Well last year I had to cut all my rose's back to 1 foot from the ground. What you showed is why I did it and I saw several raspberry borers crawling on the side walk. I was told cut them back to 1 foot, bag all that I cut off and get the pruning out of the yard and in the dump immediately. This year I learned that I should have used a Tumeric paste ( mix Tumeric with water and make a paste) apply it to the cut wounds of the rose bush it is anaseptic and aids in keeping unwanted bugs out.
When pruning my roses in late March, 2021, in Zone 5, Indiana, I found the rose stem pith was brown in most stems of nearly all my roses. I cut the stems way back, but still did not get to a healthy white pith on some stems without cutting out the entire stem. My roses are mostly shrub knock outs, and the Oso Easy Italian ice. Some stems I noticed did have rose borer holes, others did not seem to have them, just tan to brown pith inside the stems. The stems or canes often looked fine on the outside, except for die back at the tops where cane was dark brown and appeared dead. Lower canes might look healthy, but had tan or brown pith inside a green ring. This affected all 20 rose plants inspected so far. When I inspected my roses in preparation for a spring prune, I noted that my roses were all covered with too much deep, wet, mulch, that enclosed the base of the plants, which was a terrible way to leave them last Fall, I know. I am resolved to pay more attention to my roses this year, and assume my borer and die back problems were probably my own fault. I planted them too low in the ground, did not keep them clean enough, and smothered the crowns with too much mulch hoping to protect them from winter. I am thinking about installing a drip line, replanting or leveling/removing surrounding soil, etc. Any suggestions? I have been watching all of your videos on roses and rose care, and they are very helpful. I have lots to learn!
Have grown roses in Pasco,WA since late 80's. I'm very familiar with carpenter bees tunneling into freshly cut canes in summer. I took pictures of one just minutes after pruning a Tropicana. Also noted that they prefer some roses. A Playboy and a Playtime grew side by side, but most tunneling was just on one (I can't remember which) of them. I observed these solitary bees deposited an egg and an insect in a chamber sealed with plant material. In the four or more chambers, the eggs would hatch and the larvae would eat the insects and then pupate. After morphing into the adult bee, they tunneling back from the chambers to emerge to pollinate grasses and grains. I used wood and regular Elmers glue on large and lower canes. Now I might put a dab of wet dirt on a big cut to discourage them long enough for the cut surface to harden off. The beetles eat into the side of a cane to deposit an egg and their larvae are eating their way down the cane. I've rarely seen this on roses here but may have seen a rose killed this way. Did lose a dwarf peach tree--3 grubs in a 2 inch trunk. I am much more tolerant of nesting bees as opposed to the boring beetles that are eating the plant. 🌹
By the way, I have lost roses from root weavels. I picked off 125 in one night last year. May lose 3 transplanted roses that were stripped of this year's foliage. I gathered 30 large adults the night I saw the damage. I will check into the information you supplied in your video on Japanese Beetles to stop the spread to the next rose bed. 🌹
I had 1800 hundred roses in my garden in Denver. And yes the borers can kill a plant IF the cane the bore into takes them all the way to the graft. The graft will turn black and kill the roses. I would think not on own-root roses because they would only get to the bottom of that particular cane. However, I have lost plants to the borers if I happen to have cut a large cane back close to the graft and a borer gets to the graft it can kill the plant.
Not with roses, but they devastated my raspberries. I had read in a number of places raspberries were very hardy and free of most diseases, but when I've read up on raspberry diseases, there are a whole bunch of them! It took me an old agricultural excerpt online to find out about cane borers, and the only RUclips videos on it at the time were from a lady in British Columbia. I've been growing raspberries in containers in TN for a few seasons....and cane borers covertly came in and devastated my crop of 47 plants before I even knew what had hit them. Thanks for mentioning the wasps as candidates. I think they may be the culprit. I've never seen that little black beetle, but I have seen wasps around my raspberries. I think you may have just helped me solve the mystery of why I have never seen a cane borer beetle on my plants! Looks like I'm going to burn all my plants and start over next Spring, but with a tunnel of netting that will keep insects off of them. Japanese beetles the last two seasons love them, and this season June bugs showed up! Netting them off will keep off all three! Killed five of my raspberry plants completely, and the rest are just having a real hard time producing any fruit and looking healthy into Summer.
I'm in Southern AZ and have found these holes in the canes of all of my roses for years. It's always disturbed me but the plants continue to produce more canes and more flowers even from the damaged looking places.
I live in Virginia and I just noticed that my NEW Peace rose has a cane with a big fat hole going straight down inside! I want to cry. It is showing NO dead cane yet, so I’m going to cut until I don’t see any more hole. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted!
UPDATE: So I tried pruning away the bore hole until it was gone. Unfortunately, its a brand new bare root rose so there wasn’t much cane to prune. The bore hole went all the way to the GRAFT!!!!! 😡 So, feeling the need to fight hard for it - I had a brain storm! I cut the cane as far down as I could. I had some Espoma insecticide. I didn’t want to spray a wide area so I got a fountain pen ink syringe and extracted about 1ml and injected it directly into the bore hole - and praying to God I don’t kill the entire bush. So, now I wait and see. I feed it Neptune’s fish/seaweed fertilizer (1/2 dose) weekly - so hopefully the roots and the remaining plant are healthy enough to survive. I was reminded to call the nursery where I got the rose from and they may replace it as being such a new plant it may have been like that when I bought it!!!! Good to know! As for the ink syringe, it occurred to me the day before, after noticing the bore hole, I went inside and was cleaning some fountain pens and I realized the ink syringe would be a great tool for the bore hole, targeting only the infected area! I’m keeping that one with my garden supplies just in case! 😃
I've been battling the cane borer for years, and often they win, wiping out a rose. I also noticed my raspberries are also affected. I live in the upper northwest. I use Elmer's wood glue and that is a deterrent for sure, but I have not eliminated these as of yet. Thank you for the video, and giving us a chance to read each other's solutions ~!
