[Pony Girl]

Any ideas what is causing this & how I  can treat it?

[sunshineband]

Could be a slug I suppose. Torchlight parades usually help track down night time munchers of all sorts.

Did the flower start off whole?

[mumofstig]

It's snails that do that here, bless'em 

[Pony Girl]

Well there's no trail that I can see. Just seems to have affected one plant - there are also a few holes in the leaves. Whatever it is has attacked the buds before they've had a chance to bloom.

[Goosegirl]

I don't think it's capsid bugs at this time of year, so am going for earwigs.

[Pony Girl]

How do you stop earwigs? :-) I did notice some baby woodlice on one of the roses the other day. Didn't think they ate flowers though. It's a shame, the roses were beautiful in the summer.

[Goosegirl]

Woodlice tend to go for damp, dark places and feed on dead matter. Earwigs like the same conditions but are known to eat roses as well as other flowers and fruit.