I should have indicated that the piece of voile which covers each hip was originally used as a protection from unwanted insect pollination but also proved to be useful against rodent and deer damage. However it will also serve as a protection against pollen from genetically modified roses. I am sure that all your members are aware that the genetically modified plant including its pollen will be protected. There has already been litigation against a grower about such an event in Canada. It may take a little longer to manipulate the voile for each emasculation and pollination but I believe that it will be worth it in the end.
On another note, perhaps I should clarify how I use the sand - for each serving spoon of sand use one tablespoon of water - four serving spoons of sand will require 4 tabespoons of water. The sand from each serving spoon will accommodate approximately 500 seeds. For both warm and cold stratification,sterilized sand and seed are combined in a sealed Ziploc freezer bag and left in the bag for each stratification period. For example, at the end of the warm period the sand and seed combination are placed in a flour strainer suspended over a bucket and water is sprayed over the seed/sand combination. As a result, the sand falls into the bucket and the seeds stay in the strainer. Germinated seeds can be removed with a pair of tweezers and planted. The same is repeated for cold stratification but all seeds are now sown to flats. NB: don’t forget to shake the sand/water combination vigorously in the Ziploc bag (960 ml) to distribute the moisture before introducing the seeds.
‘Rosy Vision’ was donated to the Canadian Rose Society in celebration of their 50th anniversary. I believe that Palatine (I am not sure of the full company name), located in the Niagara area is supposed to multiply this rose for sale. Also, Mark Disero located in southwestern Ontario may have a limited quantity for sale. This rose is a cross between line L83 x Dornroschen. It seems to be an excellent pollen parent but does not set hips. Another rose with good market possibilities is line 05-01 which is on the website. It is an excellent pollen and seed parent and will cross easily with many other roses. It is apricot in color, very floriferous, has very good to excellent black spot resistance and is very winter-hardy. Mr. Mike Lowe of the ARS, based on a photo, indicated that it is a winner. I just want to use it as a seed parent for a while longer and then it will be released in the United States and Canada at the same time. Further, I have a winter-hardy floribunda and a winter-hardy grandiflora (flower diameter of 5 1/2 inches).
I hope that I have answered all your questions Paul. All of the above "I"s should be “We” as my wife Catherine is an equal partner in Northern Hybrid Roses - we work as a team.
If you are interested, I can send you a CD of the Denver, CO presentation. Perhaps it could be uploaded for other breeders/members to view.
All the very best to you and all other members of the RHA.
Yes, you have answered my questions. I look forward to when you roses will be available for purchase, they sound great. I may have to look into using sand instead of paper towels. I find that mold can break down the paper towel and they fall apart, so I have to replace them.
I think uploading the presentation would be wonderful, so members who weren’t able to attend can see it.
If you wish to continue using paper towels, I would suggest Bounty as this make seems to maintain its integrity for a long period of time.
On another note, dormancy, which is of interest to most breeders is not only associated with the seed (nutlet) coat but with a cylindrical piece of tissue which envelopes the cotyledons and embryo. If this tissue is not removed during embryo rescue, the embryo will not germinate in tissue culture. Based on this observation, dormancy release or breakdown seems to take place at “different levels” in the “seed”. The above comments apply to single dormancy.
It is hoped that the above information may be of interest.
Not much has been published about embryo rescue for rose. Can you elaborate on the technique, and can it be done without resort to culture media - that is to say, is there a way for the average hybridizer to give it a try?
I would refer you to www.northernhybridroses.com website under Embryo rescue for information on this subject. Further, the following publication will give you additional information. You can obtain a copy from any Univesity library that subscribes to HortScience.
Lauzer, D. and Laberge, C. 1996. Establishment of a Collection of Rosa Species through in Vitro Embryo Culture. HortScience 31(3): 458-459.
It would be best if you had access to a University with a transfer chamber, stereoscope and an autoclave. Detailed Tissue culture techniques are given in Plants From Test Tubes by Lydiane Kyte - An Introduction to Micropropagation.
All steps should be done under aseptic conditions.
It would be best if you learn embryo rescue technique with a trained scientist.
I tried embryo rescue on a small batch of seeds last year. It is very difficult to do without damaging the embryo. I did not have any germinations from them.
Paul, after reading your orginal message here, I went and checked upon my seeds which were sitting upon the cupboard for about 40 days now in moistened medium … and sure enough several have already germinated in the warmth. The hips had ripened early and I had kept them in the warmth thinking this would delay germination, as I did not want seedlings emerging until February … though, heck now I’ve got babies to tend to in November, definitely not what I was expecting!
‘Winnipeg Parks’ and ‘Emily Carr’ were used as seed parents to which I had crossed many of my own hardy seedlings. About a month ago, I had been noting the large amount of mold growing upon the seeds and had wondered to myself if this might really hasten germination? I’m glad you had posted here, as otherwise I would have lost many of these early risers. I now look forward to blooms in March.
Generally I don’t wait the hips to be completely red and ripe: basing on the size I decide when they are developed enough. This allows me to act before the completion of process of seed stratification skipping vernalization. I think that putting seeds protected in refrigerator for the winter deprive the adult plant of a kind of memory of early days outdoor.
Those vernalizing lacking conditions (climate, temperature and natural events) would generally operate a first outdoor seed natural selection.
Forcing hybridization this way, then, can be useful for many aspects but is likely to bring weaker germinating seeds then operating in real conditions.
From my data between 2006 and 2008 all the seeds collected before hip maturation, were born spontaneously with an acceptable mortality rate less then 50%. I had the chance to apply the same principle with outside ovary seeds that probably, if left to mature in normal times, would have died because of unfavorable conditions (poor protection, hard sun and nourishment). Between 5 seeds collected in July, 1 has germinated in early November.
