New seedlings.. all white (parent= Fabulous!)

Hi all,

I have been lurking since this winter and have sowed some OP hips. So far the most seedlings I had sprout are from the white J&P rose Fabulous!.

Everything so far is white. Some are a very crisp white white which I like, others pretty ordinary. How common is it to get all of the same color of rose from an OP hip? This rose bush is surrounded by other colored roses so I was hoping for some other hues.

I am just learning about pollenating crosses etc from the boards and find it interesting, but haven’t done any yet. I think I want to improve just getting the seeds to sprout and then survive (this seems to be the problem).

I will try to post pics later…

Marleah

1st seedling… my favorite

second seedling (sorry I don’t know how to include more than one in a post and I did try to crop them… doesnt look like it really happened)

I think you may find that white tends to give white, as pink tends to give pink. The strongest white has some pigments that absorb ultraviolet light very strongly, so they have a definite “color” to bees. That pigment is the first step on the way to pink or red and usually the genes to make the enzymes to make the pink color are missing in a good white. It may look a bit yellowish if the UV absorbing pigment happens to take out some of the very deep blue light and not just the UV.

If you can, look back in the pedigree of Fabulous and see if it had white parents too. There may even be some “suppressor” genes in a white that block the action of the enyzmes that form the pink pigment. I don’t know if that is true but Griffith Buck suggested it was the case in some of the roses he was working with. So even a cross-pollination of white may give white.

Check on other characteristics like leaf shape, color and texture to see if you can see how they are different from Fabulous and similar to some other rose in the area. That woudl be a clue for open pollination, not self-pollination.

Marleah, in my experience, most open pollinated seeds result from self-pollination. I have talked with Mr. Ralph Moore about this and he agrees. I have grown tons of “OP” seeds and they are not nearly as variable as actual crosses. You are right, however, learning how to get them to sprout and survive is an important first step that you should refine before trying it on your important crosses.

Jim Sproul

Thanks to you both for the replies :slight_smile:

I appreciate you sharing what you know about hybridizing roses with me.

Marleah :slight_smile: