Unfortunately I haven't seen that particular damage before, and I don't know what causes that.

The bud in image #3 has a sawfly larva on it. It's a young one that probably has only undergone one molt so far (maybe two).

Is that deer damage in photo #2? The fluffy stuff stuck to the bud looks like animal hair (it looks the same as when my barn cat rubs on the roses.) Could it be an animal who took a little nibble?

Connie

York Rose, I didn't notice that before I posted the photos, but I've had rose slugs before, and usually only have damage to the leaves (before I find them and squish them).

Connie, thanks for the suggestion, but one thing we don't have to worry about in Montreal is deer (yet!)LOL It's not such a far-fetched idea, though, since coyotes, cougars and bears are starting to wander into towns in western Canada and attacking people. Nothing like that around here, though.

Judith

Curculio beetles? Midge?

I very much doubt a deer would bother with only eating one half of a bud stem. My impression is that if you have a problem with deer you find out because you walk out to your roses one morning and find only a few cane stubs where yesterday you had fully healthy, blooming 4' tall bushes.

It does occur to me that snails or slugs (not "rose slugs", but "{{gwi:308983}}") could cause damage like that (although why the damage would only be to a few bud stems is a complete mystery to me if this is mollusk feeding damage). Have you ever noticed mollusks in your garden before?

They're often nocturnal (slugs especially) because they're vulnerable to dehydration, & thus the sun is not their friend.

As a final thought, are all these bud stems on the same inflorescence, or are they distributed throughout the bush? The damage looks like it's scarred over, which might imply it happened some time ago (weeks). If that's correct and they're all on one inflorescence, perhaps something passed through back when they were still developing and the critter (whatever it was) is long gone, or perhaps it's even some sort of mechanical damage (like that caused by the wind rubbing one stem against another) that I haven't even considered at all.

York rose, it is all concentrated on the growth at the end of one cane, so perhaps our 'critter' has gone on to greener pastures.
I can't imagine what it's like to experience the deer damage you describe! I consider myself very lucky then.
And oh yes, we sure do have a lot of regular garden slugs and even snails (new in the last couple of years), due to all the cloudy, wet weather we've been having. It's a battle every year to keep them under control, leaving out containers of (stale) beer and sprinkling Safers slug bait all around. By August I just give up and let them go at it.

Thanks for all your suggestions. It IS only a little damage to one rose and not something to worry about, but I was just really curious.
Judith

When you cut it, you need to slice down the side of the cane where the damage is, and see what is inside it. I have had that before, and it is a real disappointment, but I don't know what it is.

You could look on Baldo's site, and see if something is listed. I think it may be some kind of borer.

Sammy

Thanks Sammy, I will go out and slice the cane, as you suggest, when it stops pouring!
Yes, I did go on Baldo's site and went through all of it - didn't find anything similar.
I'll let you know what I find.
Judith

Following York's comment on soft bodied things having an aversion to direct sunlight, is it possible that the black areas are all on the north sides of the stems?

I have a problem too. Something is eating the very tops of the new buds before they bloom, any ideas?
One more question...what causes tiny leaves all bunched together at the end of a cane? They aren't the big beautiful leaves, just a clump of tiny leaves that doesn't produce buds. Should I cut that part of the cane off? I tried to upload some pictures, but didn't have any luck, sorry

Judith, I had suggested curculio beetles or midge, and I still think those are possibilities.

Twotut, new discussion threads are welcome on this forum, and you might get more answers if you started one for your new questions.

That being said, if I had blind shoots (no flowers on them) as you describe, I'd trim them back a bit. Since you are not in Japanese beetle territory, caterpillars might be eating your buds, though I can't be sure.

twotut, hopefully someone more electronically accomplished than me will be able to walk you through posting pictures (or links to pictures) here. Sometimes a written description is sufficient for an identification of a problem, but in the cases you're describing I can think of more than one possible answer. A good picture (especially of the leaf bunching) would probably allow several people here to offer you insight instead of what is presently likely to only be guesswork.

