Status: 05/23/2023 09:46 am
Roses with curled leaves are infested with scroll wasps. It’s not a disease though. Nevertheless, the leaves should be removed to avoid further infestation.
Many roses have already emerged and formed leaves by mid-May. However, it will take a while for the flowers to appear. If your beloved roses have a lot of leaves curled up on them, they probably have an infestation with the rose scroll wasp. The twisted leaves look almost like cigars. You can hardly see the wasp itself, it is black and only four millimeters long.
Rose scroll wasp larvae eat the top layer of the leaves
The larvae of the rose leaf scroll wasp can hardly be seen.
From the end of April to June, the rose leaf scroll wasps fly, lay two or three eggs on the underside of the rose petals and sting the leaf in the process. The larvae that then hatch eat the first layer of skin on the leaves, which causes the leaf to curl up in the typical way. Although the roses do not die, the problem of infestation does not solve itself.
What helps against the scroll wasp?
The rolled up leaves should be cut off and disposed of with household waste. Some larvae in the twisted leaves eat until July, they are removed at the same time by cutting them off. If the leaves remain on the rose, the larvae of the scroll wasp will eventually fall to the ground under the rose. There they hide, pupate and hatch as new leaf scroll wasps the next year.
For prevention and strengthening, the rose can be sprayed with a decoction of tansy. This serves as biological plant protection.
Around the rose
