Yeah, we have HUGE slugs here. But I have silkie chickens on guard for those 
no deer/rabbits tho
Iāve had 10 germinations from (The Gift X unknown) X Lyda Rose
My seeds are still in the fridge and I wonāt take them out until after the holidays. I have to keep seedlings in the house this time of year. I donāt use lights, and the seedlings donāt grow very fast in the limited light they get from windows.
Not yet. Iām going to stratify my seeds at the end of the year (holidaysā¦) in the fridge. Theyāre still in the hips now. Then Iāll sow them in March (or earlier if they germinate sooner). The seed trays are placed in a non-heated greenhouse; kind of large cold frame! I did this last year and evaded the coldest period of the year and the burden of keeping seedlings healthy under lights in the basement.
Last winter was extraordinarily warm. Does anyone know if seedlings can sustain temperatures a bit below freezing? In winters we have had lately the lowest tempatures were about -5C outside. The seedlings are placed in the unheated and non-insulated greenhouse about 1m. above the soil level, against the wall of the barn on which the greenhouse is attached. So they are protected a bit. Will they survive when temperatures are -5C or below near the seedlings? If we get serious freezing I can always place the seed trays temporarily in the barn, where the temperature is always kept above 5C. But I donāt want to start carrying all those trays around if it is not necessary.
Rob
Rob, I grow seedlings in an unheated greenhouse. Sometimes outdoor temps get in the low 20ās. The greenhouse is always a bit warmer. I have had icicles coming off a slow leak on a hose in the greenhouse to prove the the temps are below freezing and had little frozen drops of dew on the leaves of the baby seedlings. The seedlings have done fine under these conditions, but I doubt if they would survive much colder than that.
Usually keeping trays right next to the house or an outdoor window will keep the temps. in that area a few degrees warmer.
Jim Sproul
In my experience seedlings seem to endure frost on their leaves. This happened here a few times last season. I donāt think they would endure frozen soil.
Thanks for the great responseā¦ keep them comingā¦
It looks like this is going to be a good crop of seeds this year, germination wise that is. Since my post on the 10th, Gemini x PALS Niagara, Folksinger x Baby Love, Folksinger x Home Run, Earthsong x Roller Coaster, Loving Touch x Everest Double Fragrance (I know, I know, I really need to stop using LT, but I just can not help myself), and Fairhope x Home Run have all started germinating.
That Gemini x PALS Niagara cross was the last one that I did on Gemini, has the fewest seeds of the Gemini crosses, and is the first one to germinate. Seems like the pollen parent may also influence germination.
Liz
I donāt own āGeminiā or āBaby Loveā(any more) but I do have a cross of(Gemini x Baby Love)that Jim Sproule shared with me last Winter.
Iāve got a few germinations using it for both seed and pollen now.
Is āEverest Double Fragranceā disease resistant for you Liz? I have it here.
I love the blossom but either the habit of the plant needs improvement or I need to move it to a different location. Mine sets hips on occasion.
Most of the Bonica OP seed I got growing is the seed I microwaved for 8 sec intervals for up to 3 minutes. The other batch of Bonica seed (collected at the same time both batchs are about 200 seeds worth) I gotten only a handful to sprout as of this time compared to about 60. As of yet only one looked like it was mutated the rest look perfectly normal. One this one the leaf shape on the secondary leaves remained fused and was all crinkled and it later turned a off shade of bronze red and died. But it does seem that microwaving them while doing little to the genetic make up did break down some of the seed coat inhibitors.
By the way I have some miniature rose cuttings growing that have been getting aphids on them. Does anyone have a suggestion to control these when they are indoors.
Wow, thanks for the microwave input. Perhaps you should start a new thread so that no one misses this.
Aphids are never a problem on seedlings grown in a cool (55-60 deg F) basement.
Lady bugs crawl around on the seedlings.
Absence of aphids is probably due to low temp and/or lady bugs.
Robert, Everest Double Fragrance is disease resistant for me up here, until the end of the season when BS moves in on it. I agree the plant type has a few issues, lanky is probably the best description that I can come up with. But I love the fragrance, love the bloom, like the disease resistance, and it looks like it works as a female. Now having said that, the first seedling from it, a cross involving Home Run, ended up rootless. I had a few of these crop up last year in another cross involving Home Run.
Liz
Thanks Liz. Sounds like using it with a mini is the way to go.
My o/p seeds are planted in the vegetable garden outdoors as an experiment, and my crosses are kept in the fridge. I donāt expect germination until it happens. If there is success with outdoor germination, then I plan to sow future crosses there also.
Adam
Did you microwave them at full power? When did you do it & how long did it take for them to sprout?
I have four batchs of seed in this experiment (each batch is about 200 seeds.). Two batchs of bonica and two batch of an unknown that i think is pink meldiand(spelling?). I did not count the batchs exactly because I was more interested in mutation and was just going to compare the few (In my mind I thought most would die in the microwave)that grew after treatment to the seedlings that where untreated to see if their was any signs that mutation had occured. I used OP seeds of these two varieties because I had alot available and because where they where at most likely 90% if not 100% of the genes would all come from the parent plant and not from another source (due to they are seperated by huge distinces from any other rose).
All four where kept in the fridge for 6 weeks. Then I microwaved one batch of each variety for 8 sec intervals for a total time of about three minutes (184 secounds to be exact). After each eight sec interval I let them cool down before the next eight secound interval. I was not very scientific on this experiment because I thought most likely I would cook the seeds before getting any mutation (and this was my main purpose). I did about three minutes because I figured if I could microwave a burrito then this was also a good time for seeds. I did this on full power. It was tricky doing eight secounds because my microwave has a default of ten secounds so I put in the total time and kept on stopping it. I donāt remeber where I got eight secound intervals from but I do remeber it was a paper on microwaving pollen. After that the two batchs that where microwaved and the two batchs that where not microwaved where both treated with oxiclean and then planted in trays that where kept outside. In about two weeks they started to sprout. The seed usuing the unknown has only 8 seedlings between them so I have not enough to go by there. But it seems that the Bonica seed is definetly helped by being microwaved. The questions I have is whether or not this improved germination or just sped up the process and whether or not any mutation has occured. I think I will have to repeat this experiment and be more scientific about it.
The only seedling that appears to be mutated I mentioned above. But the crinkled leaves and off color could be due to some other factor that I have not seen.
Microwave and germination scientific paper:
http://www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=11765#11765
Link: www.rosehybridizers.org/forum/message.php?topid=11765#11765