Growing Roses From Seed...

i've not done this before; i've taken cuttings to produce more bushes, but now i want to try seeds. does anyone have a technique proven through experience?

i procured this article...

Once you have the seed, there are two simple systems for growing roses from seed.

The first is to put a handfull of barely-damp vermiculite into a baggie. The vermiculite should not be sopping but not dry either. Write the name of the rose and todayâ??s date on a label (I can recommend regular pencil on bits of plastic cut from a yogurt tub) and insert it into the baggie. Put the seed into the baggie. Put the baggie into the refrigerator crisper. Mark a date 90 days later on the calendar.

90 days after sowing, take the baggie out of the refrigerator and sow the seed into a flat. You can use pots and sow the seed so it is an inch apart if you donâ??t have the space for flats. Label each pot or flat. Youâ??ll start seeing germination in a week and it will continue for upwards of a month.

Transplant the seedlings into their own flower pots when they have 4-6 true leaves and grow on until they are ready to be transplanted outdoors. (after all danger of frost).

Note that not all the seed will germinate. In this case, you can either throw away the pots or keep the pots cool and damp all summer to sit outdoors. Growing roses from seed using pots from this point on is the same as the technique below.

The second method of germinating seed is to sow it directly into pots or a large 10x20â?� flat filled with soil. The soil in the flat should be a sterilized artificial soil. If youâ??ve had the open bag around for a while, pour a kettle of boiling water slowly over the flat of soil to sterilize it and kill of any fungal problems.

The seed need only be barely covered and not planted very deeply. Firm the soil down after youâ??ve planted the flat so that the covering soil is in contact with the seed. It is important to keep the seed damp.

Cover the seed flat with door screening and secure it firmly. The door screening will be necessary to protect the seed from mice and ants.

Put the flat outdoors in a protected location. Leave until spring.

In spring, you can bring the flat indoors to give it a little heat or you can leave it outdoors to germinate on its own. Once the seeds have germinated, transplant as above and grow on until planted in the garden.

Leave ungerminated seed in the flat and keep damp and shaded all summer. Allow to stay outdoors a second winter and then germinate the slower second crop of seedlings the second summer. Toss the flat away after two seasons.


what i'm wondering is if the cold spell is necessary; it's nearing the end of winter; shouldn't that be sufficient? do i REALY have to put the damn things in the fridge? outdoor is not realy an option until they are growing; the dogs will carry the pots off.

thanx in advance :)

Scarlet Sky :p

Word scarlet, roses are cool.
I hope you are starting with a R. rugosa, or beach rose.
They are generally the hardiest, and the hips that they [as a 'species'- type rose rather than a hybrid] set contain viable seeds.
Some commercial varieties set hips, but I am not sure whether the seeds are sterile as a result of hybridization.
Your Q re: the winter freeze; yes, that should be fine. The refrigeration period is meant to simulate winter.
Let me know what happens!
I'm a lazy bum and buy my roses as just bare rootstocks.

stinky, glad you're here. these hips came off a don juan; don't know what will happen, but i have two red hips in an envelope and 17 seeds from a dry hip. i put eight seeds in a paper towel, i'm going to put the rest directly in soil. do you have any other suggestions for germinating?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scarlet Sky

do you have any other suggestions for germinating?

---

meh, not really, but I DO like the seedling heat mats lately.
So you just harvested the hips recently, and they were allowed to freeze for a while?

just harvested them yesterday. they've been in freezing outdoor temps, but we've had a recent warm spell. so now i'm thinking the yard is about to wake up.

i'd say they've had at least two months of freezing night temps with day temps no higher than 50f.