When I tried to start rose cuttings, I noticed that the plant died a ways down the stalk because of the tunnel you are talking about in the video. As I watched the stalk die progressively, I decided to put a small stick into the end. That stalled the die-off, and the rose cutting has survived this Summer so far. From my observation, I would recommend sealing right after cutting---so I think that would go the same for any holes that would get started in the cane.
This is year 2 for roses....moles then chipmunks, next was beetles, earwigs and slugs then white flies......now I have these bores. I have a lot to learn!
I live in Northern Nevada where I constantly have to fight borers. Although it is tedious to do so if you have many rose bushes to tend to, I seal with waterproof wood glue, and that has protected my roses for the past 30 years.
My older sister told me to use Elmer's glue on the ends of hybrid tea rose canes to stop borers. I have tried it, but I'm not sure I can say one way or another it helps. I've also seeing some canes just not looking real healthy, maybe partially brown, or partially discolored. My late Mom use to put a little epsom salt around the base of the rose, she said it made the canes healthy. Thanks, Johnny
I have had rose plants killed or suffering severe dieback of branches from cane borers. Branches die back all the way to the root crown. I could not ascertain the cause of the symptoms till I trimmed away the dead branches and found that they were hollowed out. I grow fragrant rose varieties indoors and regularly cut the blossoms. I am now considering sealing all plant wounds to see if this eliminates the problem. I live in PA, but the effected rose plants were shipped from nurseries in the North Western U.S.
Yes, the garden concierge company I work for has been seeing a lot of roses afflicted with it. If they go all the way down to the crown yes it will kill it. And they seem to be doing that more often.
I live in East Tennessee and have problems with this. The damage had often gone all the way down. I haven't grown roses in years because of travel but I'm starting new gardens this year. Thank you for your advice.
Thanks for the info. I've read further to find out that there are more and less harmful cane borers. The more harmful ones, like the Raspberry Cane Borer "make their living" on brambles, feeding on foliage, and laying eggs in the canes. Interestingly, they don't gain entry to the canes through the cut stems, so paint or nail polish wouldn't exclude them. The less harmful ones are just opportunistic - seeking overwintering habitat, and they can get in through the pith of the cut canes. So far, my conclusion holds: I wouldn't bother to paint, glue or polish my cut stems to try to exclude an insect that does minimal harm, and may be a garden beneficial.
Hi, thanks for the video. I have the "rose cane borers" & was about to treat cut ends when winter pruning. It seems that most my roses have multiple canes with borers. They are new plants I'm trying to establish, and the borers are causing a few inches of die back on original canes, therefore making it harder to winter prune and still leave a healthy amount of cane. Do you have other tips regarding this?
Hi Dani, it's pretty hard to take a "let it be" attitude on plants you're trying to establish - but I'm not sure there's a good solution to help with the problem. The more I read about pruning sealer (or glue, or nail polish), I've learned that it's more likely to trap moisture and cause decay. I can't recommend an effective control for the insect (particularly if they've already "bored"), and I don't think any further pruning is wise until strong new growth begins in spring. I wish I had a better outlook... but I think this may be a "discretion is the better part of valor" kind of thing.
I'm located in northern Massachusetts (zone 6A) USA which is a northeast state. I grow dozens of hybrid tea roses each & take cuttings to propagate. I'm sure the roses I purchase at the garden shop come from southern &/or western states. They are already in full bloom while the ones in my garden are still bare. I can't say for sure if all the cane borer damaged is caused prior to arrival or happens here only that it does happen. Most times I don't notice borer damage until a seemingly healthy-looking cane stops producing. Then I prune it to find the pith is full of mushy brown material. So, I do employ the Elmers glue method when I make my late winter/early spring hard cutbacks & routine pruning. I've read it is best to use regular Elmers, not wood or school glue for different reasons. Sealing my rose cane prunes has become as routine as pruning itself. No different than my routine fungicide & insecticide treatments. I could not imagine just leaving my roses to grow on their on accord without any of these measures. Of course, I am on a much smaller scale & perhaps disease & insect issues are common here. With my roses being only the ones in area perhaps they are constant targets rose pests. I'm glad to hear someone doesn't fret over or deal with these pests anyhow. Good Luck To All & May Your Roses Grow Healthy Tall ;)
OK... not a huge gardener but have had a lovely climbing red rose bush (direct sunlight) in our home, and this Spring noticed that it recovered poorly from our Winter. (Wisconsin) Upon trimming today, I noticed half of the plant had died nearly to the root stub and branches and found several bored holes. On one brief trim I did actually see an adult emerge... black beetle looking wasp or flying ant looking fellow. After trimming I have since sprayed with an Insecticide hooked up to water designed for ornamental plants and hopefully this bush will respond and come back.... Late Spring developing here in Wisconsin. The bush is about 10 years old.... It was absolutely magnificent in years 3-4.
I live in high desert in AZ I have lost 2 Rose trees and one rose bush to this big. These roses are 10-20 years old. I'm trying to save another rose tree right now.
I live in S. Utah. And I have lost roses due to these pesky borers. I couldn't figure out what they were tell now. They go right down to the root if left alone. they don't just go for one or two stems, they over take the poor bush and before long, If not stopped, they take over. Yes, I will be needing to trim them off and stop them with glue I believe this time. the sealant didn't work they just went right through it.
Thanks for adding to the discussion. I'm definitely coming to the conclusion that there are quite a few "boring" insects (not if you're an entomologist, I suppose!) that are doing the damage, some more serious than others. See his article for two of the main culprits: entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef209 Noteworthy is that these most damaging pest do not enter through the trimmed ends of canes, so sealing or gluing would be of little use against them. It might prevent some of the more benign overwintering species, but I'm still not sure it's worth the effort.
