>Are you certain it was sawflies? The larva eat leaves instead of canes, and the damage appears as skeletonized leaves instead of chew marks on canes. Mature sawflies are very tiny wasps, and I don't believe wasps attack rose foliage. Hi Laura, Sort of certain??? :) That was a best guess based on the medium-sized green larvae I saw everywhere and that were causing much rose damage here in 2009. This was damage that someone who is an expert at the Beales' forum (an employee at the Beales' nursery) suggested looked like sawfly damage. My own guess was also based on looking up sawflies in some rose books. I don't think that I'd read anywhere that sawfly larvae won't attack canes, so that's the way I've been thinking of it for some time now. Last year we had a ton of chew marks on canes, as well as a ton of blackened stems, which I thought I'd read was canker caused by the sawflies laying eggs in the canes, either through openings they create by chewing into the canes or by taking advantage of the exposed cut ends of canes. This happened in an area where the rabbits has no access, so it was some insect that was causing the problem. I don't think I've seen any of those chewed cane areas or blackened stems this year. I'm not going to research all that again now, but if you're certain that sawfly larvae can't do any cane chewing, it's a puzzle that for sure I saw the very same kind of larva insect, whatever it's correct name, chewing on a cane--in the active act of cutting into a cane on one rose plant where it left the entire top of the cane hanging down toward the ground, hanging on by the barest of threads. I remember seeing it as it did that work, and then intending to go into the house to get some stuff to use on the rose... and got busy right away with something once back in the house. By the time I got back out with my gardening stuff, the rose's cane had already been severed! I suppose the damage could have been caused by some other kind of green larva that looks just like the sawfly larvae that were covering the rose the Beales' expert commented on? (He saw the damage, not the actual larvae. After his comment, I looked closer and saw the same kind of green larvae, and also enlarged digital photos to see them all over the rose.) I am certain that these larvae--whatever the proper name that identifies them--do cut into rose stems, though I don't have a good way of knowing that the larvae I've observed are actually the same insect that can be identified easily as sawflies when they reach adult maturity. I have also seen the flying mature sawflies (I'm certain of that, because I recognized the pictures posted online and in books), but mostly I have seen a green insect larvae--seen them climbing on canes everywhere and all over the undersides of leaves too. We do also have caterpillers, but they are much larger than the green larvae I'm referring to, and they have noticeable feet. If the larva that cuts stems off/eats leaves also has some feet, they are nothing very noticeable, because I never noticed any. We had a problem with caterpillers and grasshoppers this year, but last year it was sawflies and Japanese beetles. I consulted a good many rose and gardening books here last year in researching the problem, and what I kept reading seemed to confirm that sawfly diagnosis of what it was, so I'm really surprised now to find that all that is wrong. What would you guess the green cane/leaf eating larvae here are? If you're right, whatever those larvae were, that might explain the lack of a worry this year with those same kinds of larvae. That is, perhaps spraying the yard with the nematodes that can handle many chewing insects--but are ineffective against sawflies--helped this year with what was otherwise a huge problem last year? Thanks for your information, Laura! Best wishes, Mary P.S. I forgot to say, last year we had a problem with plain eaten leaves and with skeletonized eaten leaves, both. This year it's just plainly eaten leaves, which the caterpillers are plenty good at producing. I may have seen some skeletonized leaves this year, but offhand, can't recall any.

VW's "VagCom" is just their own version of a scan tool. I've never had one in my hands so I don't know exactly how much it really does. FWIW, I'll never own one either. I do have a VeDis scan tool which is one of the strongest aftermarket European scan tools available but it is still an aftermarket tool, and I just don't expect it to be 100% complete. But it's the best I can afford. (5K+ there are others that are over a $20K investment, they do more than my VeDis, but imagine spending that kind of money and in a years time not expect to even get $1000 in diagnostic labor money back while using it) It's really tough fixing cars these days when it comes to tooling and equipment. I can justify (to a degree) owning O.E. tools for some 90% of the market. (GM, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, current model years and Honda through 2004) But even with Honda I cannot justify staying current with the O.E. tool, because at $9,000 for just Honda's since 2005 I don't see enough of them to justify any greater expense in supporting them than whatever I can get through my VeDis Asian, or Snap-On scanners. But back to doing the diagnostics on this TAC problem. Even the VagCom does not actually tell the tech what is wrong. The cars are not sophisticated enough to do that. When a problem is determined by the system, say an open in one of the circuits. The system is good enough to flag the circuit affected, and in some cases might have a code that is accurate enough to say that the circuit was "open", although most of the time it will be more like circuit open/short. The problem with intermittents is the circuit is going open/short at any point through that entire single circuit, but the diagnostic system is not capable of saying where it occured. Likewise a scan tool, displaying serial data will show what the microprocessor shows that a particular sensor circuit is reporting, but it's up to a technician to figure out exactly why a given sensor is reporting incorrectly when/if it is. Many events we deal with have a circuit that has a problem, the computer stores a code, but the circuit then just happens to operate correctly when the vehicle comes in, and we end up in a no-problem found situation. redpennies car at this point appears to provide a challenge to any technician because it is not broken all of the time. Combine that with her frustration from the expense of both related (potentially) and unrelated repairs and the fact that in a flat rate shop the techs quite often don't get paid correctly to take whatever time is required to get it to act up and diagnose it and you have a perfect example of just what fixing cars can be like for a technician as well as the public. In every real sense, my getting involved with any of these threads is time spent at work, that I don't get paid for. The techs at the VW dealership when they work on her car now in all likelyhood don't get paid for their time either unless they can justify replacing some part, that redpenny pays to have replaced. It looks like such great customer service to not pay anything to a customer when they have a complaint, but it's actually decades of a robbing Peter to pay Paul situation. The price of which is starting to finally become obvious. Could I diagnose and fix red's car. Yep, no doubt. Would she really be happy if I did? Hard to say......

Sadly, the day of the economical to operate motor vehicle is over. The car or truck are slowly becoming luxuries rather than necessities - thanks to the environmentalists and safety nazis.. Other than a very expensive trip to the dealer(but some of this may be covered under warranty) the only other thing the car owner may or can do is assure that the battery is suppling the vital 12.0 volts(minimum) to the computer...

Last year when we were remodeling when they took off the old siding there were millions of the asian beetles underneath. It was disgusting. I sprayed the sides of the houses as far up as I could get standing on the ground. The ortho sprays a fine mist and a little goes a long way. I bought the gallon size that comes with the pump type sprayer and have been using that same gallon for several years. So yes, I think you could get enough on the side of the house. I didn't spray the ground either because of the kids and animals. Put the DE around the house. It should cut down on them substantially. They are combining east and west of my house today. Curious to see if I am going to get inundated with them soon! I bought my food grade DE online. I shopped around and figured price per pound with shipping figured in. This place I linked below had the best price last year. I bought a 10# bag for $25 and have a lot left over. I too thought of using it as wormer for the outside cats but haven't tried it yet. Not sure if the local farm stores carry it. I guess I never really checked. Maybe call the feed stores. They might have it or somewhere like Theisens/Tractor Supply? But I didn't think $2.50 a pound was too bad. It is a fine dust so it goes a long way as well. I will email my "organic" friend and see where she buys her DE. Hope that helps Pinch! When those beetles invade it is awful! Here is a link that might be useful: Diatomaceous earth