July 24, 1920 



HORTICULTURE 



69 



THE ROSE MIDGE 

 Wm. A. Ross 



The purpose of this article is to 

 direct the attention of florists to a 

 serious insect enemy o£ roses, viz., 

 the Hose Midge, which has within the 

 past few years become established. 

 The midge has been recognized as a 

 rose pest since 1886. 



The experience of florists in On- 

 tario and in the United States indi- 

 cates that this insect, when present, 

 is the most destructive pest with 

 which the rose grower has to contend. 

 Last year in one Ontario greenhouse 

 Its depredations caused a loss of 

 $12,oeO, and in another $6,000 to 

 IT.OtiC' 



When abundant, the larvae of the 

 niidpe — very small whitish maggots — 

 may be found feeding on any succu- 

 lent part of the rose bush, as, for In- 

 stance, at the base of the flower buds, 

 within the buds, on the upper side of 

 tender leaves and on leaf petioles. 

 However, the favorite and usual point 

 of attack is on the young shoot in the 

 axil of a leaf petiole. Infested shoots 

 grow crooked and, as a general rule, 

 whither and die. Affected flower 

 buds, when not killed outright, may 

 be so disfigured as to be unsalable. 



Fortunately for the florist, the 

 midge remains quiescent in the soil 

 during the winter, when the most 

 profitable crops are grown. Neverthe- 

 less, as a Toronto rose grower sug- 

 gests, the winter crops must suffer as 

 a result of the check the infested 

 plants receive in the summer and fall. 



In Mr. Wood's garden at London all 

 hybrid teas and hybrid perpetnals are 

 subject to attack, Mrs. John Laing be- 

 ing the most susceptible. Hybrid 

 Perpetuals, with strong terminal 

 shoots like those of Killarney, are 

 practically immune. All the Poly- 

 antha. Bourbons, Hybrid China. 

 Noisette and Wichuraiana roses ap- 

 pear to be immune. In greenhouses 

 Ophelia and Milady roses are by tar 

 the most susceptible varieties. Rus- 

 sell, Stanley, Richmond, Shawyer, 

 Hoosier Beauty, Columbia, Sunburst, 

 are attacked to some extent, and here 

 again Killarney appears to be partly 

 immune. 



The adult insect is a fragile, two- 

 winged fly, less than one-sixteenth of 

 an Inch in length. The female de- 

 posits her eggs between the folded 

 leaves of the leaf buds, to some ex- 

 tent In the axils of tender leaves and 

 between the sepals and petals of the 

 blossom buds. Under greenhouse 

 conditions the eggs hatch in about 

 two days. The maggots, as previous- 

 ly stated, feed on the tender tissues 

 of sboots and buds, and become 



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mature in from five to seven days. 

 They then drop to the soil, change to 

 the pupal stage, and emerge as adult 

 flies in about six days. 



The midge is most abundant and 

 destructive during summer. With 

 the coming of autumn it declines in 

 numbers, and by November wholly 

 disappears from the rose plants. It 

 remains dormant in the soil through- 

 out the cold winter months, and does 

 not reappear again until early March. 



The only method of controlling this 

 insect, which has been tested on a 

 commercial scale, and found effective, 

 is: Nicotine fumigation and tobacco 

 dust treatment. Break up the lumps 

 and level the soil to as great an extent 

 as possible. Cover the beds with a 

 coat of tobacco dust, *4-lnch to %- 

 Inch thick. Spray the earth walks 

 with kerosene or kerosene emulsion, 

 fumigate nightly with tobacco smoke 

 until all adult midges disappear. 



Kerosene (coal oil), 2 gallons- 

 Rain water, 1 gallon. 

 Soap, % lb. 



Slice the soap, dissolve it in boiling 

 water; pour the kerosene into the hot 

 soap solution and chum the whole 

 vigorously with a syringe or pump for 

 about five minutes until a thick 

 creamy emulsion is produced. For 

 use, dilute with nine parts of water. 



George H. Mclntyre, formerly In 

 business at Easthampton, Mass., has 

 l>ecome representative of S. S. Skldel- 

 sky of New York. 



Mr. W. F. Ekas has been appointed 

 manager of the Baltimore Wholesale 

 Florists and Nursery Co., to succeed 

 J. L. Towner, who resigned in the 

 spring. For several years Mr. Ekas 

 has been associated with the Leo Neis- 

 sen Co., and is president of the Balti- 

 more Florists' Club, as well as the 

 state vice-president of the S. A. F. 



