🚀 go-pugleaf

Marianne Ahrne <mahrne@csd.uu.se> wrote:
>faraco@cmgm.stanford.edu wrote:
>>need fertile rose hips.... One supposed trick is to stay away from 
>>the "double" blossoms, which are supposedly tetraploid and frequently
>>sterile 
Most modern HTs and Floribundas are teraploids. Some of the species are 
diploid and triploid. Trying to cross them with moderns is difficult.
> 
> Since the seeds are there it means the rose is
>not sterile but could there still be something wrong with the seeds?

Rose seed germination is infuriatingly erratic. Some varieties give 
beautiful seed which just refuses to germinate. It's a question of trial 
and error. Even then, they vary from year to year - like good wine:)

>This is my first attempt at growing roses from seeds and I have no idea 
>what healthy seed is supposed to look like.

Most but not all rose seed looks creamy, plump and healthy. However, some 
can look quite black and scrungy. It's trial and error again. If the seed 
pod looks good to you, harvest it when its turns pinkish red, shell it 
immediately, put it in a polythene bag with some moist sand or vermiculite 
and a teaspoon of a fungicide such as Euparen. Leave it in the 
refrigerator for two months and then sow it (usually, January/February in 
the North, July/August in the South.) Germination is erratic, but if the 
seed is goin to germinate well, you'll  have a general germination before 
the weather gets hot.
>
>Marianne Ahrne
>Uppsala, Sweden
>
>


-- 
Sam McGredy OBN,
1A 75 Owens Rd.,
Epsom, Auckland 3.
New Zealand.
Fax 64 9 630-5761. Ph 64 9 630-3046