I appreciate your input. I am at work, and hope this message goes through. These roses are about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. I seldom prune them. The new canes have the dark red color, then turn grey as they get older. They tend to be rather ruddy, and have few if any thorns. A man told me once that I was not pruning my trees correctly, because my pruning was not right up next to the tree. He said that if I left a couple of inches, the part of the cane that was left would die off, and fall taking a plug from inside the tree with it, then that inside part would have to heal. I wondered if that was happening here. The roses could have fungus because I don't spray that much, but I have never seen this before and have 260 rose bushes. I see no sign of gall around the crown. We have cicadas galore, and there is a tree sort of north west of these roses. The cicadas could get into the roses. Barbara, I am considering sending the picture to our Rose Society President, but thought I would ask here first. Ann, you think it is stem gall, then? You know most of these pictures are from the ground. I have begun pruning the rose, and agree that it would be nice to let it come up from the ground first. Anita, that is interesting to me because about 4 years ago or more I pulled out 2 Betty Priors that I thought had gall on their stems. I know more now, and am more hesitant, but I think that the "no known pathogen" is interesting. Berndoodle, the sections that I have shown are where I have pruned large canes, I think. It is not a spontaneous occurrence on the rose. I cannot be positive, but the rose is large, and I have let it go. When some canes get in my way, I cut them off, but normally I don't prune it. I really think these spots are from pruning. For what it's worth last year was horrible for my roses. We had unseasonably hot weather in January, Feb, and March. Then I don't remember when, but we had single digit weather for quite a while. The roses were more than budding, some were quite advanced with the pulp completely in the canes. The sudden shock of the freezing weather created a great deal of damage. Must go now, but thanks for your input. I would like any other suggestions you might have. I have also thought of trying to send this picture to Mark Chamblee since he sells the Basye roses. Sammy

From Google: Unlike black spot and powdery mildew, crown gall (Agrobacterium tumefaciens) is a soilborne bacterial disease which infects root and/or stem tissue rather than leaves. Galls are most frequently seen as round, rough-surfaced growths near the plant's crown or on roots. These "crown" galls will eventually girdle the plant, resulting in poor growth and eventual plant death. Crown gall is a difficult disease to control once a plant is infected. It is best to remove diseased plants as soon as they are detected. Where possible, remove and discard all soil in which the root system is growing and replace with sterilized soil. If crown gall is a recurring problem in an area of your yard, it is best to rotate the area with a nonsusceptible grass crop for 3 or 4 years. Where a gall is restricted to stem tissue only, cut off the entire cane and immediately seal the cut surface with glue. Always sterilize cutting tools with rubbing alcohol after each cut of a cane with crown gall. During and after planting, take special care to avoid any and all wounds, especially near the soil line. Provide good winter protection to prevent bark cracking or other cold injury to bud union area. Never use crown gall-infested soil to mound over bud union for winter protection.

Most likely, Virginia. There were no patents or other restrictions against selling anything you wished to add to your catalog. The only way to restrict something so it was exclusive was to not release any material from it.

We've been dealing with crown gall in the Sacramento cemetery. We seem to especially get it where roses have been infested with grass, and men have trimmed carelessly with weedeaters. But that's not the only place. I do believe that damaging roots can increase the risk of entry, and sometimes you only discover the gall when you dig up the plant and find out how infested the roots have become. It isn't always evident on the crown. However, we have dug up roses and moved them, with no visible problem. We try to leave the planting spaces where we've removed gall-infected roses fallow for several years, although I've heard that doesn't really assure that the bacterium is gone. I've also been told that it is systemic throughout the plant, so propagating a gall-infested rose is not wise. We try to practice good hygiene with our pruners, and to avoid getting dirt in contact with a pruning cut. Since our roses are planted fairly far apart, we have watched roses with crown gall and not removed them until they begin to decline. They sometimes seem vigorous for years but then suddenly die back. I've learned to look at roots of a sickly rose when we are removing it, because I often find gall or rot of some kind. In California, Cooperative Extension doesn't test soil, but we do test galls or other diseased parts of plants. I've had the crown gall confirmed on several of our cemetery roses, and think now that I can recognize it when I see it. Some of the apparent galls on the canes have turned out just to be proliferating growth that can develop when a cane is sunburned or damaged otherwise. No tobacco was ever grown in the cemetery, I guarantee it! Anita