I have 20 rose bushes and all are showing signs of major rose can borer damage. 3 mature and long lived rose bushes have died this year because of the borers. I am now using sealant. However, the borers are still drilling into the base heartwood of the bushes. Much stress because of these borers. The borers in my garden are black and long, not wasps.
Thanks Annie. These most damaging kinds of borers don't enter your plants through the cut stems. See if you can identify the wilt damage early enough to prevent overwinter damage.
i have noticed that -rose cane larvae- dont get in the cane from a previously cut surface... their entrance is usually a small hole on a side of a young (uncut) cane.. you can notice a small brown dot (often there are two tiny holes side by side) and some brown droppings poking from the tiny holes.. then when i cut that cane it is hollow ... so from my experience there is no need of sealing pruned surfaces.. borers dont use them for entrance.. at least the species boring my roses ...(they just like the climbing rose Rosarium Kloster rose... small roses are usually intact )
I'm thinking of using garlic oil . The real oil on the opening. Then sticking a tiny slither of garlic down inside of that whole on my rose canes. I will reapply and reapply. Somebody else I know combined hers w horseradish and sifted it into a fine just and mists it all over her roses and she never saw a borer again in her garden of about 40 roses . I'm going to try it now . See if it works for me in my humid south Georgia garden.
I’m new to the rose cane borer. I was attempting to resuscitate a knockout rose for my neighbor due to vole damage. I was pruning and I saw my first cane borer. I “chased” the cane down and pruned it to the healthy area. Doesn’t seem to be bad at all.
I was watering a hydrangea and saw a. Lot of holes. I also have one rose that is very old (maybe 20 years) not looking happy. I’m going to try to cut the branches with a hole off to save the hydrangea. I live near Washington DC
I have had major damage from rose cane borers. One rose is just about gone and I wonder if they are in the root stalk. I am going to try to transplant 3 in hopes that they can recuperate.
Ok, just found cane die back on my young own root climbing Clotilde Soupert. The canes are not very big around and I've lost a significant amount of the plant. I'm very unhappy as I just found this. Getting ready to do further inspection to see if I got it all. Darn insects.🤬
My husband bought me roses for mothers day and i first put it in a vase with water for a few days once amazon delivered rose food and garden sheers to prune i added the rose food to the water and cut the steams but i didn't notice it was browning starting from the cut up the steam bout time i noticed it was brown almost half the steam i didn't know what it was but ignored it i put the food ontop of the rose too and it turned orange on my red roses eventually dying i did everything the internet told me i went back to do research and there were things i didn't do like put roses in warm water instead of cold didnt cut diagonal didnt add bleach your supposed to change the water but the food plant package said to change every 7 days well it didn't last that long so when my husband bought me another set of roses i did everything before just added bleach diagonal cut warm water still got cranker so the cut were so gray i cut it but its still gray i dont know what i didnt or did do but im thinking of taking them to the floral shop to see what went wrong
I live in zone 7b and have seen that if I don’t seal them I’ve lost roses in the past due to it. However it could also be because I pruned them in September, just around the time we had some bad frost issues in the past few years
My Forever Yours was killed by rose cane borer. I thought it was heat stress. I didn’t discover what it was until the rose bush tilted over because the root mass was apparently damaged by the borers. I regularly used Bio-advanced all-in-one rose and flower care with fertilizer insect control and disease control.
Try garlic oil. I get mine from puritans pride. In soft gels . My neighbor did this and put it in the hold using a syringe w a long needle. It got right to the insect and it's eggs and wiped out the population of borers for her. So I've DECIDED TO TRY IT MYSELF.
I am not sure for sure as I’m new to this, but it appears my ancient Mariner died from cane borer this year. It was growing early in the spring, might’ve had some cold damage on some leaves but then entirely died back and now it seems no life at all on any canes. People online are telling me the black inner canes appear to be caused by borers and I can’t think why else my poor rose died. Devastated to see my first rose die after only one year under my nose.
Hi Justice. I can't say for sure - but the most serious of the cane borers will leave behind physical evidence of tunneling, stem swelling and sometimes of course, the pest itself: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/insects/beetles/cane-borers-in-brambles.aspx It's pretty hard to say what killed your rose - and yes, very disappointing I'm sure after only one year in the garden. I hope you don't let this "false-start" put you off of roses! It's definitely happened to me occasionally when I'm trying to establish a young rose and it just "doesn't take" in the first year or so. Not frequently, but it does happen. So unless I can figure something site-specific (poor drainage over winter) I just chalk it up to a young plant that wasn't fully rooted, and couldn't cope with some stress (cold, root rot, etc.)
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm thanks for your response ! I’m still not sure what happened to the poor rose. It was coming back just fine this spring then suddenly everything died and now not a single green cane is left. One cane by the bottom has a black hole I suspect was from a borer but not sure. Luckily it’s a David austin and under there 5 year warranty.
Just saw some damage from this on my Summer Fashion rose. I’m pretty mad because it went all the way down a cane almost to the crown. At least I got some cuttings from this, but I don’t think they will take
I live in Essex on clay which is supposedly good for roses. I planted three rugosa maybe ten years ago. Only one bloomed. When I dug them up they had holes through the stem. About three years ago my cousin bought me a named rose. I put it in the same bed and that died. I bought the same named rose and put in a side bed where there is a healthy Peace rose. That died and the stem was drilled. Is it that the soil has these pests? I also put expensive roses in back garden and they seemed to shrink so they are now happier in pots. I have asked garden programmes but they have not mentioned any problems.
The cane borers are flying insects - early detection of the serious cane borers is generally observation of the stems. A sudden wilt at the growing tip and a swelling of the stem tissue lower is a sign that you should look closer.
Yes I have alot damage from these insects .Lost the large main canes on my rose bushes first ,then they moved to the thinner canes all the way down to the root ball. I did try the pruning sealer it did not work. I still trying to find a solution. I also seen a pile of sand at the base of the bush with finger size hole near the root ball. Cg.
