A Gremmeniella abietina (Lagerb.) race of type A was found to produce pycnidia in cankers of previous year’s shoots (1991) on branches of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) bearing green needles and living buds in the current-year shoots (1992) with no apparent symptoms of infection by G. abietina. The restricted colonization of green shoots by G. abietina, with only restricted canker development, may indicate that older, slow-growing natural Scots pines of the northern boreal forests resists the fungus well. However, the ability of the fungus to survive and even sporulate in such cankers indicates one way of surviving over consecutive years otherwise unfavourable for it.