Bunching happens in different plants for different reasons (genetic mutation, nutrient deficiencies, herbicide damage, insect infestations, & virus infections can all create bunching sometimes) but they don't necessarily all look alike. A picture really is worth a thousand words in such circumstances.

(You also should consider starting your own post for this so it draws comments for its own merits, which I think are good ones.)

Sammy, when I sliced the stems I didn't see anything - no tunnels, no insects, nothing.
Ann, the buds whose necks were affected sort of faced in all different directions, and were bent at a 45 degree angle, if that helps.
Petaloid, I've never seen midge or curculios in my garden, but there's a first time for everything. I've cut off the damaged bits and put them in the garbage, although that might be like closing the barn door, etc. I haven't seen this on any other rose, so maybe the culprits have left for greener pastures (can't figure out where that might be, though, since I've only seen about 2 roses in my whole neighbourhood.)
Thanks everyone, for your suggestions. I will be on the lookout for any repeat performances.
Judith

I have these critters! I am starting a new thread with pics. Let's hope yorkrose can puzzle this one out!

My rose bush has developed clusters of tiny leaves at the end of the canes.Does anyone know what causes them and should they be clipped off?

Sorry about the off topic post. I couldn't find where to start a new thread. And I'm still trying to figure out how to add pictures...I'll keep trying
Again Sorry
twotut

Hi Judith,

The damage you have is from sawfly larvae emerging from where the eggs were laid in the cane. In pic 3, I can actually see 3, maybe 4 baby sawflies that are newly emerged.

The adult sawflies, orange and black wasp-like looking bugs, lay their eggs into the canes of new softer growth. You will notice it by looking for soft growth that is wilting somewhat and upon closer inspection, you will notice what appears to be little black dots that usually run in a circular pattern along the cane, but not always. If you were to push your finger nail against the cane where you see this discolouration and press against it, a yellow puss like substance will be secreted, which are the sawfly eggs that have been laid in the cane, being squished. Once the sawfly have hatched, they leave open scars on the rose canes that ends up turning into that black scar tissue you see in your pics. The damage causes the canes to twist like that and will also deform buds. Most of the time the rose will discard the bud, but not always. The damage in your pic is actually very minor sawfly damage. However, when you see it, you need to find the little sawfly's and kill them as they will become progressively bigger quickly and can defoliate an entire rose in bad infestations. They are very hard to see and very small when freshly hatched...

Good luck, sawfly are a pain in the ass this time of year, but at least you don't have midge. Be thankful for that...

Judith,

Here is a pic of the adult sawfly that lays the eggs and causes the intial black spotting and discolouration on the tissue of the new soft tissue canes. To the right of the fly, you can see some of the damage on the cane where it has laid eggs already. The little black dots and indents are egg holes.

{{gwi:308988}}

This damage alone will usually cause some wilting, but the real black scarring and deformity you have in your pics only happens once the eggs hatch and the young sawfly emerge.

If you see one of the adult flies on your roses, watch them for a while. You will see them attaching their abdomen to the cane and then laying eggs on the canes and you will see the black dotted markings I speak of. They are very slow insects and seem to be almost blind too, so are easy to even grab with your fingers to kill. If I see the signs of such sawfly eggs on canes, i prune them off the rose before they can hatch, or use my fingernail to try and squish the eggs if it is on a cane i want to save because of lots of flower buds.

Good luck.

Thanks, morden_man! I didn't know about the egg laying behavior. That's more or less the same kind of damage a cicada causes when it lays eggs.

Hi Morden Man,
Wow, I just read your post, and ran outside to check, but in cutting off the ends of the canes the other day, I guess I also threw the little baby sawflies in the garbage. I can't see anymore of them, although I had to laugh when I looked at my photo again - there they all are! I guess I need to get a good strong magnifying glass (as someone on another post mentioned)so I don't miss them again. I do wear glasses for reading, so anything close-up and small is difficult to spot. Thank you so much for all this information!

Judith

...and believe me, I AM very thankful I don't have midge (yet)!