Thanks Cathy. The worst of these guys don't really need the opening in the stem - they'll lay eggs right into the cane. The only trick I know of is to watch for early signs of wilt and stem swelling, and get them before they reach the base of the plant.
Can the borers transmit rose rosette virus or other diseases? I've never noticed rose borer damage on my neglected roses, but my property is so filled with invasive multiflora rose that the borers have no shortage of habitat. I'm contemplating pulling out some irises with iris borer damage. They haven't bloomed in years.
I had to cut off two canes from my climbing Rose because of Borer and I am in Zone 7b. Sad thing is that leaves the climbing rose with just 1 Cane. I would like to know if it is possible to encourage new canes from the crown. Do crowns quit producing new canes or become so old and woody that the no longer produce from the crown or a section of the crown. These climbers were planted in 90's and had not been pruned in quite awhile until this last fall when I was hoping to encourage new growth.
That's frustrating! The good news: usually after losing a lot of stems, if the plant is still healthy it will "activate" dormant buds low down - either on the remaining stem, or as basal growth from the crown. As for "encourage" I think maybe it's had enough encouragement with the lost wood. Now just give reasonable care (including moderate fertilizer application) and cross your fingers.
Can you please do a video of how to get rid of rose slugs? They keep returning and eating the rose leaves, leaving them looking like swiss cheese. I've tried several things, nothing seems to work.
I received 4 cuttings from a Cecil Bruner climbing rose that did exceedingly well in Tacoma, WA. The cuttings are in a large bowl in planting soil and been dipped in a hormone. I noticed the other day that one of the cuttings had a hole in the top and cutting back it went most all the way down, so was thrown away. One of the other 3 left has new growth on it, and the other two look ok. But should I cover the tops with white glue? Most like i won't plant them by my arbor until spring, but will bring the bowl in the garage for the winter. Is this the right thing to do? I live in Bend, OR.
Hi Clarissa. It's not something I've ever seen on my cuttings in propagation, so I'd be inclined to call it a fluke. Glue might be a reasonable precaution, but I also know that the practice of sealing cuts can carry some risks of its own. If it were me, I'd leave them to grow without gluing the ends.
I read if a borer reaches 'the grafted area' it kills the rose. Only use white tacky glue never nail varnish as the chemical is harmful to the roses. But what is white tacky glue?
They destroy my roses down to their crown and the wood becomes unhealthy and rots and dies so I got to cut big parts of the rose. Im pretty sure it's the insects and not the winter damage because it happens to just one or two canes but not to all the roses canes of the same plant. And they have holes inside like they are empty. I have a young rose now that the winter freeze did damage it's thin young canes and yes, they're black like burned in fire, but no holes in them, so i can tell the difference between insects damage and winter damage. I hate those bugs and I just learned about them and Ill save my roses. I dont care how "useful" they are to whoever, not to me.
Thanks Maya. I've done a little more research since the video, and it really comes down to the specific variety of pest(s) in your area. The specialist cane borers don't chew into the plant through the cut ends, but rather lay eggs at the epidermis and it's the larvae that cause the serious damage. So pretty tough to prevent, and sad to say that sealing cut ends won't do the job. The best approach then is to watch for early signs of wilt and swelling down the stem to "catch them in the act" before they reach the base of the rose.
I live in eastern Virginia. I have around 27 rose bushes. I stated deadheading my rose bushes and cutting back any winter damage today. I noticed on one of my older roses that there was a cane that was completely dead and the other cane had new growth. Both canes however, had bluish white spotting down the canes. I cut off the dead cane and noticed a perfectly round hole down the center. When I cut the cane off at the base, the remaining cane was wobbly. I gave the remaining cane a slight tug and the whole bush came out of the ground. There were only a few strands of root coming from what was left of the root ball. I sterilize my pruners between plants, but have noticed a cane on another one that had a similar dead cane and when I cut it off, it had the round hole down the center of the cane, but the rest of the canes appear to be fine. Each year I use the 3 in 1 for roses, but last year, I didn’t keep up with doing this but one time. Hopefully, this may help. Never had this problem prior to this year.
Thanks for sharing your experience Karen. The worst of the cane borers are pretty hard to keep out because they don't enter through the cut branches. 3 in 1 has an anti-feedant (Imidacloprid) that should be effective for a time against cane borers (as well as other insect feeding) - the downside to these neonicotinoids is a source for some controversy, especially around their role in damaging bee populations (colony collapse disorder). I don't have a better solution for you except to say that with careful observation, you can often detect and remove the insect before it becomes too damaging.
Well last year I had to cut all my rose's back to 1 foot from the ground. What you showed is why I did it and I saw several raspberry borers crawling on the side walk. I was told cut them back to 1 foot, bag all that I cut off and get the pruning out of the yard and in the dump immediately. This year I learned that I should have used a Tumeric paste ( mix Tumeric with water and make a paste) apply it to the cut wounds of the rose bush it is anaseptic and aids in keeping unwanted bugs out.
If you don't mind me asking, did turmeric work? I have the same problem and I am trying to figure out the best solution, thanks!
When pruning my roses in late March, 2021, in Zone 5, Indiana, I found the rose stem pith was brown in most stems of nearly all my roses. I cut the stems way back, but still did not get to a healthy white pith on some stems without cutting out the entire stem. My roses are mostly shrub knock outs, and the Oso Easy Italian ice. Some stems I noticed did have rose borer holes, others did not seem to have them, just tan to brown pith inside the stems. The stems or canes often looked fine on the outside, except for die back at the tops where cane was dark brown and appeared dead. Lower canes might look healthy, but had tan or brown pith inside a green ring. This affected all 20 rose plants inspected so far. When I inspected my roses in preparation for a spring prune, I noted that my roses were all covered with too much deep, wet, mulch, that enclosed the base of the plants, which was a terrible way to leave them last Fall, I know. I am resolved to pay more attention to my roses this year, and assume my borer and die back problems were probably my own fault. I planted them too low in the ground, did not keep them clean enough, and smothered the crowns with too much mulch hoping to protect them from winter. I am thinking about installing a drip line, replanting or leveling/removing surrounding soil, etc. Any suggestions? I have been watching all of your videos on roses and rose care, and they are very helpful. I have lots to learn!
