A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2003 Are these Aphids?

I planted a new rose bush as spring started this year and it has lots of nice leaves on it now, also a couple buds. Have just noticed some tiny light green bugs under some of the leaves. At the moment they seem to be gathering at the leaves closer to the buds. Are these good bugs or bad bugs?

Sounds to me like they r aphids... U will quite often see ants in conjunction with aphids. The ants are "milking" them.
If u see lady bugs on your rose plants, they are probably eating the aphids. If u don't watch it aphids can "suck a plant dry".
I have some shasta daisies i've been watching in my garden. They have been invaded by aphids, but to my delight, the lady bugs are there in "full force";so, i'm not going to have to dust or spray after all!
Gardendreamer03@aol.com

Those for sure are aphids, you should also see ants ( a few, not many ) around them, they are farming the aphids. The ants take care of the aphids and in turn the aphids when stroked by the ants give off a milky juice that the ant use for food. If you do not have many ladybugs around to help get rid of the aphids, you can use a spray bottle filled with some dish soap and water, about what you would use to wash dishs. Using a hard stream, just spray directly at the aphids to wash them off the plants. After cleaning the plant off, take your used coffee grounds and spread them around the plants and that will ward off the ants which are bringing the aphids to your plants. Good luck on your bug!!patrol!! :rolleyes:

Also, plant chives around roses. Aphids don't like em!

Well, they seemed to have thinned out quite a bit. Came home from work a few days later and found some winged bug nibbling on one. Then the next day a Ladybug having dinner, and there are very few on my rose bush now. But I drink plenty of coffee so now I have a use for those grounds.