County Londonderry,
United Kingdom 
i have green fly on my roses and was told to spray them with washing up liquid, i did so and found 3 weeks later most of the foliage fell off and the rose bush went all spindly will these roses come again
On plant
not known
12 Jun, 2010
Answers
The remedy used to be 'soap solution' but, nowadays, washing up liquid is easier to use. Most washing up liquids contain chemicals so could be quite toxic. I am surprised to hear that it caused the foliage to fall off though, not sure why this should be.
12 Jun, 2010
Sounds like you used the washing up liquid neat, straight from the bottle - should have been diluted with a fair amount of water and then sprayed on the plants. Personally, I always choose the more effective option of a systemic insecticide, so I don't have to faff about every day outside with soapy water, but that's just me, I guess.
12 Jun, 2010
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People keep saying to spray with washing up liquid. It is more toxic than any of the insecticides. I do not grow roses so cannot help there, except to say that most plants will recover if given a good feed and any really bad pieces pruned off.
12 Jun, 2010