Using coca-cola to break down the seed coat

I get some weird ideas, but I think the ph may be helpful to break down the seed coat. I’m trying on the seeds of these especially hard to germinate seeds. It maybe intresting to see. Later. Enrique

Im trying lemon juice just out of curiousity this fall.

Soaking a human tooth in Coca-cola for about a month will dissolve the tooth completely. Be cautious in your experiment; you may end up killing the seeds.

Regards,

Paul

That’s where I got the idea! Maybe for a day, or less could help break down especially hard to germinate seeds.

Enrique

Did anyone ever post any results for these experiments?

I did them with OP seeds, and they did germinate. But, I am not sure if the germination resulted due to the weakening of the seed coat as I just did it with a few seeds. But if I had done this on a larger scale…

How long did you soak them for?

Mine were undeterminable due to family crisis. Germinations were poor across the board for me this year due to neglect from the above. I did get some this year but nothing to write home about.

Sorry about that Jadae. I hope things have improved for you!

Thanks Judy! Things have indeed. I harvested nearly 100 OP hips from my best baby seedling from last year. I only tried one cross with it (Double Delight) because I didnt think it was going to be all that fertile. Boy was I wrong :stuck_out_tongue: Hopefully next spring I wont run into any problems and can see what kind of germination ratios the OP seeds have =)

-Mike

Great to hear, Mike. Looking forward to hearing about some pretty and smelly blooms shortly! What does your seed parent look like?

It is a Dortmund x Circus cross. I was aiming for a climber with that cross but I chose this seedling over the others because it exhibited really thick and waxy foliage–more so than Dortmund. The plant itself is small but vigorous. The best comparison is to a rose called ‘Red Cushion’. The flowers look similar to Dortmund’s but more petals. The hips that it puts out are just a tad smaller than Bonicas. Next year I want to cross it Rabble Rouser, Double Delight, Granada, Flutterbye, Guinevere, Bukavu and Tequila Sunrise.

Neat! In your Dortmund x Circus cross did you get many multi-colored roses or mostly solids?

Mostly variations of reds/magentas and dusky pinks. A lot of them were really gangly and had mildew.

Good to know. I have some Circus x OP seeds this year, so it will be interesting to see if that’s true of them as well.

we make several seed cross combinations and I usually fail to get them germinated any suggestion?