Hope its not rose rosette disease.

I hope it's not RRD, too. It does not really look like anything I can see in Ann's RRD book though. I am really stumped.

I also don't have any idea what this might be but my first action, if you haven't done so already, would be to cut this cane off close to the ground. The picture is bizarre and fascinating and I hope one of our rose experts will be able identify it. I have Autumn Damask on order and so am doubly interested.

Ingrid

Like Ingrid, I would cut the cane way back and watch it. I would also clean my clippers after touching the rose.

I have had roses to do that, and have kept them. On that has done it is Carefree Sunshine. I have wondered if it is a disease ready to break out, or if it is weather related. For some reason the cane take a sprint, then fizzles.

Sammy

It looks a lot like a form of proliferation to me. You usually see this weird growth on the flowers but it can sometimes show up in other places. I have never read exactly what causes it as I think there are different opinions on why it happens. Some roses are more prone to it than others. I know climatic conditions and even sucking insects are involved in the plant acting strange. No need to worry as it isn't a disease.

i have a rose that has a similiar thing. a sucker grew up and just quit growing. i've not done anything. it'll probably freeze off after winter is over.

You are getting growth on your bush this time of the year in zone 6?
All zone 6 growers I know have dormant non-growing bushes now.
Do as suggested above and watch other new growth closely.
Meanwhile click on the link below and read about Rose Rosette Disease (RRD)

Here is a link that might be useful: Ann Peck's web book on RRD

Hmm. I am no expert on Rose Rosette. Another possibility is that you might be looking at fasciation or a stem gall. Usually fasciation makes canes look wide and ribbon-like, not hunched over like that cane.

I've never heard of these diseases (except RRD) now I'm scared!

The hyper-thorniness is like RRD, but not the curved cane. Certainly cut that cane off as far down as you can go.

Curved canes do happen with RRD, usually early in an infection and one side of the cane grows faster. That doesn't seem to be what's happening here.
I've got three roses that are supposed to be Autumn Damask and this isn't normal for them. But I have seen this symptom on other roses and I think it's fasciation. You may have noticed stems of dandylions growing together in spring. The big (brain-looking) everlasting annuals called celosias also happen because of fasciation. Some fasciations have been shown to be caused by phytoplasms, which are like viruses, but lack a structural element of viruses.
In my garden, the fasciation didn't spread within the plant (Turner's Crimson) nor did it spread from one rose to its neighbors. We left it longer than we should have, probably, because I wanted to see how it evolved. The second year, only one of the three canes survived. And it didn't bloom.
I'll agree with folks above. Cut it off low and watch for what happens next.

Just to add a little more to the sample size, I have seen this on my plant of Fakir's Delight, which is also a very thorny rose. Is Autumn Damask normally that thorny? I have grown Quatre Saissons Blanc Moussaux, which was very thorny, but I thought the thorniness came with the mossy mutation from Autumn Damask, and just assumed that Autumn Damask would likely not be as thorny.

I did cut off the cane with the strange growth and sealed it in a zip-lock to throw away. I will watch this rose carefully... I might just get rid of it altogether before spring, as it is not one of my top favs and there are 3 large climbing roses nearby that I would not like to lose.

Patrickd, I wondered the same thing about the normal thorniness of Autumn Damask, and was told that it is usually quite thorny.

Thanks to everyone for your input!

Lois in Pa

I had the same growth on one of my bushes late last fall. When I took it to a consulting rosarian I was told it is caused by cool temperatures. Anita

It does appear to have more thorns than the other cane in the picture. I have this rose as a band, and even in its tiny state, it has lots of thorns. Here's a good link on fasciation- a derivative of the latin word fascia or "to fuse together". From the looks of it, I would just observe and see what happens to the rest of the plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fasciation in plants

gree-knees,
Your CR probably thought your growth was what's called a blind shoot, which is different from a fasciated cane/stem.
jbcarr, good find with lots of different plants.

You are getting growth on your bush this time of the year in zone 6?
All zone 6 growers I know have dormant non-growing bushes now.

Karl, we've had a mild winter. Most of my roses are potted, I was looking at them a week ago, yes some do have growth from the warm days we had a month ago. We then got a freeze.

Here's a link if anyone wants to see what Autumn Damask looks like. From what I can see, it looks like it's usually thorny to begin with.

I can't tell if it's a sucker coming up or just a cane that grew weird but it's not something I would worry about this time of the year after the winter we've had.