End of Autumn here in Australia and I want to have a practice germinating.
My question is are any of the seeds pictured (assuming the picture has loaded) less viable than others and what should I do now, please?
Random, open pollinated hip (may be possible to identify seed plant later - from owner).
3 Likes
Welcome pavlovais! I don’t know about the others here, but my experience has been that it isn’t necessarily obvious from an eye-ball examination what is or is not viable. There are several ways to determine viability, but most are destructive to the achene except for the float test. Have you placed them in a little water to see which float and which do not? Those that float typically have dead embryos. Personally, if you have the space that is, I would stratify them all and wait and see. Nothing like the experience to teach one.
Whatever you decide, happy growing and please keep asking questions!
4 Likes
Welcome! The more seeds, the more chance of germination. Put them in some damp soil in the refrigerator and leave them 2 - 3 months. Others here will offer more advice. Good luck!
2 Likes
Yes, welcome! You’ve been given good advice. I’ve had seeds I thought had little hope produce good seedlings and others I figured should have done well be total duds. Plant everything you can handle and see what happens. It’s the only way to learn what works where you are. Like anything else, it’s highly location, location, location.
1 Like
Gosh! Thank you for the welcome and these useful tips!
Kitterman, I will float them out of curiosity but try all anyway as Roseseek suggests (this answer was surprising so I am glad I asked AND received a reply).
Heather, I have read about the stratifying but wasn’t exactly clear about it or whether it was essential but will process as described. Am I looking for germination in the fridge or is it meant to occur after the ‘frigidizing’, when in a seedling medium?
My location is Tasmania, the southernmost state of Australia, and deemed a ‘Mediterranean’ climate - cool wet winters and warm dry summers. (Local roses look happy enough!)
1 Like
Sometimes they germinate in the fridge, but mostly afterwards. That’s my experience. And again, gather as many seeds as you possibly can. Rose seeds do not germinate as easily as other plants. It’s a delight every single time one grows for me.
4 Likes
UPDATE:
Prior to stratification I soaked the ‘seeds’ for an hour in peroxide. In the sequence from plumpest to least impressive, I layed them between damp tissue over damp coir peat. They were mouldy within a week! Expecting not much, perhaps I more or less ignored them…
Trade winds here in Tasmania Australia, called the “Roaring Forties”, brought storm force winds earlier this month. The electircity having been off for a week forced my hand (which had been idling…) Unrefridgerated, my first germination occured. It was not one of the plumpest ones but a middling one.
Soon they were all transferred across two punnets - 8 of the plumpest in one punnet and the “bottom” 5 in a second punnet. (Having been bamboozled by the variety of reccommended potting media, I made up my own “six mix” - equal parts peat/seedraising mix/vermiculite/charcoal/perlite/sand). In a day or two a second germinator appeared in the plumps punnet and in a day or two more a third germination - in the duds punnet!
Excellent advice was provided for my initial enquiry and, as predicted I did learn a lot - thank you all again! 
5 Likes
Congratulations! The fun begins. If you really catch the bug, you will find good advice here for ramping up your endeavors and enabling. This forum attracts some great people.
Congratulations on your first “babies”! Keep on sharing your progress with us.
Thank you again for kind comments and encouragement (be careful what you wish for…)
So far, a total of 5 germinations (3 of eight plumps and 2 of five ‘duds’) with at least one more rootlet emerging amongst the plumps. 6 or 7 from thirteen starters is a thrill (at this stage - a long way to go…) All in all a fortunate hip selection for a beginner and the advice to plant all the ‘seeds’ has been fruitful.
The ‘mystery strays’ are throwing remarkable diversity - dark green and mid green colourings, reddish or green stems, longish and roundish shapes. One sprouted with 3 cotyledon leaflets. I am uncertain whether these things bear much significance to future characteristics however.
Now my forum searches have turned to fertiliser & potting up.
5 Likes
Congratulations on your successful germinations! I had 5 germinate on my first try, and 3 survived for five months so far. They each have flowered once. I also planted everything, but don’t know whether the successful ones were “plumps” or “duds”, floaters or sinkers. Be sure to share pictures when they bloom.
1 Like
UPDATE:
First bloom, and it is one of the ‘duds’!
Of 13 seeds - 9 germinated (7 of 8 ‘plumps’ & 2 of 5 ‘duds’)
The 2 duds have been the star performers!
One is the first to flower. (8 weeks) It is strongly fragrant 
The other had such a long rootlet after germinating in the tray that I snapped it whilst transplanting…From the get go it has been so keen to grow that it has overcome this setback and will be one of the next to bloom.
The first seed to germinate (in the warming fridge of the power outage) has been outgrown by the next four, with almost 2 weeks difference in age.
5 Likes
Lovely! It’s a thrill
UPDATE:
From an unpromising looking bud I was surprised by the pretty, starry reveal!
From a promising, fat pink bud, this globular madam disappointingly had her glory days in just hours… 
The best colour this bloom could muster, after such a tantalising taste, was buff/beige 
In the right hand corner… is the lusty mother. Flanked by the likely daddys. (Is that a boring Iceberg? 
)
4 Likes
Looks like you have nice surprises. Rock on!
After trawling HMF my best guess for the mother is Austin’s “Heritage”. I am a complete novice so would love it if anyone could confirm either way. (It is frustrating that, on the whole, posters to HMF so rarely include details other than blooms.)
BLOOMS
BUDS
LEAVES
HIPS (a bit elongated at the edges)
A WINTER BLOOM
UPDATE:
So the lineup is very interesting…
All the earliest ones to germinate are dark green (and have now bloomed).
All the late ones are lime green and show no signs of developing buds yet.
1 Like
Heritage seems right to me. I often find that seedlings from the same seed parent that germinate around the same time appear to be more similar to one another than they are to seedlings that germinate at other times–that is due either to different pollen parents (which can be fairly obvious), or to different suites of alleles being inherited, in those cases where the pollen parent is presumed to be the same.
Stefan
2 Likes
Thank you again, Stefan! The idea that it can be “Heritage” is one I would like to run with (which could have been influencing my pick…). Now I am looking into Heritage’s ancestors to find likely characteristics to match my germinated offspring. Although I am already amazed by the variation in the plants which have bloomed to date, the ones still to flower may be quite different again- how fascinating!