AhhUh … Finally finished planting seed today…
Congratulations Larry!
Now for the fun time, watching them pop the surface. Then, opening their cotyledons to take up light energy. And, best of all, seeing those first never before seen blooms unfurling! Great fun!
Mine are all shelled and in the refrigerator, and will be planted at the end of this month. I can’t wait!
Jim Sproul
Mine were under soil by Thanksgiving day. Kim
Yeah Jim … Every seed that i would plant i could hear the words that Mr. Joe told me years back " Larry Never Give Up"… Hoping for the best…or like they say “It’s Like A Box Of Chocolates You never Krow What Your Going To Get” …Thats the fun of it…I love it with a passion…Larry
I don’t sow anything until late Feb or early March, since the odds of experiencing a hard freeze before that time are quite good. You folks all had a long enough stratification period before sowing?? Hmm!
July through November long enough? I had to harvest early to beat the vermin and collect what was there after the spontaneous abortions that hit. I feed the rabbits and squirrels in other ways. They can leave my hips alone!
My seeds are a hot mess. They are like at 4 different stages, depending on when and where they were harvested/cold stored. I cannot do my usual process of outdoor storage/germination this year due to circumstances but I think I can get all of the stages unified and germinating indoors 
I hope the authorities do not think I am growing pot, lol. I remember the first time I did expensive seeds indoors when I was like 14 or so. I got them from Park Seeds. I was SO afraid someone would call the cops on me because of the white/blue glow coming from the grow lights =/ haha.
Paul… What do you consider to be enough stratification time… Larry
I like to have at least 12 weeks in the fridge, after a warm storage period immediately after harvest.
Paul…How much warm time do you give ?..Larry
I have often wondered, are germination rates better for 12+ weeks cold stratification of shelled achenes, compared to the same cross being stored for the same 12+ weeks in the fridge, but in the form of unprocessed whole hips??
George…I’m not sure … but that sure would be a good test to conduct… Larry
I did the test last winter and will write it up for the next newsletter. Basically, the germination clock doesn’t run while achenes are in the hips, but the final germination % goes down. Of course this was just one CV Country Dancer, but I did tests every month for 4 months. I didn’t do much with warm stratification. Drying was not good for the seeds, as David Z noted, but not very bad either.
I believe it was E. B. LeGrice in his Rose Growing Complete, who wrote the hip contains germination inhibitors.
It’s possible climactic factors affect vernalization requirements.
Last season I unintentionally let my seed go 12 weeks and lost a number to early germination.
This year I went back to 8 weeks. I still had a few germinating early but for the most part things seem to be progressing more normally this season.
I think it was David that mentioned a long warm growing season seems to shorten chilling requirements.
I’m guessing, but for those of you gardening in climates with shorter growing seasons, more chilling may be required.
I also think stratification length various people use reflects their breeding directions too. Paul seems to be very much a back to species breeder at the moment whilst others utilise primarily modern roses. I have noted most my species and near species achenes require much much longer stratification than most the moderns do. The moderns are germinating in the fridge in as little as 6 weeks, whereas my gigantea seeds are 18 months in their tray already with not a single germination, and the sericea, has been in the fridge for months now and look as dormant now as they were when I first ‘fridged’ them.
Do the gigantea seeds require warm stratification?
Some of the seed I have germinating now are second generation gigantea descendants.
They were 8 weeks in the fridge and about 8 weeks in the trays.
They were warm stratified for a few weeks before chilling.
Mine were warm stratified first… then some time in the fridge… planted and left outside now.
Yeah, Kim, I think several sources state that as a fact. A little suerficial mold seems beneficial. It washes off easily and seems to eat up any garbage off of the seed coat. I am unsure how inhibitors process internally and externally re: biological processes but the superficial molds seem to help.