Great information, thank you. I have some of the same issues.
My rose is fighting for its life because of these bores. I had to cut so much and still I am not sure they are gone. 😫
Have grown roses in Pasco,WA since late 80's. I'm very familiar with carpenter bees tunneling into freshly cut canes in summer. I took pictures of one just minutes after pruning a Tropicana. Also noted that they prefer some roses. A Playboy and a Playtime grew side by side, but most tunneling was just on one (I can't remember which) of them. I observed these solitary bees deposited an egg and an insect in a chamber sealed with plant material. In the four or more chambers, the eggs would hatch and the larvae would eat the insects and then pupate. After morphing into the adult bee, they tunneling back from the chambers to emerge to pollinate grasses and grains. I used wood and regular Elmers glue on large and lower canes. Now I might put a dab of wet dirt on a big cut to discourage them long enough for the cut surface to harden off. The beetles eat into the side of a cane to deposit an egg and their larvae are eating their way down the cane. I've rarely seen this on roses here but may have seen a rose killed this way. Did lose a dwarf peach tree--3 grubs in a 2 inch trunk. I am much more tolerant of nesting bees as opposed to the boring beetles that are eating the plant. 🌹
By the way, I have lost roses from root weavels. I picked off 125 in one night last year. May lose 3 transplanted roses that were stripped of this year's foliage. I gathered 30 large adults the night I saw the damage. I will check into the information you supplied in your video on Japanese Beetles to stop the spread to the next rose bed. 🌹
Thanks so much Richard for you insights. I always like to hear the specifics (rather than just the knee-jerk reaction to seal all cuts)
I had 1800 hundred roses in my garden in Denver. And yes the borers can kill a plant IF the cane the bore into
takes them all the way to the graft. The graft will turn black and kill the roses. I would think not on own-root roses because they would only get to the bottom of that particular cane. However, I have lost plants to the borers if I happen to have cut a large cane back close to the graft and a borer gets to the graft it can kill the plant.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Not with roses, but they devastated my raspberries. I had read in a number of places raspberries were very hardy and free of most diseases, but when I've read up on raspberry diseases, there are a whole bunch of them! It took me an old agricultural excerpt online to find out about cane borers, and the only RUclips videos on it at the time were from a lady in British Columbia. I've been growing raspberries in containers in TN for a few seasons....and cane borers covertly came in and devastated my crop of 47 plants before I even knew what had hit them. Thanks for mentioning the wasps as candidates. I think they may be the culprit. I've never seen that little black beetle, but I have seen wasps around my raspberries. I think you may have just helped me solve the mystery of why I have never seen a cane borer beetle on my plants! Looks like I'm going to burn all my plants and start over next Spring, but with a tunnel of netting that will keep insects off of them. Japanese beetles the last two seasons love them, and this season June bugs showed up! Netting them off will keep off all three! Killed five of my raspberry plants completely, and the rest are just having a real hard time producing any fruit and looking healthy into Summer.
I'm in Southern AZ and have found these holes in the canes of all of my roses for years. It's always disturbed me but the plants continue to produce more canes and more flowers even from the damaged looking places.
Probably not the rose cane borer then? it is destructive
I live in Virginia and I just noticed that my NEW Peace rose has a cane with a big fat hole going straight down inside! I want to cry. It is showing NO dead cane yet, so I’m going to cut until I don’t see any more hole. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted!
I really do wish you luck!
UPDATE: So I tried pruning away the bore hole until it was gone. Unfortunately, its a brand new bare root rose so there wasn’t much cane to prune. The bore hole went all the way to the GRAFT!!!!! 😡 So, feeling the need to fight hard for it - I had a brain storm! I cut the cane as far down as I could. I had some Espoma insecticide. I didn’t want to spray a wide area so I got a fountain pen ink syringe and extracted about 1ml and injected it directly into the bore hole - and praying to God I don’t kill the entire bush. So, now I wait and see. I feed it Neptune’s fish/seaweed fertilizer (1/2 dose) weekly - so hopefully the roots and the remaining plant are healthy enough to survive. I was reminded to call the nursery where I got the rose from and they may replace it as being such a new plant it may have been like that when I bought it!!!! Good to know! As for the ink syringe, it occurred to me the day before, after noticing the bore hole, I went inside and was cleaning some fountain pens and I realized the ink syringe would be a great tool for the bore hole, targeting only the infected area! I’m keeping that one with my garden supplies just in case! 😃
I've been battling the cane borer for years, and often they win, wiping out a rose. I also noticed my raspberries are also affected. I live in the upper northwest. I use Elmer's wood glue and that is a deterrent for sure, but I have not eliminated these as of yet. Thank you for the video, and giving us a chance to read each other's solutions ~!
Thanks for your take on it!
When I tried to start rose cuttings, I noticed that the plant died a ways down the stalk because of the tunnel you are talking about in the video. As I watched the stalk die progressively, I decided to put a small stick into the end. That stalled the die-off, and the rose cutting has survived this Summer so far. From my observation, I would recommend sealing right after cutting---so I think that would go the same for any holes that would get started in the cane.
This is year 2 for roses....moles then chipmunks, next was beetles, earwigs and slugs then white flies......now I have these bores. I have a lot to learn!
I live in Northern Nevada where I constantly have to fight borers. Although it is tedious to do so if you have many rose bushes to tend to, I seal with waterproof wood glue, and that has protected my roses for the past 30 years.
