I caught sight of it really early around mid-May on one particular climber (2 year old William Baffin). The advice I was given was to clip it back (boo hoo had to loose all those newly formed buds), dispose of those buds in the trash and foliar the plant and surrounding earth with diluted neem oil, dish soap and water.

It did the trick - and although none of my other roses were affected I gave them the neem foliar spray just to play it safe.

This particular affected William Baffin bounced right back and is forming new growth again so I'm quite pleased.

All my roses are doing amazing things - I'm doing up a second batch of alfalfa tea to give them their monthly feeding again in a week or so....that alfalfa tea smells bad but boy - the amount of basal breaks and buds on my roses are crazy in numbers.

Good luck with getting rid of your "Midge".

Thanks for the tip. Can you share your recipe for the spray? I am glad to hear of your sucess! It gives me hope

Thanks

My little bottle of Einstein's says 1/2 measuring cup full (they give you the measuring cup so you know the exact amount) of Neem Oil, about 6-8 drops of any liquid dish soap to 1 litre of water - put these three items in a 'windex-sized' spray bottle and give it a shake.

After you've clipped back and discarded the seriously affected buds (and trashed them), use this spray right away - the Einsteins Neem Oil bottle said the potency of this mixture lasts only up to 8 hours so I made up my batch and use it all up doing a complete foliar spray on that one affected climbing rose and used the extra solution for good measure on the other roses nearby right after mixing.

I've never had to repeat it as it took care of the problem.

Here's knowing you'll get that "Midge" licked in no time!

Thanks,Syd. I fear that I have had one rose affected as well.

Thanks for the help Syd! I am off to find neem oil today!