Roses - Ask Extension
I have over a dozen rose bushes on my property. The leaves are all dying. I don't see any insects. They are in my front and side yards mainly.
Knowledgebase
Roses #870703
Asked May 30, 2024, 8:48 AM EDT
I have over a dozen rose bushes on my property. The leaves are all dying. I don't see any insects. They are in my front and side yards mainly.
Baltimore County Maryland
Expert Response
This looks like Roseslug Sawfly damage, an insect very common on roses. There are several species of this kind of sawfly in Maryland. While chewed distinct hoes are the more often-seen sign of sawfly presence, some larvae feed by causing this type of scraped-surface damage instead, and as the injured leaf tissue dries out, it turns brown and brittle like this. We've seen entire rose shrubs go from healthy-looking to what you're seeing in what seems like just a few days, if the sawfly population is high enough. Fortunately, if the plants were healthy before this outbreak, they will recover well enough on their own. You're not seeing larvae right now since they have run out of food and/or have wandered off to mature into adults.
No insecticide is needed now since it won't have any impact on the plant or the insects. If the foliage regrows and starts to be damaged again by chewing insects, then you can look for larvae hiding out on the leaf undersides before deciding whether or not to intervene. Management options for sawfly larvae are included on the page linked above.
As the plant recuperates, the brown leaves will fall off on their own, though there is no harm in carefully snipping them off if you don't want to wait for them to drop. We can't predict how long it will take for new foliage to fill back in, but it might be a few weeks until the plants look more normal and lush again. While a modest amount of fertilizer might speed-up the process a little, the soil is probably already rich enough for the roots' needs, and over-fertilizing plants can risk outbreaks of other insects (like aphids), so generally we avoid recommending it and just giving the shrubs time to regrow at their own pace.
Miri
No insecticide is needed now since it won't have any impact on the plant or the insects. If the foliage regrows and starts to be damaged again by chewing insects, then you can look for larvae hiding out on the leaf undersides before deciding whether or not to intervene. Management options for sawfly larvae are included on the page linked above.
As the plant recuperates, the brown leaves will fall off on their own, though there is no harm in carefully snipping them off if you don't want to wait for them to drop. We can't predict how long it will take for new foliage to fill back in, but it might be a few weeks until the plants look more normal and lush again. While a modest amount of fertilizer might speed-up the process a little, the soil is probably already rich enough for the roots' needs, and over-fertilizing plants can risk outbreaks of other insects (like aphids), so generally we avoid recommending it and just giving the shrubs time to regrow at their own pace.
Miri