I put my seeds in the refrigerator too early this year and now I have lots of seedlings which are getting too big already. If I transplant R. Glauca seedlings in three gallon pots and put them outside and just bring them in for freezes, which is about 4 or 5 times in the Winter and then only to 28 or 30, will the seedlings go dormant and if they do could they possibily bloom next Spring. I know, I know, patience.
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much, but it’s worth a try. And if they’re getting too big for indoors, you do what you have to do. I’ve resorted to hacking back an overly vigorous repeat-blooming seedling (“Angel Rose” type of chinensis) that I’m going to have to keep indoors over the winter. In spite of that I think I even have a tiny hip maturing from a last chance pollination using ‘Home Run’ before it got frosted into dormancy. But if you want bloom as soon as possible, I guess hacking back wouldn’t be a good option. Best of luck with them whatever you decide.
And while I’ve got ya… I tried e-mailing to you off-forum (about Kim Rupert’s clone of Rosa fedtschenkoana), through the link beside the Posted by pocajun above… but I’m thinking it might have gotten lost somewhere. I’ll try it again, but let me know if it doesn’t come through.
Tom
If roses are like many other plants, they need to experience longer daylengths, followed by cool short days, after they have reached some certain amount of biomass and energy storage. Then they will set buds that bloom if they are not repeat bloomers. The frost ought not to hurt R. glauca. The issue will be if they are big enough and had enough long day growth to “think” that they experienced summer. I would guess that no one really has a clue. Does R.g get enough winter chill to bloom in your climate? If you’ve seen R.g seedlings bloom their 2nd year you’ve nothing to lose. But I guess I’d just leave them outside so they can experience the natural change of daylength. There is a danger of extending the day if you bring them to a warm, lighted area and that will make them “forget” that it is winter.
Tom, thanks for the info, I emailed you with my email address. Hope you got it.
Larry, I was just wondering what to do with my Glauca seedlings and the thought occured to me about whether I could try to make them bloom this coming Spring since I had to put them outside anyway. Well they certainly have had enough daylight since they have been under 24 hour lights since September. I have nothing to lose by putting them outside and see what happens this Spring. Thanks for the advice about bringing them back in for the frost, I had not thought about them being back into a long daylight situation might alter their being able to bloom this spring. R. Glauca bloomed for me this past Spring for at least one month so I suppose we have enough Winter chill. I have over 100 Glauca seedlings with three different pollen parents so I really don’t want to have to bring them back in for every frost. They probably won’t bloom this Spring but you never know. Thanks.
Patrick
Hi Patrick,
That
Hi Paul, I would not want to even start counting how many seeds I have. I know it is way over 1 thousand. I use almost the same method that Henry uses, petri dishes with sand. Soak for 24 hours with peroxicde and water and then in the petri dishes with sand wet with a peroxide and water and in the fridge at 40F for three months. When I get the first germination I put them out at night and back in the fridge during the day for a while and then leave them out until they are finished. Thanks for the info about the freezing temps. I don’t really think I will fool mother nautre. She will do what she will do and we just have to accept it. Its impossible to tell what kind of mother your Glauca will be, just trial and error is all you can do. I hope they germinate well for you.
Patrick