Hi there hoping you can help or direct me to someone who can. I have some Cecil Brunner climbing roses. planted 3 years ago and have been growing like gangbusters since. planted on a northeast facing part of the home since very hot summers here. However in the last few weeks have been noticing leaf drop- leaves yellow with black spots.black spots happen first then leaves yellow and drop. canes covered with black splotches and some with lichenified brown material to them. all canes affected down to the ground- didn't catch it early enough. I live in the mojave desert in california so not very moist. has been no hotter than 97 degrees so far this year- most day have been mild 70-80 degree temps. unseasonably dry this year as well. originally when my plants were thinning i thought it was too dry so i watered and fertilized. then noticed large bites out of leaves- assumed insect(leaf-cutter bee?) so blasted leaves with water- wrong thing to do- i think made
it worse. i suspect black spot or anthracosis or cancer or all. attached some pictures to see the devistation. my biggest question is: i know pruning away the diseased parts is necessary but that would cut my bushes down to the ground and likely still would not fix it since the canes are affected down to the bare root. applied neem oil last week. do i need a stronger antifungal or do i just cut them back, rip them out and start over? any help would be appreciated. thanks laura