I shelled all seed as they were collected. I didn’t wash nor treat them in any way, just right out of the hips into dry plastic bags with tags and in to the refrigerator to hold them without germination until planting. I began planting the week of Thanksgiving and had to build a third seed box to hold them all, finishing up the second week of December. The first seedlings of the season are from the first batch under soil and are all but one are out of miniature crosses with the minis as seed parents. The oddball is from seed from Comtesse du Cayla crossed with Robert Rippetoe’s “Golda Banks”, a hybrid several generations out of Banksiae. The Comtesse du Cayla seed were enormous in comparison to all the others planted. They were also the only ones to develop heavy, dark mold due to the excessive moisture the seeds came out of the hips with. I wasn’t sure how the variety would germinate as I’ve never succeeded in bringing that rose to seed, nor was I certain how the mold might affect germination, but the lone seedling is the only one in the second box and is of the last batch sewn, just about two weeks ago.
The weather has been odd, or odd for what it’s supposed to be. Day temps have been low for short periods, with the ‘norm’ remaining the low seventies to nearly eighty. Nights have ranged from the mid thirties to low fifties. The only real ‘cold’ has been a few periods of just a few days each where the temperatures have been in the lower limits of the ranges stated above. There has only been one day of ‘rain’, which provided less than one-tenth of an inch.
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I checked my baggies today, my first germinations of 2014 are:
3 Ducher x White Pearl in Red Dragon’s Mouth
Ducher has a very nice plant here and good fragrance, small white flowers. WPIRDM does well here also, no fragrance, red cupped flowers. Trying to get Ducher plant and fragrance into a pink and/or red china.
10 Carefree Beauty x Tiffany
More fragrant CB
2 M.Tillier x Dick Clark
Thicker petals for Tillier
1 Lions Fairy Tale x Double Knockout
Pink or red LFT
I have just two seedlings so far, and both are mystery miniature X OP. I got them while practicing embryo extraction. Initially the embryos looked a little walnut-colored from the cold, but they perked up after a nice dunk in hydrogen peroxide solution. They were tossed straight into soil too, no incubation baggies this time, and they began growing pretty much immediately. I’m curious to see if they survive – it’ll be my first time raising minis if they do. One of them is also a twin.
Oops – 3 more sprouted for me today, all R. woodsii. These too were embryo extractions dropped straight into soil, like my others. I’d forgotten all about them!
Today’s count is 20 seedlings. Over half have actual “rose leaves”. 18 are from Pink Petticoat (mini) seeds with various pollen. One is from Golden Horizon X April Mooncrest. The latest is from Pretty Lady X 1-72-1Hugonis. It appears tall, strong, vigorous and has just shed the seed coat. Fingers are definitely crossed! These are the earliest germinations yet.
You all are WAY ahead of me. I just finished planting all of my planned-cross seeds from 2013 yesterday. I expect to see some seedling heads popping up by mid-late February. I hope!
Now I need to spend the whole day cutting back my rose garden!
How long is it taking for most of you to see your first germinations after planting? I sowed my seeds Jan 9 and have not seen any germination yet.
They are in an area that is almost a constant 50 degrees F. Were treated with Giberrillic acid during the 2.5 months of stratification.
I don’t know but these need to be sown today since their germinating. They seem to like the big moldy bag and it’s going to take the whole 11x21 inch tray.
I started to see germination two months after setting up in fridge.
Today:
ETRIB -11-01 x Diamond Eyes
This cross is purple on purple and I’m hoping for a deep purple mini, fl or small shrub. It’s also the first seedling from my ETRIB -11-01, which is Ebb Tide x Rhapsody in Blue.
