I don't have much experience with Canker, but in the past I have just removed the canes below the Canker and that has remedied the situation. Any Fungicide treatment the roses may have recieved was for blackspot.

How roses live with (or die with) canker depends on the genetics of the roses.

IMO, in Tennessee, Hybrid Teas are wimps. Any canker will gird a cane by midsummer, and that cane won't be replaced by fall growth. IF we cut them below the damage, not six inches but down to where the pith is a normal clean white or light yellow or even taupe, we will get good growth out of that cane for the rest of the year.

Old roses are stronger. Tea roses often will survive for at least five years with a canker at a leaf bud.

We can expect more canker than is there already when Wednesday get into the teens.

If you see new basals now, toss chickweed on them. It works as a natural mulch and all the water in the chickweed is good insulation.

Do you not want to use any kind of fungicide at all, or just not the more chemical types? If your roses are still dormant, you might try Bordeaux Mixture if you want an organic-allowed one, imho. Of course, get other opinions on that first, lol.

I do use fungicides in the late winter to spring because of canker and I do think it helps, although I still prune out damage done already. That's probably the only time I really make sure to use them. I've had too much creeping death in the cold and wet springs, but the rest of the year it's more of an aesthetic choice in my garden. (I grow mostly disease resistant varieties, mind you.)

Ann, thanks so much. I was wondering about pith today as I was cutting. I was trying to get down to white pith but sometimes I reached taupe. Seems Safrano and Felicia have some canker. But then I realized I kinda went "canker" nuts and that was all I saw....it may just be typical dieback above a node....Is there a way to know? For those that are just completely cankered (grafted grandifloras, HTs etc.) if I SP them is the soil then contaminated and what can I do?
I have a gall too on a grafted Austin. Do I take out the entire plant?
Is there anyway to prevent this? What am I doing wrong? Is this just life as it is in a rose garden? I love the tip about chickweed, at least it's good for something!!!!! LOL.
Meredith, I just don't want to use any kind of fungicide. I'm not sure how much it helps "after the fact".
At this point I'm not even sure how to distinguish canker from something else. The research I did online shows it as deep pink spots...if that is going to eventually kill canes I am in big trouble.
My roses are still dormant, I haven't seen any new basal canes.
Is canker prevalent in "freeze thaw" areas like ours?
I tell ya, if it ain't slugs it's canker...Boy was I a pie eyed optimist when I started this hobby (which is now an obsession).
Thanks you all.
Susan

There's a black mushy canker that I've seen three times. All three were on roses that didn't survive even though I cut back way below the mush. As science goes, we're just beginning to see reports of certain rose problems being systemic.

Canker ISN'T the sunburn/discoloration you'll see on the south side of rose canes. Not all spots are lethal, but some are much worse/larger/more damaging. My hedge of Graham Stuart Thomas were the worst ever. Always had scattered red spots on their stems, whether we winter dormant sprayed or not; GST really wanted to be the first roses to take off in the spring, often this happened in January, the early growth always got nipped by winter, always got fungal problems, and the worst canker on a single year old cane was thirteen individual cankers on one cane of one GST, each where new growth had been killed.

Gall is in our soils. Especially where tobacco was grown. Galls will kill our roses. I dig them out when I see them and replace the soil around that gall. I know a rose guy on the gulf coast who has said that all his roses have root/crown gall and he just ups his fertilizer. (That doesn't work in my zone 6b). Some roses like The Fairy can live with gall (both in New Orleans and up here).

The adventure often splits out into what's tolerable and what isn't.

Thanks Ann! I will just SP the rose with gall. It's young and not very large. THAT is what worries me....large bushes with canker/gall...although I guess as they grow larger I can cut away more without worrying about killing the plant.
I don't have any "mushy" canes...just seems like girdling and black spots...
Should I dormant spray to protect the other roses?
Susan

I just had my first experience with canker. I had ordered a Rosa Gypsy Carnival from ebay because I could absolutley not find it any where. I thankfully planted it in a stone pot instead of putting it in my rose garden. It was an bare root rose and I did all the things you do when you plant a bare root rose. The canes began getting dark brown on the tips of the canes. I would prune it and come back a few days later and it had moved down the cane. I again pruned it back.. After only a few weeks it had taken over ever new bud that tried to form on the cane.. I think this was canker but since I had never dealth with it before I wasn't sure, but from what I read and how fast it was moving I wasn't taking any chances. I through it in the garbage, not the compost bin. Emptied out all the dirt in the pot in a area that nothing grows.. I cleaned out the expensive stone pot with a clorox. I hope this kills it because I would hate to destroy the pot. I guess leaving it in the hot sun to bake for a month will definitely kill it. I have heard that Rose Canker is almost impossible to kill if you can't control it with pruning. Please let me know if you have any expert advice