In article , Unique Too
wrote:

Dave wrote:
The thing that alarms me is a purple "bruising" on the stems of Old
Blush,

Several of my roses are having a similar problem. The canes develop purplish
spots, then the cane turns yellow with spots and then dies. This condition
develops not on the small end branches, but on either a main cane or lateral.
When the cane starts to go, the tips of the branches above the cane with start
dying, looking like dieback. From spots to dead isn't long, a week or two at
the most.
If it is dieback or canker, fungicides should help. When I first noticed it,
I
began spraying more regularly, but I have never used Banner Maxx more often
than 14 days.
I must wonder if the problem is not a lack of fungicide but the result of
fungicide, specifically Banner Maxx.

I don't think it is Banner Maxx. I almost never spray fungicide and
have never used Banner Maxx. I first saw this stuff last year on
Lavender Lassie. Dormant spraying has had no effect, nor have I seen
any decrease since spraying for Fore and with Decree. I suspect that
I'm going to lose the whole plant, which will be a shame. I just sense
that it's headed for collapse. I thought is might be an effect of
spraying myself because it seems to appear down one side of the cane in
some cases. But then I saw spots on roses that have never been sprayed
at all. I also thought it might be sun burn, but then I found where the
sun don't shine. However, there are many different kinds of
spots....here's what I find on my rose, which could be a different
gunk:
http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...assieWorst.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~cbernstei...assieSpots.jpg

I bought some Zyban (Cleary's 3336 combined with Fore) because of
Cleary's supposed systemic effect. That's the only thing I can think to
do. I guess I could also try Phyton 27 for the same reason....

I never had this problem until two years
ago, a few months after I started using Banner Maxx. The only roses affected
are those that are sprayed and all the sprayed roses, except Rose de Rescht,
show the same symptoms. I've read other posts, on other boards, where
dieback/canker/whatever is becoming more of problem than ever before. And I
believe more people are using Banner Maxx, it seems to be the current
favorite.
I'm not accusing Banner Maxx, I'm not convinced it is the problem, but I do
wonder. It could be the roses least resistant to BS are also the least
resistant to whatever is causing this problem. I've stopped spraying the two
roses most affected, they are down to one cane already. Since I expect to
loose them anyway, they are my test roses. If the situation improves on these
two roses, I'll start spraying again, but not with Banner Maxx and see what
happens.
Anyone else having the same/similar problem?
Any comments?

Can you post pictures? I can come up with all kinds of conspiracy
theories if I work myself up, but I think that even in my own garden, I
have more than one think at work. For example, I think a canker is at
work also, and since it causes cane symptoms, it's easy to confuse the
two. I guess I'm going to have to get a lab test.