Hi George,
It is amazing why we do the things that we do! When something “works”, we assume that it was needed.
I had learned many years ago that it was necessary to wrap rose seeds in paper towels and then to moisten the towels with a dilute Captan solution, then place them into ziplock bags. And it worked!
Then a few years ago, not wanting greater exposure to chemicals I decided to opt out of the Captan and just use water to moisten the paper towels. And, it worked!
Then, having been frustrated with the mess of partially decaying paper towels, and the difficulty of removing the seeds from them for planting, I decided to try just placing a small piece of moistened paper towel along with the seeds in a ziplock bag. And, it worked too!
Then last year, I think that it was at your suggestion George, I tried just spraying a bit of water with a spray bottle into the ziplock bags (more spray if many seeds were in the bags). And, by golly, it worked too! No paper towels, and no Captan. No mess, and the seeds are easy to plant from the ziplock bags.
…I wonder what else I do because it appears to work??..