roses have tiny holes made by the goldfinches going after the aphids, but I have used a spray of dilute washing up liquid and water in the past. I don’t know what’s in Roseclear.

I agree that you should just tolerate the aphids if you can. Having said that last year they practically destroyed our honeysuckle and a plum tree.

We have planted things which attract ladybird - chives ( which actually have very attractive flowers) and fennel. We also bought some ladybird larvae online last year. Yesterday I spotted 6 ladybirds in the garden so seems to be working. Ladybirds and their larvae love to munch on aphids.

I just wait - even with two cats we get regular blue tits and long tailed tits, and they do a brilliant job of stripping the aphids off thr roses as long as I give them time to discover them.

Fleur can I ask did you plant fennel from seed and do you have any advice on making it work?

Aphids are born pregnant. So u need to keep on top of it. I have four roses and I check them in the morning and the evening squashing what I find.

The best thing I've found is a little washing up liquid in a water bottle and then spray the rose.

No we bought small plants from the herb section at the garden centre. TBH the fennel is a bit of a pain because it wants to get huge -obviously you can cut it back but it’s the flowers I think that attract the beneficial insects so just having loads of fronds and no flowers is no use.

We have planted more chives this year though because they are much more manageable and the flowers are nice.

just when I thought I couldn’t hate aphids anymore!

Feed your sparrows! My roses have lots of feathery visitors and no aphids!

I'll echo the advice to feed the birds - especially sparrows. This year we have more sparrows than ever after a winter of feeding them seed, and not a single aphid on the roses (previous years have seen heavy loads of them).

It seems like a very good deal to have struck.

I have over 50 roses, I never spray and get pleasure from watching the birds flit about gathering aphids. Roseclear etc is horrible stuff and will also kill beneficial insects which we need to be doing our best to protect.
A squirt from a hose will dislodge the majority if you get desperate.

Echo all the above - birds and ladybirds. I have on occasion of heavy infestation sprayed buds with a solution of washing up liquid - they (aphids) bsolutely hate it and all drop off.

Hosing em off works. And ladybirds! Just don’t do what I did and get them to deal with aphids indoors. they had a really great time, so great that they bred. The ladybird larvae population was IMMENSE and I felt terrible as they ran out of aphids and I’m sure loads of them died in the house looking for more