In QQ2ea.140306$eG2.18014@sccrnsc03 Allegra wrote:
Aphids are certainly a pain, and other than Safer soap and big, nasty
showers with the dial on jet I know of no way to get rid of them.

Allegra, I have sprayed twice for aphids this entire season (and it's
autumn here in Sydney now). Only twice. And they are TOTALLY under
control.

I have always been a fan of systemic insecticide for aphids, thrips and
other sucking insects. Yes, they are organo-phosphates and you need to
be careful handling them. But once sprayed, they work and they don't
harm anything that doesn't eat your roses. Rain, foliar feeding etc
doesn't make any difference to their effect once the spray is in the sap
system.

My mistake, until this year, was that I selectively sprayed only bushes
where I could see aphids on the stems. The spray did work for 6 weeks
or so, but after that the aphids would return. I thought that was
normal.

This year I tried spraying all my bushes when I saw a few of them with
aphids. The result? Genocide. It obviously got rid of unseen infant
colonies that were hiding on other bushes, and it stopped them spreading
again when the systemic (I use Rogor) wore off.

I can't recommend systemic insecticides highly enough. Use them with
care and you can stop worrying about aphids, period.