Gee, I'm glad my mother gave me more chances then you are this poor rose or I'd have been chucked out the door by age 10. Sounds like you have spider mites. Very common with miniature roses or even big roses. In fact spider mites are fairly common on a lot of flowering plants. By the time you start seeing the webbing, the spider mites have a pretty good foothold on your rose. If you had noticed it earlier, you would have seen that the leaves were starting to speckle a bit and then turn kind of sandy and washed out. If you catch it early enough a forceful blast of water underneath the leaves every day for a few days would probably have knocked them off. Malathion may work if you keep after it. I use a specialty miticide that does work, but is expensive. To find out if you have spider mites, take a white piece of paper and holding it steady gently tap on the leaves of your rose (or whatever plant you suspect has the mites). Bits of black specs will fall off. If after a minute these specs start moving around, you have mites.

Thanx Maryl. You know, the reason why I'm so quick to get rid of anything with "issues" is because I've been through PLENTY of plants with issues. I figure if you're going to have plants you should be able to enjoy them without too much hassle. When it gets to the point where I have to start stressing over it, then I figure it's not worth holding on to, because I want to enjoy my plants. It's this sort of thing that almost made me want to quit the whole hobby altogether(blasphemy--I know LOL). However, I've recovered and I'll give the roses a chance and take you're advice. If it doesn't work...."chucksville"! THANX :-)

Say listen I understand. I'm basically a one man band myself, and am "rethinking" the disease resistance of some of my roses. I'm not down to growing Knockout yet, but there are some roses that have naturally succumbed over the years and are not being replaced. But basically I'm a rose person, so if there is any plant that will get special care it's a rose.. However, I will say this. I get bored easily so have run the gamut of soup to nuts on plants and there aren't too many out there that are foolproof. Except Sanseviera's that is (mother-in-laws tongue). I'm into them right now and I'm loving it.

Well now listen to this. I know this is a minniature rose forum, however, about the black bugs I don't have black bugs on my roses they're white. My hibiscus has those very bugs you were talking about though. I tapped the plant the other day because I didn't know what it was. When they got in my hand they began to move. So I have spider mites on my hibiscuses? I "mallied" those also, I'm waiting to see the results. :-)

Small dark specs about the size of this "." or even smaller are generally spider mites. I'm at a loss about "white" bugs making white webs on your rose. There is an aphid called the wooley aphid that can be covered in a sort of white cottony substance and the white fluff can appear on the bush in small quantities. Usually though they are not so numerous as to require any chemicals. I'm not much for spraying insecticides (fungicides are a different matter). Did you know that spraying certain kinds of insecticides can actually incourage Spider Mites to attack? On your Hibiscus it sounds like you need to blast the underside of the leaves (where the spider mites hang out) with water. Don't do it just once and expect a miracle. Do it several days then wait a day or two and then do the tap test (you know, on the paper). You are trying to dislodge the spider mites from underneath the leaves, so it's got to be a fairly forcefull spritz of water, but obviously don't defoliate your plant. They sell water wands for this purpose. Again, spider mites should not be ignored, but caught early and forced to vamoose. Now that you know your Hibiscus is prone to them, keep an eye out for the initial symptoms.

Well this is a bunch of "hooplah".:-) I just hate it when there's something wrong with my plants. Are these water wands sold at places like Wal-Mart? I have a hose head with the different settings on it is that what you're talking about? The stems on the roses have this powdery white substance covering them. That may be what you're talking about. I think--I hate to say this--but I think the roses will be "chucked" into the compost pile and incenerated. I sure do appreciate all of the advice you've given me though. I will be blasting the hibiscus. Thanx!

Most of the water wands they sell at mart stores give a rather whimpy volume of water considering what you are trying to accomplish. I personally don't have the spider mite water wand, but have heard excellent reports on them. When I've had a small plant that has them, I've just used the thumb over the end of the hose technique. Or of course they have those hose nozzels that can be adjusted. For me the nozzels are tricky as the spray can rip off the leaves. I'd do a search on the web for companies that sell spider mite water wands. Maybe some of the rose specialists? As I said I use a miticide if the problem arises on my roses. I have enough to justify the expense. BTW, in warm weather spider mite eggs hatch every 3-7 days, so even if you get rid of mamma and papa, the babies will soon be scampering around. That's why you keep checking until there's nothing left.

Guess what? Today, I gave it a Ressurection "Chuck". I threw it because it was freaking me out. The white stuff was "taking over". I still have other beautiful things to enjoy so.... Anyway thanx for all your help. It's much appreciated. Maybe we'll chat again in some other forum. Thanx again.

Recently I obtained a knock out rose and it looked beautiful at the time. 1-2 days later I noticed webs wrapping up the blooms and some of the leaves. I removed as much of the web and the roses affected, I noticed small white/cream colored bug crawling in the web. The next day the web and bugs were back and the leaves were falling and drying up. Checked the computer and found that I needed Orthenex, have been unable to locate it as of yet. Finally yesterday I was desperate so I drenched the rose with multi-surface Windex, under and over leaves, soil and webs. Today I was pleased to see that I had no new webs or bugs, the rose looks somewhat better and it does not seem to have hurt the rose plant itself. Now I will spray it well every 3-7 days and observe what happens. If it kills the plant then I have not done anything that the bugs were not already doing. I thought about the Windex because of a character in a movie saying that Windex was good for everything. Will let all know what happens.

Windex! Who knew?

Kitha, when you say you have a powdery white substance covering the stems of your roses, that sounds to me like powdery mildew. Get a fungicide from Home Depot that says it treats powdery mildew. First rub much of it off the stems with your hands, then spray the plant with the fungicide per the directions. It won't be an intant cure, but it should help.

Today is the 22nd, sprayed the rose with Windex again yesterday. So far so good, rose looks nice but will keep up with the mites. I observe the bottom of the leaves each day since they appear there before they make the web.

The rose is still doing fine after the Windex treatment, no webs and no mites as of yet. This yellow multipurpose Windex states that the active ingredient is citric acid; this must be what has licked the spider mites so far.

I have a miniature rose that started to develope white webs and grainy white stuff on the leaves and stems!!! I sprayed it with soapy water as soon as I noticed it!! Will that get rid of it or should I try something else!!! =(

I can not believe the amount of concern that spider mites is raising. Water, water, and water... that is how to get rid of spider mites. If you spray the underside of the leaves with water everyday (in the morning) for 2-3 weeks they will be gone and then you can do it just a couple of times/ week. Personally, I spray with water daily during the summer to keep them cool, I live in AZ.

If you want to spray you need a miticide. These are arachnoids and typical sprays you find at the box stores will not work.

Spider mites typically do not kill the plant unless all of the leaves are dropped.