Got Maja Babylon Eyes last weekend. Also a non listed rose from Babylon series; Devil Babylon Eyes I took home this weekend. I put some Maja Babylon Eyes and Warm Welcome pollen on it today. Hope it will pass on the blotch.
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Hi TimoNL, thanks for the post. âDevil Babylon Eyesâ has also piqued my interest for some time. I would therefore be very grateful if you could possibly share your future experiences regarding fertility, germination etc. with this rose. Good luck and success with the two new arrivals!
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I will keep you posted. I also bought Flame Babylon Eyes but it was cut for oculation so not for use this season.
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Has Chawton cottage been a good mother or pollen parent for you since acquiring it? Itâs such a beautiful rose
I agree Chawton Cottage looks very beautiful! Unfortunately have very few spots suitable for climbers, so I never tried to get this one. Itâs got a really pretty blotch though, if you try it Iâll look forward to hearing about your results!
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Oh I am sorry I thought you had got it!
I have had the same experience. Unfortunately, the last year seeds of âRaspberry Kissâ and âEye of the Tigerâ only sporadically produce very few sprouts. In the opposite case, things look a little better.
Sometimes, of course, the problem of mismatched genes is the cause of failure. I therefore simply took a few seeds for extraction to check the situation. It is noticeable that the pericarp of these achenes is extraordinarily thick to protect the embryo. The disadvantage is that the decay process will probably have difficulty penetrating the layers. The annular fibers around the testa are still very stable and not loosened, but the examined achenes look otherwise neat, not soft or infected. It was a real challenge to split the pericarp without damaging the embryo. With a number of 50 and more seeds, I would like to avoid this trouble.
I suspect that simply an insufficiently adapted stratification regime for this type of seed is responsible for the persistant dormancy and the lack of germination.
Before I try my luck with different methods, alternating temperatures, microorganisms, non- chemical pretreatments etc. do any of you have a proven remedy? That would be a great help also for future projects. Many thanks!
N.B.: I also checked my records, the first stratification period was 3 months.
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Hi Roseus,
In my limited experience, repeated cycles made no difference with Raspberry Kiss : in spite of all the hips it sets, it has been a terrible germinator. So much so that I have given up on using this rose as a mother plant altogether. Pollen works fine though.
Perhaps others who made larger scale experiments had better results with her? It must be possible, since Vissers did manage to make Visperpur from her as a seed parent. I wonder how many seeds that took!
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SeasideRooftop, many thanks for your comments and help. The very few seedlings I have been able to achieve so far are not uninteresting, which is why I am continuing to search on a more suitable stratification method for this kind of seeds, especially as I will probably be harvesting a lot of seeds from âEye of the Tigerâ shortly.
The thickness of the pericarp is the main problem, which does not allow water absorption. ABA in a rose achene is 10-1000 times more than in other plants. It is regrettably a fact that it is a major germination inhibitor and it differs among species and cultivars. However, a scientific study had found that the ABA content in R. persica was lower than in R. rugosa, which could suggest that R. persica does not require a period of seed dormancy. But there are of course a lot of other influencing parameters, certainly also due to the hybrid character.
Possibly in my case the preliminary warm stratification has not been conducive or was the cold stratification much too long?
Manual actions, like scratching, smearing or something similar might work in parts, but I would be more interested in a fundamental solution for this issue.
If it could be obtained, that would be really great!
Hi, you askes me to give an update about Devil B. It sets hips and an OP has sprouted. I got 9 plants now, an order went double so i have a lot now. I took all ripe hips from them, all OP. They are just processed. Not many seeds each hip but still enough. I keep you notified comming months.
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