into the house or prune.
- Leaf-Cutter Bees. Leaf-cutter bees cut out circular pieces from rose leaves and other plants and save them as food for their young in burrows dug in the pith of rose stems, broken branches, or in plant crevices. The tunneled stems usually die back for several inches. No satisfactory insecticide control is available for these bees, which are valuable as pollinators. Sealing the ends of the canes prevents the bees from entering and tunneling the stems.
- Spider Mites. The two-spotted spider mite and related species such the juices from rose leaves, which soon become stippled. As the injury progresses, the leaves turn brown, curl, and drop off. When mites are abundant, they spin a web over the leaf surface. These mites are almost too small to see without magnification, but if you suspect mites, hold a plain white sheet of paper under the leaves and tap gingerly on the leaf a few times and you should be able to see minute red specks of the paper. Infestations usually occur in hot, dry weather, but can be controlled by drenching the undersides of the leaves every several days with a forceful spray of water from a hose-end nozzle of water wand.