My older sister told me to use Elmer's glue on the ends of hybrid tea rose canes to stop borers. I have tried it, but I'm not sure I can say one way or another it helps. I've also seeing some canes just not looking real healthy, maybe partially brown, or partially discolored. My late Mom use to put a little epsom salt around the base of the rose, she said it made the canes healthy. Thanks, Johnny
Thanks Johnny for sharing your experience.
I have had rose plants killed or suffering severe dieback of branches from cane borers. Branches die back all the way to the root crown. I could not ascertain the cause of the symptoms till I trimmed away the dead branches and found that they were hollowed out. I grow fragrant rose varieties indoors and regularly cut the blossoms. I am now considering sealing all plant wounds to see if this eliminates the problem. I live in PA, but the effected rose plants were shipped from nurseries in the North Western U.S.
Thanks. Let me know how the wound-sealing works out for you
Yes, the garden concierge company I work for has been seeing a lot of roses afflicted with it. If they go all the way down to the crown yes it will kill it. And they seem to be doing that more often.
Thanks Cathy. What's your area if you don't mind me asking?
I live in East Tennessee and have problems with this. The damage had often gone all the way down. I haven't grown roses in years because of travel but I'm starting new gardens this year. Thank you for your advice.
Thanks for the info. I've read further to find out that there are more and less harmful cane borers. The more harmful ones, like the Raspberry Cane Borer "make their living" on brambles, feeding on foliage, and laying eggs in the canes. Interestingly, they don't gain entry to the canes through the cut stems, so paint or nail polish wouldn't exclude them. The less harmful ones are just opportunistic - seeking overwintering habitat, and they can get in through the pith of the cut canes. So far, my conclusion holds: I wouldn't bother to paint, glue or polish my cut stems to try to exclude an insect that does minimal harm, and may be a garden beneficial.
Hi, thanks for the video. I have the "rose cane borers" & was about to treat cut ends when winter pruning. It seems that most my roses have multiple canes with borers. They are new plants I'm trying to establish, and the borers are causing a few inches of die back on original canes, therefore making it harder to winter prune and still leave a healthy amount of cane. Do you have other tips regarding this?
Hi Dani, it's pretty hard to take a "let it be" attitude on plants you're trying to establish - but I'm not sure there's a good solution to help with the problem. The more I read about pruning sealer (or glue, or nail polish), I've learned that it's more likely to trap moisture and cause decay. I can't recommend an effective control for the insect (particularly if they've already "bored"), and I don't think any further pruning is wise until strong new growth begins in spring. I wish I had a better outlook... but I think this may be a "discretion is the better part of valor" kind of thing.
Fraser Valley Rose Farm thank you. Yes, I may have to run a few tests and see what happens. :)
I was hoping when I looked up this topic that you had done a video about this. Thank you .
Louisiana--- was just outside in my garden and found 3 roses (same bed) with cane borer damage.
I hope not too severe!
I'm located in northern Massachusetts (zone 6A) USA which is a northeast state. I grow dozens of hybrid tea roses each & take cuttings to propagate. I'm sure the roses I purchase at the garden shop come from southern &/or western states. They are already in full bloom while the ones in my garden are still bare. I can't say for sure if all the cane borer damaged is caused prior to arrival or happens here only that it does happen. Most times I don't notice borer damage until a seemingly healthy-looking cane stops producing. Then I prune it to find the pith is full of mushy brown material. So, I do employ the Elmers glue method when I make my late winter/early spring hard cutbacks & routine pruning. I've read it is best to use regular Elmers, not wood or school glue for different reasons. Sealing my rose cane prunes has become as routine as pruning itself. No different than my routine fungicide & insecticide treatments. I could not imagine just leaving my roses to grow on their on accord without any of these measures. Of course, I am on a much smaller scale & perhaps disease & insect issues are common here. With my roses being only the ones in area perhaps they are constant targets rose pests. I'm glad to hear someone doesn't fret over or deal with these pests anyhow. Good Luck To All & May Your Roses Grow Healthy Tall ;)
Thanks for sharing your take on it Corey
Nice to know stuff. As a rose growing newby I did not see those demages! 06.07.24
We have that dead center leading all the way back to the dirt in some stems.
Yikes. Thanks William - good to know.
OK... not a huge gardener but have had a lovely climbing red rose bush (direct sunlight) in our home, and this Spring noticed that it recovered poorly from our Winter. (Wisconsin) Upon trimming today, I noticed half of the plant had died nearly to the root stub and branches and found several bored holes. On one brief trim I did actually see an adult emerge... black beetle looking wasp or flying ant looking fellow. After trimming I have since sprayed with an Insecticide hooked up to water designed for ornamental plants and hopefully this bush will respond and come back.... Late Spring developing here in Wisconsin. The bush is about 10 years old.... It was absolutely magnificent in years 3-4.
Thanks John. Good to hear from someone with first-hand experience.
I'm a home gardener, in Ontario. I also continue to lose perfectly healthy roses to borers.
I live in high desert in AZ I have lost 2 Rose trees and one rose bush to this big. These roses are 10-20 years old. I'm trying to save another rose tree right now.
I live in S. Utah. And I have lost roses due to these pesky borers. I couldn't figure out what they were tell now. They go right down to the root if left alone. they don't just go for one or two stems, they over take the poor bush and before long, If not stopped, they take over. Yes, I will be needing to trim them off and stop them with glue I believe this time. the sealant didn't work they just went right through it.
Thanks for adding to the discussion. I'm definitely coming to the conclusion that there are quite a few "boring" insects (not if you're an entomologist, I suppose!) that are doing the damage, some more serious than others. See his article for two of the main culprits: entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef209 Noteworthy is that these most damaging pest do not enter through the trimmed ends of canes, so sealing or gluing would be of little use against them. It might prevent some of the more benign overwintering species, but I'm still not sure it's worth the effort.
