I decided against picking off the buds long ago for a number of reasons. First, because I don't have an army of gardeners to disbud 2,000 rose bushes. There's no way of knowing in advance whether the weevils will want to bother hundreds of roses or only 10, and no way of knowing which roses those will be, so they'd all have to be done. I don't even see the weevils until the buds get big enough to attract them, and by then it's too late to do all of the roses. Besides, it's easier to kill the weevils than to disbud the roses.
Second, because the weevils always attack the gallicas and other once-blooming roses, and I certainly don't want to remove their buds.
Third, because I gardened for years here without any weevils, and then they came here from someplace else, so even if I were to disbud every rose to break the weevils' reproductive cycle, they would just come here from somewhere else again. Judging by this year's weevil count in comparison with last year's, I think killing them is a better option in my garden.
