I don't quite agree with your comparison ^ Strob. I live in the land of Felco snobs, yet I truly find my Corona hand pruner superior.....for me. I may have already stated this above, but I appreciate the narrower nose of the cutting end. It seems to get into crotches better for a more precise cut. Also, again for me, the overall balance and ergonomics work better. This is the original Corona style BTW, not the newer version they have out that looks like Felco. One thing I always do with any hand pruner is remove the little latch that locks the two halves of the handle together. It serves no purpose if you wear a holster as I do, and does often get in the way of making a cut, plus must be unlatched each time a cut is made if you use it. No use for that-the pruners can simply be placed back into its holster without any need to latch. During times of the year when I'm wearing the Carhartt overall pants, I stick the pruner into one of the side tool pockets, again with no latching necessary. This too works out great. +oM

I see a lot of both types of the black cane Ann talks about, but usually under different circumstances. The black canes at the end of winter is just something we in cold zones put up with, and I do fairly ruthless pruning in late March to get rid of any suspect canes. This sounds like what you have JJ, and it doesn't have to be anything special to cause this blackening, just normal winter damage. This means a lot of my roses get pruned to the ground, and it can take until now or even early June for new growth to pop up from the roots (presuming an own-root plant). If you need the space, you can shovel prune, but I don't assume any rose is dead till I do the official "death march" some time in June and pull their tags. There shouldn't be any problem with the soil and replanting there, at least in the US, since this is a function of the canes themselves. The other type of rapid moving canker is obviously more vicious, and I see it mostly in bare root or potted roses in their first year. If they come in with the slightest bit of black on the ends, that black seems to grow till the entire cane dies no matter what I do, and the survival depends on if it can grow its own canes to replace these or not. This is a particularly bad year for what I call "the Black Finger of Death", since both Regans and Edmunds roses came with pretty extensive canker to start with, though both companies have said they'll replace what dies, particularly nicely stated from Regans. Michael has speculated this might be a form of verticilium wilt, among other possibilities, but the solution is the same. Prune below the canker, sterilize the pruners, and be very very vigilant throughout the summer. BTW, the epsom salts were a good idea but didn't seem to make a difference, particularly if they start at such a disadvantage. Cynthia

If it is already damaged by a fungus as I suspect that fungus is in the tissue. There is no amount of tossing anything at it that would probably save that shoot. Better to remove the shoot before the fungus starts to affect the roots and the rest of the plant. The only fungus that I would just leave the effected portion alone is powdery mildew but the stem tissue of this plant seems affected. From several years of watching the newer type of powdery mildew that seems to have developed within the last ten years the powdery mildew that will cover the whole plant with a white blanket does not seem to do any harm to the plant. It is unsightly and makes the plants appear ghostly but that is all. Some plants are effected by it while the ones next to it may or may not have a light amount or none. I have seen the mildew reported in all kinds of areas in the US and while moist conditions, even heavy nighttime dews, can cause it to appear it appears that it may have a genetic adaption to certain types of peonies. More study needs to be done regarding this.

if you take off that one big nut ... you can completely clean the blades ... i suggest 0000 steel wool .. [4 ought steel wool] ..... and then a good oiling ... and then a good sharpening before putting them back together ... a honing stone for sharpening ... you start by loosening that screw ... that hold the star so the nut will loosen ... your pair came with a tool for this purpose.. i dont suppose you remember what you did with it???? .. i dont know where mine is.. lol .. ken the short version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaL1_zE7RSk i have ordered from amleo ... in the past .. good source ... back then anyway ... too many more versions.. lol: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=taking+apart+felco+pruners&t=ffcm&iax=videos&ia=videos