I have 20 rose bushes and all are showing signs of major rose can borer damage. 3 mature and long lived rose bushes have died this year because of the borers. I am now using sealant. However, the borers are still drilling into the base heartwood of the bushes. Much stress because of these borers. The borers in my garden are black and long, not wasps.
Thanks Annie. These most damaging kinds of borers don't enter your plants through the cut stems. See if you can identify the wilt damage early enough to prevent overwinter damage.
i have noticed that -rose cane larvae- dont get in the cane from a previously cut surface... their entrance is usually a small hole on a side of a young (uncut) cane.. you can notice a small brown dot (often there are two tiny holes side by side) and some brown droppings poking from the tiny holes.. then when i cut that cane it is hollow ... so from my experience there is no need of sealing pruned surfaces.. borers dont use them for entrance.. at least the species boring my roses ...(they just like the climbing rose Rosarium Kloster rose... small roses are usually intact )
I'm thinking of using garlic oil . The real oil on the opening. Then sticking a tiny slither of garlic down inside of that whole on my rose canes. I will reapply and reapply. Somebody else I know combined hers w horseradish and sifted it into a fine just and mists it all over her roses and she never saw a borer again in her garden of about 40 roses . I'm going to try it now . See if it works for me in my humid south Georgia garden.
Great stuff thanks
I’m new to the rose cane borer. I was attempting to resuscitate a knockout rose for my neighbor due to vole damage. I was pruning and I saw my first cane borer. I “chased” the cane down and pruned it to the healthy area. Doesn’t seem to be bad at all.
I was watering a hydrangea and saw a. Lot of holes. I also have one rose that is very old (maybe 20 years) not looking happy. I’m going to try to cut the branches with a hole off to save the hydrangea. I live near Washington DC
I’ll put the glue on the tips
❤ thank you
Zone 9a these insects have killed at leat 9 rose bushes.
Wow - that's rough. Is the raspberry cane borer in you rarea?
I am experencing this also in 9a
I have had major damage from rose cane borers. One rose is just about gone and I wonder if they are in the root stalk. I am going to try to transplant 3 in hopes that they can recuperate.
Ok, just found cane die back on my young own root climbing Clotilde Soupert. The canes are not very big around and I've lost a significant amount of the plant. I'm very unhappy as I just found this. Getting ready to do further inspection to see if I got it all. Darn insects.🤬
That's rough Lesli - I don't see a lot of polyantha roses up here (aside from 'The Fairy'). I hope it comes through okay
My husband bought me roses for mothers day and i first put it in a vase with water for a few days once amazon delivered rose food and garden sheers to prune i added the rose food to the water and cut the steams but i didn't notice it was browning starting from the cut up the steam bout time i noticed it was brown almost half the steam i didn't know what it was but ignored it i put the food ontop of the rose too and it turned orange on my red roses eventually dying i did everything the internet told me i went back to do research and there were things i didn't do like put roses in warm water instead of cold didnt cut diagonal didnt add bleach your supposed to change the water but the food plant package said to change every 7 days well it didn't last that long so when my husband bought me another set of roses i did everything before just added bleach diagonal cut warm water still got cranker so the cut were so gray i cut it but its still gray i dont know what i didnt or did do but im thinking of taking them to the floral shop to see what went wrong
I live in zone 7b and have seen that if I don’t seal them I’ve lost roses in the past due to it. However it could also be because I pruned them in September, just around the time we had some bad frost issues in the past few years
My Forever Yours was killed by rose cane borer. I thought it was heat stress. I didn’t discover what it was until the rose bush tilted over because the root mass was apparently damaged by the borers. I regularly used Bio-advanced all-in-one rose and flower care with fertilizer insect control and disease control.
Sorry to hear it. Thanks for sharing the details though!
Try garlic oil. I get mine from puritans pride. In soft gels . My neighbor did this and put it in the hold using a syringe w a long needle. It got right to the insect and it's eggs and wiped out the population of borers for her. So I've DECIDED TO TRY IT MYSELF.
I am not sure for sure as I’m new to this, but it appears my ancient Mariner died from cane borer this year. It was growing early in the spring, might’ve had some cold damage on some leaves but then entirely died back and now it seems no life at all on any canes. People online are telling me the black inner canes appear to be caused by borers and I can’t think why else my poor rose died. Devastated to see my first rose die after only one year under my nose.
Hi Justice. I can't say for sure - but the most serious of the cane borers will leave behind physical evidence of tunneling, stem swelling and sometimes of course, the pest itself: www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/gardens-gardening/your-garden/help-for-the-home-gardener/advice-tips-resources/pests-and-problems/insects/beetles/cane-borers-in-brambles.aspx It's pretty hard to say what killed your rose - and yes, very disappointing I'm sure after only one year in the garden. I hope you don't let this "false-start" put you off of roses! It's definitely happened to me occasionally when I'm trying to establish a young rose and it just "doesn't take" in the first year or so. Not frequently, but it does happen. So unless I can figure something site-specific (poor drainage over winter) I just chalk it up to a young plant that wasn't fully rooted, and couldn't cope with some stress (cold, root rot, etc.)
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm thanks for your response ! I’m still not sure what happened to the poor rose. It was coming back just fine this spring then suddenly everything died and now not a single green cane is left. One cane by the bottom has a black hole I suspect was from a borer but not sure. Luckily it’s a David austin and under there 5 year warranty.
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm just feel responsible for not taking care of my rose enough. Hopefully it dosnt happen again
Oh, good to hear!
Just saw some damage from this on my Summer Fashion rose. I’m pretty mad because it went all the way down a cane almost to the crown. At least I got some cuttings from this, but I don’t think they will take
Ugh. Sorry to hear it Aram!
