What this really sounds like is canker damage. What happens is that the cane is killed fairly close to the ground. However, the cane above the damage has enough stored energy to leaf out all by itself. It doesn't have enough energy to keep going though, so dies off eventually.

If that's the issue, there will be a band of black or very dark purple on the cane.

This does not sound like it is in any fashion related to aphids.
It COULD be spider mites.
Remove some affected leaves, and see if there is a faint webbing on the underside.
The undersurface would also have a "grainy, salt & pepper" look.
(The mites themselves are almost microscopic.)

Here's what you're looking for:
{{gwi:288689}}

Also see the link, below.

Jeri

Here is a link that might be useful:

Aphids are sap suckers, but will not cause the damage you describe. What you have is spider mites. They are an underleaf insect, whereas aphids are found on top of the new foliage. You can eitehr wash them off with a water wand from the underside of the leaves or go the chemical route and spray the underside of the leaves. As far as the canker goes, I have no idea. General die back causes this however.

Question - is tehre an effective spray for spider mites?

when I get home tonight I'll try to wash off the leaves.

There are chemicals, but really ...

Take a gardenhose with a spray nozzle.
Wash the leaves thoroughly FROM THE BOTTOM UP.
These mites are on the underside of the leaf.
It is best to do this in the early morning, so the leaves have all day to dry off.

Repeat every couple of days for a week or so, and you'll get rid of them.
If the leaves are badly damaged, they will fall off.
But new ones will grow.

Jeri

yesterday I....

1. Examined the underside of leaves for spider mite evidence. I didn't find anything.
2. Washed the plant from the bottom up
3. Buried banana peels around the plants. I read somewhere on the forum that worked, figured what the heck.

Here are a couple of pics of the problem I'm having.....

Dead stem

{{gwi:288690}}

Yellow leaves

{{gwi:288691}}

Ewwww . . . That looks more like some sort of canker.
:-(
Remove those canes down as far as you can.
Keep going down until you find healthy tissue.

Jeri

The bottom couple of inches of that "dead" stem is still green. Above that, the stem is brown and has some 1" or 2" cracks in the stem, where the "dead" brown part has split.

I should cut it off? there are healthy green shoots coming out of it on the lower half of the stem.

Cut it back till you find white pith, which is the material in the stem. So saying you are in a 5 zone those canes I saw in the picture is nothing but winter damage. I'm still finding some in my plants. If you are putting the Bayer all in one on, it has fertilizer in it. So you won't need the rosetone.

Well, winter damage does make sense - this was the healthiest part of the plant last year. I can start cutting every 6 inches and see what I find.

Any ideas on the yellow leaves?

That's not a spider mite problem. I don't think it's a result of feeding damage of any kind.

To me it looks much more like a disease problem, but I don't know what disease. It's probably bacterial or fungal, but I don't know for sure what it is.

Hate to bring up an old post but the problem has gotten worse.

The 2 stems in the above pics that have yellow leaves are now completely dead. I guess I'll cut them out.

I have
1. examined the plant many times for aphids, spider mites, and anything else. I did find 1 half inch long skinny big the other day, but that's it.
2. switched to watering only in the morning
3. sprayed the undersides of the leaves several times forcefully with a hose
4. Sprayed thoroughly with an insecticide.
5. buried banana peels around all the roses (hahah) 'cause someone in here had recommend that as helping an insect problem

I'm running out of ideas, and the problem seems to be getting worse. Anyone have any further thoughts?

As several others said, cut out all those brown or black canes and canes with purple or brown blotches on them. If that means cutting all the way down to the base, fine--do it. Sometimes most of a rose can suffer from winter damage (canker)--cut it all out. Then in about a month, let us know if new GREEN canes are beginning to form from the base. That will be your "new" plant.

The best time to do all this canker-cutting is early spring, but anytime you cut out an unhealthy cane, the rose bush will try to compensate by creating new green canes--so don't worry about it. Just give the process enough time. A week or two is not enough time--OK?

Kate

I've got no problem waiting - haha. It just seemed odd that winter damage was showing up and multiplying in June and July. If cutting this out is the right thing to do, I can take care of that tonight.

thanks for the info!