Besides draping pantyhose over ripening hips in my New Jersey garden, are there any other protection methods that work well for you?
Cathy,
Welcome to the forum.
You didn’t say what you want to protect the hips from, but I’m betting on the big two, deer and squirrels. These two come up again and again, so there have been lots of posts about them over the years.
To find these discussions, go to the Search box and enter squirrels and click on the threads that are selected. You’ll find that a favorite way of protecting the hips is to wrap them in aluminum foil. For starters, here is one fairly recent thread. You can do the same with deer and find a few other threads. Other varmints (parrots, rats, etc) are mentioned.
If the threads you find through the forum search engine don’t give you what you need, you can find more by a site-specific search using Google. Just go to Google and enter deer site:rosebreeders.org. Repeat with squirrels or whatever topic appeals to you.
If the problem is deer, you might want to use a deer repellent. In my experience, one of the best of these is Plantskydd. It’s not easy to mix, and it’s not cheap (none of the deer repellents are inexpensive), but it works pretty well.
Peter
Actually I am more concerned about birds and small animals. My hybridizing garden is fully fenced in against the deer.
I am concerned that wrapping hips in aluminum foil will cause them to “cook”… we have some pretty warm September days in central NJ.
So I am hoping for solutions that allow the hips to breathe and get some sun until fully ripe.
I will do the search as you suggest.
Cathy,
Have you already seen evidence that birds and squirrels are taking your rose hips, or is your inquiry a preemptive one? Perhaps you won’t actually have a problem.
sachet party favor bags is a link to some easily used and inexpensive small organza bags that will work well against most things except the smaller mamallian rodent types. Or just goggle “sachet party favor bags sale” since certain colors will be on sale and the rose hips usually have little to no color preferences.
My intuition is that aluminum foil will reflect the light and not cause cooking temps. Bill Radler has a special way of flaring the foil around the hip to allow it to breathe.
I normally wrap parchment paper around my pollinated hips and tie it with a twist tie, but this year I’m foregoing that. My main pest is deer, so hopefully I’ll remember to spray all my pollinated hips with Liquid Fence, which is our deer repellant of choice around here.
Perhaps in your more northern climate the foil might reflect the light/heat, Joe. Here, particularly right now, it would guaranty par boiled hips. They’re frying black and sunken bare in a few hours of direct sun. It’s THAT intense and hot.
I have often used coffee filters and a twist tie if I need a bit of protection for a short while whereby the hip wont “cook”.
I will try both the sachet bags (if they come long enough to cover the hip stem) and the coffee filters this Labor Day, and I will also try the pantyhose method and report back with results and pics to all of you. The protection will need to stay on until mid-late October, so it will be interesting to see which methods have the most staying power.
I am pretty sure that it is wildlife related.
Back in the 1990’s when I last did hybridizing in my fenced in garden, my rose hip loss really only happened when the hips were ripening in Sept and Oct. The hips, vanished, did not simply drop to the ground. So although I did not have a webcam trained on the garden, I can surmise that the birds who also ate all my fruit berries came back to eat the hips. I also have many squirrels and chipmunks on my property.
Does parchment paper breathe well? I am worried about ripening hips rotting under a covering that does not breathe.
I am curious, Kim. Do you have or can you create a part shade area in your garden where the roses will get sun from early morning to early afternoon?
Hi Cathy,
The parchment paper does seem to breathe, or at least it’s crinkly enough so that the process of putting on the twist tie leaves room for air transfer.
I never had a problem with moldy hips using straight parchment paper, but when I bought a product that was parchment paper on one side and aluminum foil on the other I got molding.
Some pics of my parchment paper technique can be seen here.
I may try parchment paper covers too, but will pop a few breathing slits into them. Interesting that you got mold with the aluminum foil variety, that’s why I am staying away from any protective cover that does not breathe.
Years ago I tried the foil covers and got one of two results: the hips rotted, or they cooked. I stopped covering hips over a decade ago and see no reason to resume the process. But then, I don’t have a problem with scavengers stealing my hips.
[attachment 1761 Hips.JPG]
Cathy,
Welcome to the Forum, I also dabble in daylilies. For a number of years I have been using tulle (bridal veil). It can be purchased by the roll like ribbon at craft stores. I put the tulle on when I make the cross and leave it until harvest.
There are a number of issues with creating shade where the majority of the roses are in the ground, Cathy. In order to grow too many in too small a space, they’re crammed in cheek to jowl. There is a bit of shade from an ancient California Black Walnut (with all of ITS issues) and a very well established (35+ year old) multi trunk Crepe Myrtle. Partial morning shade is provided by the house and several queen palms, but the worst of it comes later in the afternoon from due west where the 24% grade exists. If I could establish anything on it to provide shade, it would destroy the view, which is the main benefit of living on the hill.
From the house.
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I use 2 inch by 2 inch zip lock bags.
Kim,
The view is great.
http://whc.unesco.org/uploads/thumbs/site_0274_0017-260-260-20130123144028.jpg
If you had a lot of rock, this works, but they learned to drain or it washes out. On the coast, dry as a bone some kind of plants have turned it green.
Neil
IF there were any rain, and IF the soil would hold any type of moisture, that might work. Unfortunately, there isn’t much of either. Thank you, though.
Here’s an idea for easy, fast, safe hip covers. How about the #2 small cone coffee filters? That size is on clearance at several of the local markets, making them really inexpensive. Perhaps some might be clearing them out where others are. It’s light weight, should breathe, already formed and would only require some sort of attachment at the bottom to prevent it from blowing off. Perhaps a paper clip?