Had more failures this spring that I had hoped but am finally seeing some hips mature.
Neither J5 or Beauty of Leafland set hips with the pollen I used on them. Many of my Beauty of Leafland crosses failed. I have only 1 hip surviving from my Beauty of Leafland attempt. Its Autumn Sunset x Beauty of Leafland.
I have had good success with Applejack on Golden Glow. In fact, all my other crosses using Golden Glow as a parent failed. Only 3 Golden Glow x Applejack crosses took. All the others have failed. I am excited to see what comes from my GG x AJ crosses. They are forming nice large hips.
My failure getting hips on Apple Jack continues. Every cross ended up failing. Any suggestions for getting Applejack to set hips. I suspect that I am having problems because I tend to emasculate early because it sheds it pollen early. Perhaps I need to repeat my pollination attempts.
Here are what I have so far.
Dornr
Steve,
I seem to remember a thread from several years ago with respect to using Applejack as a seed parent. I don’t believe that a single person responding had had any luck using it as a female, although it sets many OP hips. I know I personally never had any luck using it as a female, though I tried many times. However, Applejack is a wonderful pollen donor. I have used successfully in that capacity on many roses.
Julie
You have some great crosses listed there Steve. Good luck with them. I never had any luck using Applejack as a pod parent but did have success using it as the pollen parent.
Steve,
It looks like you will have plenty of interesting seedlings to look at next year. Established plants are definitely better at setting hips, so you will have more success next year. I have no experience with your selected parents except ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Abraham Darby’. They have both been excellent pollen parents for me, but not so good as seed parents.
For me, it was very important to increase hip set by finding good seed parents. As you have found, they are harder to come by than pollen parents.
Best wishes,
Jim Sproul
Steve,
I made l0 crosses of Applejack x unnamed seedling and they all seem to be setting hips. I emasculate when the bud is about half open and pollinate at the same time. Pollen is also applied at 8 or l2 and 24 hours later, depending on the weather and the time of day.
Fred
Fred, some roses like Home Run seem like the hips are setting can stay on the plant for quiet a while before they abort. I don’t know how long your Applejack hips have been set but if they are like Home Run they could stay up to 2 months before aborting. I sincerely hope you have success but I also would like you to know thant some plants seem like they set hips but don’t keep them. The best of luck to you.
Patrick
Most of my attempts on Applejack aborted after a month and a half of looking ok.
One think about Applejack for me is that if the bud is half open, its already started shedding its pollen.
If I get some open pollinated seeds from Applejack this year I am going to collect them and see that shows up.
Next year, I am going to attempt at least 3 pollinations on each AJ flower. Kind of like what Fred mentioned. First application 1/2 day after I have prepared it. And then again in 1/2 day intervals. Every 12 hours or so.
Patrick,
Thank you for your information on Applejack. The hips look good after one month, but as you say that can change. I’ll keep my eye on them.
Steve,
For me Applejack opens fast. I found it less likely to have shed its pollen if the emasculation was done on a cold morning. Many buds were actually less than half open.
Fred
Finally started collecting hips today. We are supposed to get some below freezing temps so today seemed like a good day to start. Than and my kids have been eyeing the great big orage hips with more and more interest. Either I let them pick them now with me or they pick them on thier own and who knows what will happen to them.
Surprising but my 6year old daughter still enjoys picking the seeds out of the hips and dropping them in a glass of water to see if they float or sink. Now my 3 year old is getting into it. I have to label the seeds with the names of the child who picked the hip. They each get to pick the same number of named crosses and as many open pollinated as they want. Then we go inside and I split open the hips and they pick out the seeds and do the ‘float test’ I then put the floaters on one side of the petri dish and the sinkers on the other. They get mixed up but they dont know the difference and I dont really care all that much.
Anyway, here is what I have harvested so far. Its been 120 days at a minimum for each hip that was picked.
S = Sink F = float 
Dornr
Apparently the 2007 “Easter freeze” did not affect your hybridizing.
It has caused my crop of hips/seeds to be much smaller than usual. My gallicas and rugosas did not even bloom, so hard to get seeds from them! Welcome to global warming?
Toprose had nice seed size + amount during harvest, Steven. I was very happy with it, and plan on using it a lot next year.
I blame chemtrail spraying for that spring freeze…not global warming…glad I can post anonymous…I am anonymous right? (…looking over shoulder).