In another thread, regretted forum member Karl K had quoted Michurin’s findings that emphasized the virtues of breeding seedlings in their very first year. The benefit would be easier acceptance of foreign pollen when a plant is very young, and Michurin further noted that once a young seedling had been “tricked” into accepting foreign pollen, it would retain that ability later on. Link
With that in mind, back in May I pollinated the second and third blooms of a tiny seedling of (Jean de Luxembourg × Glorious Babylon Eyes) with White Roadrunner pollen, to see if it might get “trained” to enjoy getting pollinated by rugosas. I was very happy that one small hip formed, but it has been very slow to develop.
It’s now been 133 days and there’s barely a hint of color.
Are young seedlings just slower at ripening their hips? Should I wait longer to see more color or would that just hinder germination of the seeds?
SeasideRooftop, my spontaneous feeling is to let the hip ripen a little longer. Basically, a better degree of ripeness favors germination. I think that the reason for the longer maturation time is not so much the young age of the seedling but possibly the special genetic mix. Whatever you decide, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you!
I’ve noticed over the years that many hips that are very slow to ripen are either empty or contain a single seed when harvested. Given that this was a wide cross with a young seedling that could be the case here.
Thank you @Roseus , I’ll follow your advice and leave it on for a couple more weeks and see if the color changes a bit more.
Thanks @mwesson , I think you’re probably right, I don’t expect a lot of seeds in there since both the hip and the plant are small, but hopefully it’s not totally empty!
Did a float test and it sank.
Next spring, as the mother puts on some size, I hope future attempts with this cross will yield more seeds.
Thanks again for the advice with this one!
