I’m a [size=large]little[/size] ticked off this afternoon! I checked my little OPK206-1 seedling (the one with the really good blotch) and it has suddenly shrivelled and died. Its buds had been swelling to grow and then everything just stopped, withered and died. The others look ok and one has a good blotch that will allow us to move forward… does dieback affect the seedlings like this or is this something else… I’m suspecting late frost damage. It was in good potting mix, had water and ferts when it needed it though I tended to let them dry out a bit between drinks so that the soil wasn’t constantly wet (maintained just moist most of the time)… I bought ‘Eyes for You’ on a whim but now it looks like this will be my main blotcher to work with. OPK206-1xOP 0-47-19 seeds are still in the fridge and hopefully will still germinate.
So… this prompts another question…
On your blog you compare the heat stability of the blotch in your seedlings and with ‘Eyes for You’. Your seedlings clearly had superior heat stability. If I am going to have to use ‘Eyes for You’ which crosses do you think contributed to the blotch stability in your line? I’m thinking I will choose the roses with the best overall colour-fastness in the heat here to see if this translates into blotch heat stability too.
Eyes For You blotch did appear to me to have very good heat stability in my climate last season.
lol, I have no other hulthemia to compare that against tho, so that is not to say there aren’t better /more heat stable hulthemia blotched CVs out there, but EFY seems a very good start, so don’t fret.
I completely pick up on the spice/clove scent, but here that quickly morphs into a strong, nearly over ripe apple scent. Years ago, I bought a half bushel of Mutsu apples from the fruit growing center in the desert north of here. Those apples smelled SO strongly, we had to put them in the trunk as they were beginning to make us all sick. Eyes for You smells just like that box of Mutsus, only with the spice and cloves.
I am sorry for your K206 seedling not making it. That one had an usually good blotch for such a young seedling, I was looking forward to seeing its spring display. But, I agree with George, that EFY is an excellent source for the blotch. I would cross it back to ‘Blue For You’. It seems to me that the purplish roses help to accentuate the blotch in the Hulthemia seedlings.
I suspect that Mr. Moore’s ‘Persian Sunset’ is responsible for some of the better heat stability in some of my seedlings. I have a later season photo of it (mid-summer) compared with ‘Bull’s Eye’, where the ‘Bull’s Eye’ blotch is nearly vanished, while the ‘Persian Sunset’ blotch, although smaller, still has good color intensity.
There are definitely challenges to getting good blotches, with healthy plants and good heat stability!
I have a small OP seedling of ‘Persian Flame’ here that I’m hoping will turn out well. It’s just beginning to kick on now the warmer weather is approaching. Maybe this will impart some heat stability as well being so close to ‘Tigris’. I hope dieback from ‘Tigris’ doesn’t rear its head in it… at least until it’s big enough to ‘afford’ to lose a few branches.
No germinations in the OPK206-1 x OP0-47-19 pack this morning either.
It’s been a bad rose week for me here. First my little OP Thornless Wich seedling from Kim withered and died on me, and now a few days later, OPK206-1 did the same. It’s not been cold for a while and we’ve not had a frost for a few weeks so I’m a little perplexed about these random deaths… such is roses huh. Maybe I fussed over it too much and should have just ignored it instead.
Yeah, it is too bad you’ve had these random deaths, it seems suspicious of “something” wrong, but who knows !
I have noticed even very dilute liquid chemical fertilizers sometimes do not agree with rose seedlings.
At least one seedling nearly died on me likely due to side-effects from very diluted commercial liquid chemical feeding (even @ 1:10 normal strength dilution !).
This year I am not using liquid feeds at all…I’m going to be just potting very young seedlings directly into rich soil in pots as soon as they germinate. I plan to repot those seedlings into bigger pots as they grow up using only a mix of good soil from the garden mixed with well rotted manure.
I also suspect root rot. The top just withered and died as though it had no roots at all. I’ve been feeding this one for nearly 12 months now and the plant was larger than the plant of E4Y you’ve attached above… so… not sure what has happened…
I wasn’t referring to Jims blog Simon. As he and you are have problem with Hulthemias I wondered if there could be some correlation between each thread.
You may be right that there is a connection with dieback. Fortunately, most of the Hulthemias do not exhibit this, and in fact many can be very vigorous in their growth. Just like with regular roses, there is a very wide range of plant habit, structure and bloom types.
When I used Eyes for You pollen last year, it was put on the most vigorous and fertile seedling I had. I am trying to get rid of that twiggy growth which has a tendancy to die back and create strong root systems.
The direction I’m going ot go with it is the hybrid musk route. I’d love a great big fountain of blotched semi-double roses. I think this will also create very strong root systems. ‘Cornelia’, ‘Penelope’, ‘Trier’, ‘Tarrawarra’, ‘Thisbe’, ‘Ballerina’, ‘Eva’, and ‘Marjorie Fair’ are on the list. If ‘Sally Holmes’ was more cooperative I’d go that way too but she forms lots o0f OP hips easy enough and then rejects every x-pollen hasn’t tried on her. Her pollen hasn’t worked on anything else yet either. ‘Gipsy Boy’ is also on the list. That could result in something special I think. I REALLY want to put it with gigantea to make an enormous blotched climber with some serious root health. If the possums leave it alone I might even get some flowers on it one day too >8-@ Downside is I think this will wash out the colours. Polys also come to mind though not sure which ones yet. The wich shrubs also might work… it’s going to get together with ‘Paprika’ this year as well.
Here is the same blossom of EFY as seen today… I totally love its amazing color shift…and, yes Kim you are correct EFY fragrance DOES morph from a clove / spice type of scent to a sweet apple scent…it sure smelt of sweet apples this afternoon !!