Accidentally removed some sepals from my kiftsgate while pollinating it and wondered if it would have an adverse effect?
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Okay, now I know I’ve read about this somewhere in this forum. Accidents happen, and basically IIRC, as long as the wound doesn’t become infected (go figure, right?!!), it’s no problem.
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This makes me happy! Thanks for your response
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Many roses have deciduous sepals anyway, so it really isn’t critical to keep them. I sometimes cut or rip off the sepals to indicate flowers that I’ve pollinated in lieu of tagging them (assuming that I used the same pollen parent on a particular parent, and it isn’t a rose that would normally lose the sepals before hip maturation). I’ve had no problems. Actually, doing that can help protect the hip from decay by ensuring that it stays dry and out of contact with anything else–so I also sometimes remove sepals if they reflex far enough to make contact with the receptacle/hip.
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I usually remove all sepals when pollinating rugosas (especially single ones), which have persist sepals.
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I routinely remove the sepals intentionally and haven’t ever noticed it cause any problems. Here’s an example
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Good to see you, Thomas! Welcome back!
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Thanks Kim!!!
I haven’t been active on the forum for a while, but even though I often get sidetracked by other priorities in life, I’ve still got my breeding lines moving forward. Lots of fun!
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No problem with that unless you damage the base of the bloom.
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James_D,
I should’ve also mentioned that I almost always use aluminum foil “caps” to cover my crosses. I find they’re pretty easy to take off and put back on (in case you want to do repeated daily pollinations). And sometimes after a week or so of being covered, the stigma and excess pollen will get moldy but even that hasn’t seemed to be any problem. After the stigmas turn brown, it should be safe to remove the foil for good. Here are some pictures to show you what I mean:
I hope that makes things easier for sonebody, so they can do more crosses.
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I find buds with accidentally damaged sepals are more prone to rotting.
I also use aluminium foil but i remove it after two days tops. Pollen has traveled down after two days.