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Re: Worms and Caterpillars on Roses


Hi, Heather:

I decided to send this to the list since it might be of general interest. 
Someone may have something to add (or detract) from this discussion.

To begin with, I can't identify your worm.  I can't identify mine.  All I
know is that they're eating my rose bushes, I have a growing season that
lasts for what seems like two weeks, and I'm not going to tolerate the
little b@stards.  I'm going to get more reference books this winter on
pests and weeds, with the assumption that the more I know about both, the
greater the chance that I'll find an Achilles tendon on them, so to speak. 
Besides, I actually find a lot of humor in the prospect of studying
*weeds*.

Now for Bacillus Thuringiensis.  I causes a fatal disease in worms that
doesn't harm plants, people, or animals.  It relesases disease causing
spores which the worms eat.  Within hours the worms stop feeding and are
unable to digest food; their stomach wall collapses and within a couple of
days they die. Commercially available products with BT in them are Dipel,
Thuricide, or BT.  I discovered this product when searching for organic
control methods for my vegetable garden.  It worked so well that I started
using it on my ornamentals, confident of it's safeness.  And going on the
assumption that a worm is a worm is a  worm.  Unless it's a catepillar,
which is just a worm who's a slave to fashion (I'll refrain from making any
PETA jokes here).

Here is a list of critters killed by BT,  reprinted from Garden Ways "Joy
of Gardening" by Dick Raymond.  As was a lot of this.  Please don't sue me,
Dick.

armyworm
cabbage loooper
corn earworm
tomato fruitworm
cotton bollworm
Eastern tent caterpillar
saltmarsh caterpillar
walnut caterpillar
tobacco budworm 
Garpeberry moth
tomato hornworm
sod webworm
milonworm
redbanded leafroller
gysymoth
grape leaffolder
fall webworm
California webworm

There's a few more, but you get the picture.  Worms and catepillars die
from eating the stuff, and it's safe to use on vegetables, up to the day of
harvest.  At least that's what they say now.  I'm sure that there's a rat
in some lab somewhere, with lipstick and cheap hair dye on, that's going to
have a reaction to the stuff.

> Keith, I had a problem with worms/caterpillars eating into the buds on
> my shrub rose 'La Reine Victoria' this past summer. When I went to the
> nursery, they couldn't identify it (it was light green and about one
> inch long).  

I love that rose.  I also love  Reine des Violettes.  I had the same
problem you're describing, but the BT took care of it.

>I was doubly disappointed, first with their lack of
> knowledge (I went to three nurseries), and also because I specifically
> planted shrub roses because I didn't want the spraying and hilling up
> associated with other types.  Ho hum.

Same here.  But nothings perfect, obviously.  Of course, the worms do
nothing compared to what the deer can do, but that's another topic,
altogether.

I hope this overly long missive was of some help.  If anyone disagrees with
any of the above, please feel free to criticize it.  Or add to it.  I'm
extremely open to criticism and I won't get offended (even if that's the
intention!).

keith, zone 5 WNY
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