Does the pink predominate for many generations? The foliage is nearly spotless here in East TN, but I always sort of looked down on it - is it seen as a dishonorable parent lol?
I’ve not used it so I can’t speak to how long the pink hangs on (I’d imagine a LONG time, though, as pink has always been the default color in roses. The best plants with the best blooms and health are most often pink). Why would a healthy rose which passes along that health be a “dishonorable” parent? If it is legal, available and does the job, why not use it?
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The pink is a sport of red double knockout.I have seen rows of pink with reverting red in them (Ma)
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Go ahead and try it! I have used KO and DKO a lot. Yes, pink dominants, but so what? Select a nice pink. There are nice pinks and ugly pinks. 
There is nothing dishonorable about using roses in your hybridizing program. Virtually everyone uses other folks roses in their crosses. We build on the successes of others. Starting at the beginning is interesting, but takes a long time to get to where roses are today. Best wishes!
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Ive just been germinating op hips from my double ko to see what i get since it seems to dislike self pollination. I just have one seedling that is has good disease resistance, just not as resistant as dko. Buuut it is nearly thornless, has the purple canes, makes smaller globular flowers and the flowers dont blow out like dkos does. The seedling still has very much the same red color though. Ill have to take a picture during its next blooms (its still establishing).
Thornlessness would be a pretty useful upgrade in that group, and it looks clean-foliaged, too. If the lack of thorns turns out to be heritable, it might be a good one for you to keep playing with! Otherwise, it might take multiple generations of crossing with other sources of the trait to get back to something with KO disease resistance and smooth stems in one plant. Nice young poms for company, too!
I suspect every amateur and professionsl alike has mined it pretty hard. (Not to say one should quit, mind you.)
I am not crazy about KO and wonder if some of the more recent descendants might have some better attributes.
Has anybody used “Coral Knockout”? I was curious about that one even before they rebranded it as a KO rose. It sounds like it could be a better plant than its baby, “Rainbow KO.”
Seems like i got a more vigorous full seedling. This one actually has fragrance and is thornless so far, but is still heavily pink.
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