Not sure what's eating the roses so thought I would see if anyone over here can help me? It's two bushes growing next to one another that are affected, both Tea Roses.





I inspected but couldn't find what might be eating them... although I did find this paper wasp nest in one of the bushes.
(I'm not really sure if it isn't more than one thing eating them!)



And this little Lynx spider


I'm hoping they are taking care of the pest(s) that's eating my roses!

I'm going to watch this because I have the same problem! I don't think it's thrips because they wouldn't eat it down to the bottom. But I've seen that problem myself!!

I think you were right when you said it might be more than one critter: one with a big mouth and one with a little mouth. I don't know who they might be though.

I thought it could be grasshoppers since they eat any and everything but they are-not very tidy eaters, (from what I've observed) & will just willy-nilly bite holes in leaves too. This seems to be focused mainly on the flower buds. I also thought of thrip, but I don't see any little flying things or mess around, no poop that I can find. There are a couple of webby leaves and buds.

It looks chomped off by something big enough to get a rosebud in its mouth. Do you have deer? A friend was complaining that deer eat her rosebudsm. You have different pests in Texas than we do here.

Well, we do have deer, White tails, but they usually don't come close to the house since we have many large dogs... but there's that possibility. I've never really found a bug-suspect. We also have rabbits around here, along with other wildlife. Not sure if rabbits will eat roses, I know they ate the artichoke plants.

Christine - Ooh, check out this thread about bunnies & roses. The thread "Rabbit damage" in Roses forum

Christine, are you still seeing newly damaged and distorted buds?

We usually have brief cycles of bud worms here, then the predators even them out. The ones I really abhor are the little green ones that usually just come out at night. The birds can't keep up with those as well as they can the daytime bugs.

Thank you for the link, Toni! I didn't know bunnies would do that kind of damage to roses!!

Chelle, are any of your roses coming back? I hope so.

Actually, I'm not seeing any new damage. I am seeing more beneficials on the rose plants. Plus many more birds around this year, including the Pheobes nesting under the porch soffit. I've been watching them bring many bugs to the nest.

Maybe it was some kind of worm - it's just crazy to me how they seemed to be munching just the petals off!!

wildflowers said:

Chelle, are any of your roses coming back? I hope so.

They are, yes! Thank you.

We had about 4" of rain overnight so a lot of them are under water right now, but doing well regardless.

All of these had moderate to severe rabbit damage.

Polka-


Pink Parfait-


La Marne-


And Chloris definitely has buds this year!!

It was one of the most heavily damaged plants, too!


I'm glad to hear that your bud damage is being controlled now!!! And by natural means!! Thank goodness for every one of our beneficials!!

That's fantastic, Chelle! The new growth looks very healthy!

Just found one rose that looks like something just bit it in half.This is one is just below the top roses, the bottom ones and the top ones have not been touched.

Hazeleyes, that sure looks similar to mine. It was the same on my plants, not all of the rose buds were damaged or eaten.

And guess what, I saw two young deer this morning very close to the house ~ so maybe it was deer eating the rose buds!

I have dogs close to where the rose bush is. I might have to set my camera up to watch out back.

I am posting some pictures of some of my roses that are being eaten in the same exact fashion.

Scentimental is ALWAYS getting nom'd this way. The white stuff everywhere is Cottonwood fuzzies, not spider webs or mite webs.



Easy Does It is also nom'd



What is weird is that Othello is right next to Scentimental & there's absolutely no damage on him.

I'm also still wondering if it was rabbits eating the roses. I have seen both jackrabbits and cottontails around.

A jackrabbit has babies nesting in the mint patch just a short distance from the rose bushes. I think she must have put her babies there because the scent of mint will mask their scent. I know they are future plant eaters, but they are so sweet, I'm keeping the dogs from going in that area!

Oh, and Toni, I wanted to say it was the same with my roses. There were eaten buds on the tea roses but none of the others, including the Deja Blu rose bush that was right next to the eaten roses.

We don't have bunnies on my street. Not with falcons & owls in the cottonwoods right next to my house, coyotes that roam the street in the daytime, and 3 semi-feral cats that roam at night. Haven't seen a bunny on my street in at least 5 years. Not to mention the chomped roses on my Scentimental are about 18-22" above the ground and the bunnies around here are way too small to try & do that.

Hi people..I can confirm definetly wasp are eating those holes intu the flower coz I sow it today...just cant find a reason why they doin it.. ..I sprayed the flowers with pesticide and wasp lost interesting in the moment.. ..it must be a kind a snack for them, so would advice to destroy that nest.

How interesting, Ireg! Seeing is believing!! and that is probably the only way I would have thought it was wasps. Hmmm. Very interesting! I know many wasps, paper wasps eat wood and that is what they use to make their nests... but never would have blamed them for the rose damage.

Thank you.