My roses were diagnosed with both rose slug and rose mosaic. I would like to know your thoughts about treatment of these conditions, as it was suggested that I just remove affected leaves, and I am looking for a more effective solution.
I will summarize what Christine Allen’s Roses for the Pacific Northwest (Steller Press, 1999) says about these two problems:
Mosaic virus:
This disease infected the roots of your rose when the plant was grafted; the symptoms do no show up for a year or two. The problem is widespread anywhere that rootstocks are developed from cuttings (rather than seed). (In Canada, apparently, most rootstocks are grown from seed, so they have far less of a problem with the disease.) The disease is incurable, and affected plants will have yellow patterning on their foliage. Other plants in the garden cannot “catch” the disease. Sometimes the symptoms disappear by midsummer, but recur the following spring.
Rose slug:
The greenish-white worms are actually sawfly larvae, and they can skeletonize leaves. They aren’t caterpillars, so controls that are used for caterpillars (such as Bt) won’t help. Insecticidal soaps can kill them, but only by making contact, so this means repeated spraying. It is best to do this in early evening when the larvae are most active, and may be seen on the top surfaces of the leaves. Pyrethrins are effective, but they also are acutely toxic to aquatic life, moderately toxic to birds, and may kill beneficial insects such as honeybees [my comments, not the author’s], so they should be a choice of last resort. The Environmental Protection Agency has additional information on pyrethroids and pyrethrin.
To prevent or mitigate rose slugs, clean up leaf litter and other debris several times a season to eliminate pupae and interrupt the life cycle. Hoe the soil gently and not deeply, and apply annual mulch early in the year.