Using your fingers, pick off the offenders. That's as simple as you get. Identifying the offenders is necessary before spraying any kind of pesticide because you want to make sure that you are targeting only the pests and not the beneficials. You may have to go out at night with a flashlight, but you have to find out who your foe is. There is no magic bullet to eradicate pests.

Small caterpillar varieties (1" and less) cause the little holes in leaves. They also drill holes into flower buds. Hard to see due to their camouflage brown/green/dark green colors. When not moving about, some even presents themselves to look like little twigs to fool you and predators. Some build small nest by webbing between leaflets and these are easy to detect. Some hide on underside of leaves or in the mulch around the base. They are most likely active in the evening or early morning. I just pick them up whenever I see them. Their natural predators are hornets, spiders, praying mantis, and birds. Place birdbath among the roses to keep birds coming.

Someone on another post suggested and had good luck using Safer Insecticidal Soap for the little green worms ( Sawfly Larvae). This is my first time with this particular problem and fortunately, I don't seem to have a really bad infestation.....going to try the Safer myself. I'll report the results. Thanks for all the great info!

Thanks for the info. I used the Bt, but upon reading other posts, they say it is not effective against Sawfly Larvae, so don't know whether I am whistlin Dixie or not. Time will tell, but the next time, I will use the Insecticidal Soap. The other post said that they only last a short period of time, but they riddled my Carefrees which are not Care Free. - Barb

Might try making an infusion from chopped up garlic cloves...strain it well.. add a few drops of mild dish detergent, and spray that on. Make sure you get the under side of the leaves.

I have read that you can use any plant that the offender does not like. I would suggest Marigolds, but spider mites used to eat up Marigolds in OKlahoma. The idea is to disguise the rose as something else. ;O)

For future reference, a standard Bt solution works only on caterpillars that turn into moths and butterflies. There are also strains of Bt that work for mosquito larvae and Colorado potato beetles, but none of them work on sawfly larva, which are maggots, not caterpillars.