Hi everyone, I was curious as to what all of you use to keep your new pollinations dry from the rain and from the morning dew. I thought I had a great method but for some reason it is not working as well as it did last year. I know alot of you have green houses and I do too but I use it more for seedlings and all my crosses I do on the roses that are in the ground. So if you could share some of the ways you use to cover your new pollinations I would be so grateful, and if you happen to have some pics that also would be great.
oh yes, also how long is it necessary to keep them covered before no damage is done from excess water. Last year I tried to keep them covered every night and when it rained, and would take the covers off in the morning or when it stopped raining but that was so much work.
Again thanks!
Sandwich bag, which I promptly remove 2 days after pollination because the hip will rot from the intense humidity. There really are few options when it comes to rain. I always just consider it a gamble unless I know I can wait one day if its sure not to rain the next. But thats rarely possible here. I usually use the foliage to keep the baggy from touching the hip or from flying off. The nice thing about rose foliage are those little tiny prickles at the spine of each leaf and leaflet =)
In my first ever round of deliberate pollinations last season, I found out very quickly in the piece, that using aluminium foils after pollination actually caused collection of moisture and led to rotting, especially during hot humid spells…
So the next round of pollinations I did, were done with no covering at all, and I have had no trouble ever since. I watch the weather report if rain looks like it is coming in, and simply time the pollinations as best as I can to avoid rain in the immediate couple of days after the job is done.
Good luck.
My impression, and it’s only that, as I don’t know of any good scientific studies with roses in “the field”, is that pollen germination should be well under way by 12 hours and rain can’t do any damage after that. Recall that roses evolved with dew. All it does is dilute the sugary exudate that stimulates pollen tube growth. My biggest problem is rain before pollination, even if I flick off the moisture I seem to get poorer results when the stigmas have been washed clean before the pollen is applied.
Out here (KS) it’s usually too windy to keep anything on the hip, and most everything overheats it due to the solar trap effect. So I just put up with occasional rainstorms.
You could build what ecologists and agronomists call a rainout shelter. Like a high tunnel greenhouse with no side walls, if the wind will let you. For single plants, umbrellas from lost and found are cheap and can be attached to a stake.
Oh I have tons of umbrellas but my goodness if I were to put a few outside over my roses the neighbors would definitely call the guys in the white coats to come and take me away…LOL! And besides we have rain that comes down sideways…truly do.
Jadae, I have also had the humidity buildup with the plastic bags, our climate is so humid here. I’ve been using baby bottle liners which are also plastic but I stuff them with round cardboard paper towel/toilet paper rolls to keep the moisture down, but if I leave them on too long, even overnight, black mold will build up on the stigmas. Well it seems the only real solution is to just keep an eye on the weather and hope for less rain.
Thanks for all of your help everyone.
Hi Jeanie,
I live in zone 9 near the coast of no. calif. we have alot of moisture here so our crosses are very moisture prone. on each cross I use panty hose stockings cut at about 3 to 4" long starting at the toe. after the cut I tie a tight knot and then cut at 4" again and so on down the leg of the panty hose. slip the panty hose over the crosses. cover the cross after each pollination attempt. these I remove after about a week.
hope this works for you.
jack
Jeanie…I use a 3x5 white index card. I fold it in half , then place it over the rose i just pollinated stapling the sides and the bottom … where it want blow off.I keep it on for two days… works fine for me… Larry
Thanks to Paul Barden’s picture in this link, we can all see what Mr Moore used to do to protect his pollinations…wow.
Bless.
Link: www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=21.131183
Yes, but Mr. Moore gave all that up many years ago.
oh really! what did he do in the end?
He didn’t cover his crosses.
Aha, that’s great to know also, Robert.
Hey this is great guys, I appreciate so much all of your advice and sharing what you all use to cover your crosses. Well I got plenty of panty hose so don’t have to spend any money there and index cards I have in abundance too. So thanks! You know it just takes the most simple things if we just look hard enough. Thanks for the links George and Henry…great ideas!