I live in Essex on clay which is supposedly good for roses. I planted three rugosa maybe ten years ago. Only one bloomed. When I dug them up they had holes through the stem. About three years ago my cousin bought me a named rose. I put it in the same bed and that died. I bought the same named rose and put in a side bed where there is a healthy Peace rose. That died and the stem was drilled. Is it that the soil has these pests?
I also put expensive roses in back garden and they seemed to shrink so they are now happier in pots. I have asked garden programmes but they have not mentioned any problems.
The cane borers are flying insects - early detection of the serious cane borers is generally observation of the stems. A sudden wilt at the growing tip and a swelling of the stem tissue lower is a sign that you should look closer.
Yes I have alot damage from these insects .Lost the large main canes on my rose bushes first ,then they moved to the thinner canes all the way down to the root ball. I did try the pruning sealer it did not work. I still trying to find a solution. I also seen a pile of sand at the base of the bush with finger size hole near the root ball. Cg.
Thanks Cathy. The worst of these guys don't really need the opening in the stem - they'll lay eggs right into the cane. The only trick I know of is to watch for early signs of wilt and stem swelling, and get them before they reach the base of the plant.
I also cut open the canes and the insect I found had wings and it was black with a blue iridescence?
Can the borers transmit rose rosette virus or other diseases? I've never noticed rose borer damage on my neglected roses, but my property is so filled with invasive multiflora rose that the borers have no shortage of habitat. I'm contemplating pulling out some irises with iris borer damage. They haven't bloomed in years.
I had to cut off two canes from my climbing Rose because of Borer and I am in Zone 7b. Sad thing is that leaves the climbing rose with just 1 Cane. I would like to know if it is possible to encourage new canes from the crown. Do crowns quit producing new canes or become so old and woody that the no longer produce from the crown or a section of the crown. These climbers were planted in 90's and had not been pruned in quite awhile until this last fall when I was hoping to encourage new growth.
That's frustrating! The good news: usually after losing a lot of stems, if the plant is still healthy it will "activate" dormant buds low down - either on the remaining stem, or as basal growth from the crown. As for "encourage" I think maybe it's had enough encouragement with the lost wood. Now just give reasonable care (including moderate fertilizer application) and cross your fingers.
Can you please do a video of how to get rid of rose slugs? They keep returning and eating the rose leaves, leaving them looking like swiss cheese. I've tried several things, nothing seems to work.
Thanks Wendy. I'll put it on the list
I received 4 cuttings from a Cecil Bruner climbing rose that did exceedingly well in Tacoma, WA. The cuttings are in a large bowl in planting soil and been dipped in a hormone. I noticed the other day that one of the cuttings had a hole in the top and cutting back it went most all the way down, so was thrown away. One of the other 3 left has new growth on it, and the other two look ok. But should I cover the tops with white glue? Most like i won't plant them by my arbor until spring, but will bring the bowl in the garage for the winter. Is this the right thing to do? I live in Bend, OR.
Hi Clarissa. It's not something I've ever seen on my cuttings in propagation, so I'd be inclined to call it a fluke. Glue might be a reasonable precaution, but I also know that the practice of sealing cuts can carry some risks of its own. If it were me, I'd leave them to grow without gluing the ends.
@@FraserValleyRoseFarm Thank you, I may try sealing one and leaving the others alone - just to see if it makes any difference between them. Thank you.
I read if a borer reaches 'the grafted area' it kills the rose. Only use white tacky glue never nail varnish as the chemical is harmful to the roses. But what is white tacky glue?
Like Elmer's School Glue or Aleene's craft glue
Note that white craft glue and wood glue will last with sun and irrigation, but school glue wash off. 🌹
They destroy my roses down to their crown and the wood becomes unhealthy and rots and dies so I got to cut big parts of the rose.
Im pretty sure it's the insects and not the winter damage because it happens to just one or two canes but not to all the roses canes of the same plant. And they have holes inside like they are empty.
I have a young rose now that the winter freeze did damage it's thin young canes and yes, they're black like burned in fire, but no holes in them, so i can tell the difference between insects damage and winter damage.
I hate those bugs and I just learned about them and Ill save my roses. I dont care how "useful" they are to whoever, not to me.
Thanks Maya. I've done a little more research since the video, and it really comes down to the specific variety of pest(s) in your area. The specialist cane borers don't chew into the plant through the cut ends, but rather lay eggs at the epidermis and it's the larvae that cause the serious damage. So pretty tough to prevent, and sad to say that sealing cut ends won't do the job. The best approach then is to watch for early signs of wilt and swelling down the stem to "catch them in the act" before they reach the base of the rose.
I used the paste, borer still gets it
Thanks for sharing your results. Makes sense, as the most serious of the cane borers don't enter through the cut end.
I live in eastern Virginia. I have around 27 rose bushes. I stated deadheading my rose bushes and cutting back any winter damage today. I noticed on one of my older roses that there was a cane that was completely dead and the other cane had new growth. Both canes however, had bluish white spotting down the canes. I cut off the dead cane and noticed a perfectly round hole down the center. When I cut the cane off at the base, the remaining cane was wobbly. I gave the remaining cane a slight tug and the whole bush came out of the ground. There were only a few strands of root coming from what was left of the root ball. I sterilize my pruners between plants, but have noticed a cane on another one that had a similar dead cane and when I cut it off, it had the round hole down the center of the cane, but the rest of the canes appear to be fine. Each year I use the 3 in 1 for roses, but last year, I didn’t keep up with doing this but one time. Hopefully, this may help. Never had this problem prior to this year.
Thanks for sharing your experience Karen. The worst of the cane borers are pretty hard to keep out because they don't enter through the cut branches. 3 in 1 has an anti-feedant (Imidacloprid) that should be effective for a time against cane borers (as well as other insect feeding) - the downside to these neonicotinoids is a source for some controversy, especially around their role in damaging bee populations (colony collapse disorder). I don't have a better solution for you except to say that with careful observation, you can often detect and remove the insect before it becomes too damaging.