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How to Protect Rose Bushes from Rose Aphis 



[U. S. Department of Agriculture, Office of Information] 



WHKX new growth starl.s an the 

 rose bushes in the spring, and 

 throughout the summer and tall, the 

 young growth and the flower l)uds and 

 stems of rose bushes are often covered 

 with a small green or pinlcish plant- 

 louse, known as the rose aphis, which 

 sucks the sap from the tender portion 

 of the plant and causes an unhealthy 

 curled condition of the foliage and dis- 

 appointment in the number and qual- 

 ity of the ilowers produced. The rose 

 aphis passes the winter in the egg stage 

 on the stems and dormant buds of the 

 rose bushes, according to A. D. Hop- 

 kins, forest entouKdogist, United States 

 Depaitnient of Agriculture. The in- 

 sects hatching from these eggs reach 

 niaturitx- in about 1.5 or 20 days, all 

 being wingless. They are pear-shaped 

 and either bright green or pinkLsh in 

 color. At this stage they begin to pro- 

 duce living young, each individual in 

 course of about 20 days producing .'lO 

 to 100 young, which on maturity are 

 either winged or wingless, and in turn 

 either green or pinkish. Thus the 

 tender growth soon becomes crowded 

 with various sizes, colors and shapes 

 of aphides, and, to insure their progeny 

 with an adefiuatc food supply, the 

 wingless mothers migrate to less 

 crowded growth and the winged ones 

 fly to other rose bushes, each starting 

 a colony for herself. In favorable 

 weather conditions, especially in a 

 humid atmosphere, many generations 

 may thus follow one another, covering 

 every bit of green vegetation on the 

 bush with their bodies, their cast skins, 

 honeydew, and the resulting sooty 

 fungus. It can easily be seen that, had 

 every aphis produced in the course of 

 a season lived its full life, the progeny 



of a single over-wintering egg would 

 run into millions. The presence of 

 ants on the rose bushes is an indica- 

 tion that the aphis is present, because 

 the ants collect the honeydew from the 

 aphides and, to a certain extent, pro- 

 tect the aphides from their insect 

 enemies. 



As above indicated, the rose aphis 

 thrives best in cloudy, humid, warm 

 atmosphere, hence with the appearance 

 of a hot and dry spell they often dis- 

 appear as suddenly as they appeared. 

 Aside from a variety of causes, like 

 driving rains, winds, etc., which deci- 

 mate its numbers considerably, the 

 rose aphis is attacked by other insects, 

 which either devour them or develop 

 from eggs deposited in their bodies. 



June 



Ladybirds, lacewing flics, and the larvae 

 of two-winged flies called syrphus 

 flies are among the former, and a num- 

 ber of si)ecics of tiny wasp-like insects 

 represent the internal parasites. Some- 

 times these natural agencies of control 

 are sullicicnt to keep the aphides so 

 reduced in numbers that they do little 

 or no harm. Notwithstanding the 

 effectiveness of natural checks, how- 

 ever, their intermittent character un- 

 fortunately renders their help often too 

 late to save the tlower crop. It is al- 

 ways advisable, therefore, to watch 

 rose bushes for aphides and to apply 

 remedies as soon as they are dis- 

 covered. 



Fortunately the rose aphis readily 

 succumi)s to artificial methods of con- 

 trol and, with the different styles of 

 spray pumps on the market, there is 

 no excuse for allowing roses to suffer 

 from these insects. The simplest, most 

 conuuonly used, and often (piite effec- 

 tive remedy, is to turn a fine but force- 

 ful stream of water on them by means 

 of the garden hose. Applied often 

 enough this gives satisfactory results. 

 Solutions of flsh-oil or cheaper grades 

 of soap are often useful as a prompt 

 remedy. The soap is used at the rate 

 of one pound to four gallons of water. 

 To make the solution, shave the soap 

 into the water and dissolve by heating, 

 adding enough water afterward to 

 make up for evaporation. The best 

 remedy for the rose aphis is 40 per 

 cent nicotine sulphate (a licpud which 

 can be purchased in most seed stores), 

 diluted at the rate on 1 part to 1,000 to 

 2,000 parts of water, with lish-oil soap 

 or laundry soap added at the rate of 1 

 pound to ,50 gallons of the spray mix- 

 ture. The simplest way to prepare the 

 spray in small quantities and secure 

 satisfactory proportions of the ingre- 

 dients is to put 1 teaspoonful of the 

 nicotine sulphate in from 1 to 2 gallons 

 of water and then add one-half ounce 

 of laundry soap. One spraying is usu- 

 ally too per cent elTective, but if the 

 first application has not been thor- 

 oughly made, a second one may be 

 necessary. 



In order to prevent the possible de- 

 vcloimient of mildew as a result of 



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