This is my first year with breeding roses so this may be a normal occurrence.
All of the hips that I’ve put Hot Cocoa and Livin’ Easy on have dried up and fallen off the plant. It seems a little strange since some of the blooms on the same stems that did not get pollinated (at least by me) are plump and look happy. Is this unusual or did I possiblty contaminate the pollen some how? Most of the other crosses I’ve made seem to be doing okay. Thanks to all that recommended using Cal Poly as a seed parent.
I’ve scratched my head over this one and have not seen anything in previous discussions or literature from the RHA.
Cross-incompatablity is very normal. Some varieties are great mothers and take pollen from nearly any other rose, but most are at least somewhat picky and some are completelty recalcitrant to pollenation (seed-sterile).
Hips can abort even when seeds does set so it is a good idea to check the fallen hips for seeds. If this is the case then the most likely reason is over-fertilizing after the hips formed. However, they sometimes just abort for no apparent reason.
I have put 15 different pollens on Hot Cocoa from which, so far, I have viable hips from Persian Peach, R. wichuraiana, Veilchenblau and Fashion. It’s too soon to tell whether the others will abort but it will not surprise me if they do.
Livin Easy is usually a great seed parent. however, avoid excess nitrogen with it as it likes to create green-matter within the hip. This is a dominant trait of the Silver Jubilee clan.
I’m hoping that some day I’ll produce a strong yellow miniature repeat blooming rose. It’s a tall order, but just one year at a time might just do it. Who knows what will come of the whole process.
In the meantime, I’m throwing pollen around on blossoms as they are ready. No particular method or reason, just experiments. Some months ago one of the more experienced breeders said that he tried to shrink a giganta (?). So for kicks I threw some Medallion pollen on a Rise N’ Shine. The hips died,but the idea was intriguing to me.
‘Pennies From Heaven’ is a miniature that, for me, shows the influence of ‘Livin’ Easy’ clearly. It is almost like a miniature ‘Hot Cocoa’ (but has much better foliage).
As far as a “strong yellow miniature repeat blooming rose”, I’m liking ‘My Sunshine’, which is new for me this year. It has better disease resistance than ‘Sunsprite’ and appears to be able to set seed (It does fade to an odd pink color though). I’m going to try and throw one of my Knockout seedlings after it (Worse case scenario- the seedlings will be singles)…hey, that’s an idea 'My Sunshine x ‘Baby Love’ (or ‘Sunny Knockout’ or ‘Carefree Sunshine’).
I checked a couple of the hips that aborted and I got a few (six) seeds from Honey Perfume X Chapeau de Napoleon. Since they have not had time to fully mature do I treat them any differently? Do I stratify now, let them dry for a few days, room temperature, etc.
The seeds seem to be the right size and actually look pretty good.
Jeff, check to see if the seeds are hollow by squeezing them gently with your fingernails. If they don’t collapse, then you have yourself seeds from an interesting cross.
It is late in the year to be germinating seeds but do you have a greenhouse to protect the seedlings if they were to be germinated now?