A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Holes in Rose Leaves?

My two rose plants are healthy and blooming well.
One is a Carefree Wonder Sunshine (yellow) and one I don't know, I bought it and all the tag said is "Electra". It's fuchsia color.
What pest is making small holes in the leaves? The leaves look like lace or like calla lily leaves do.
I bought a carton of ladybugs, and released them on the rose bushes. The ladybugs are staying, so maybe they're the answer.
But does anyone know what bug makes these darn little holes? They only happen in the late spring here. Which is now in my area.
These same holes appear on my sweet marjoram too.

usually slug larvae skeletonize the rose leaves in our area of California.

So I should put slug bait in the pots?

Oh no, I didn`t know slugs liked roses!! They don`t seem to bother mine (Knock on Wood) But they love my hostas and marigolds. Little buggers. Well, some are not so little, lol. What does slug bait do to them? Sue

read somewhere to make a slug party pool
bury a shallow dish a little bit away from the garden and put beer in it. they are attracted to it and get sloshed and cant get out and drown.
i just put one in the other day near some hostas that are getting munched on and i havent found
anything in it yet. maybe they dont like bud light and prefer a fuller bodied beer?

I'm having the same problem with my mini roses! They came back beautiful this year and within 2 weeks all the leaves were gone!!!! Is that from slugs? I have the same problem with my dahlias, but not as bad. Does beer really work? Is there another way to kill these things?

I had a climbing rose once, that had perfectly round circles in the leaves. We scratched our heads and wondered what it could be. Then one day, as we sat on the deck and watched, a bee came up and cut out a perfect circle in a rose leaf and flew away with it.

Oh, and beer really works for slugs, if you put it out in a shallow container they can get into easily. BUT it doesn't kill them, just collects them. If you just turn over your container of drunk slugs, they'll just have the munchies and be back at your plants in no time. If you want to get rid of them, dispose of them elsewhere.

I thought maybe some kind of flying insect is making the holes in the rose leaves, I don't see any slugs. Since my roses are in pots, slugs would be easy to see.
I had the same holes suddenly appear last spring too. The frustrating thing is, I see the holes but not the bugs making them.
Some of the leaves look like lace. I cut those off.
I guess I'll have to poison but I sure don't want to. The way I do it, is to place the rose pot in a huge trash bag, standing up of course, and drench the plant. I do this in the shade and when there's no breeze.
The next day I take the rose out, put it on the rocks where the rabbits don't go, and wash it down.
I would never use a systemic because the rabbits might do a little "pruning".
I have to be super careful using any kind of pesticide as I have alot of small wildlife friends. The rabbits are my favorites.

Sounds like bees. We just ignored it, but the bees never did enough damage to our rose to cause concern.

Do you think this is hurting the plant? Is there that much damage?

There are things called Cutter Bees,
that take chunks out of leaves...
*I believe they are not harmful*

There's also another Beetle that does that
to Rhododendron's, *Not sure if it could be the same, dunno??*

And if they're tinier holes, could be flea beetles maybe????

Got any pictures for us to be sure???

I have a similar problem with my rose bush but the leaves seem to be eaten from the edge in until the leaf is all but gone. I can't tell what is eating it. When I water at night tones of small green bugs fly around. I thought they may be aphids but they are supposed to make the leaf thin. I'm at a loss. I have even tried pesticides and nothing works. Any tips? I live in Ontario if that makes a difference.

EQ