Rose Babies: How to grow roses from seed

I have really enjoyed myself this summer as I jumped into my first experiments with growing roses from seed.  I will share with you how I did it, what I learned, and what I will change next time.  There are all kinds of methods for growing roses from seed - this was my experience.  I don't claim that this is the only way to do it, and certainly not the best way.  But it worked fairly well for me, so take from it what you will.

Since I didn't want to wait for my roses to produce seeds, I got online and bought rose seeds.  The seller showed a picture of one of the parent plants, I am assuming the seed producer.  I have no idea if they were open pollinated, self pollinated, or purposeful cross breeds.  I intend to contact the seller and see if I can get more info, simply to have for breeding records for my seedlings and their future offspring.  But it doesn't really matter - find some roses you like and obtain some seeds.  I will go into cross pollinating and seed collecting on another post, once I have some pictures to use - for now I want to focus on what to do once you have the seeds in hand. 

The first step is a topic of debate in rose breeding circles.  Most people feel that rose seeds need to be stratified.  This involves giving the seeds a cold treatment to imitate winter conditions before planting.  When you are working with hardy perennials, many seeds have a natural chemical inhibitor that prevents them from germinating until the seed has been cooled for a certain amount of time.  The reason is because when a plant drops its seeds in the fall, Mother Nature doesn't want those seeds to sprout as winter is setting in.  The seedling would be long dead by the time spring showed up.  Therefore, most people growing roses from seed feel that you will get a better germination rate (the number that sprout) if you get the seeds nice and cold for a while before planting.  Personally, knowing what I do of plant physiology, this made perfect sense to me.  I chose to stratify my seeds.  It takes a little extra time and effort, but I had a tremendously high germination rate, so I guess it was worthwhile.

However, the debate doesn't stop there.  The next issue is, how long do the seeds need to be cold in order to break dormancy? Some people chill their seeds 3 months, to simulate a full winter.  Others chill for much shorter periods of time.  The seller I got my seeds from suggested 6 weeks.  I was impatient, and had planned to stratify for about 4 weeks.  Nature had other plans, though - more on that in a minute.

So, how should you stratify your seeds, if you choose to do so?  There are a lot of ways.  Some people put the seeds on damp paper towels and stick it in the fridge.  Others put the seeds in a potting material in a seed tray and put the whole tray in the fridge.  I went a slightly different route.  In the interest of saving space, I pulled out some snack sized Ziplock baggies that I had accidentally bought once and had no use for - they are too small to hold much of anything.  But they were perfect for this.  Label the baggies with a Sharpie so you know which baggie has which seeds - you will want to keep track of which plants are which, so use a different baggie for each type of rose seed.  I added some potting mix - and I used Miracle Gro, because that is what I had on hand.  Many sites I researched on said not to use fertilizers until the plants had a few true leaves.  I used Miracle Gro potting mix throughout this growing season since I had a bunch of it, and everything ended up fine.  I have a lot of baby roses, so it couldn't have done too much damage.  It does tend to be full of gnats though, so I don't recommend it for house or patio plants.

Back to stratifying.  I put a handful or two of potting mix in the snack baggies and dampened the mix with a small amount of water.  This can be a little tough to judge.  You don't want the seeds to dry out - but you don't want them to rot from being too wet, either.  The mix should be damp, not wet.  If you accidentally get it too wet, you can leave the bags open a day or two & let it dry. 

It is not a bad idea to use some type of anti-fungal agent with your seeds and baby seedlings.  Yes, you want plants that are strong without being babied a lot.  But roses are notoriously hard to grow because so many seedlings end up with damp-off (a fungal infection) and there is no way to save them once it hits.  A little prevention will give your seedlings the chance to get going.  Once they are established, then you can let them fight off disease and see which ones are strong.  Baby roses are a lot like baby humans - the very young are the most in danger when it comes to illness.  Once they get a little older they can fight things off more easily.

You can use a chemical anti-fungal, or something more natural.  I used hydrogen peroxide.  It was highly recommended, and I had it in the bathroom cabinet.  H2O2 has some pretty amazing uses when it comes to gardening, and I now go through a lot of it.  One thing it does is fight fungus pretty effectively.  I mix 2 tablespoons with 2 cups of water.  Use this solution to dampen your potting mix instead of plain water.  Or if you are using paper towels, use it to dampen the towels.

If you are a strict organic gardener, H2O2 is still an option.  Hydrogen peroxide is a naturally produced by plants - but the bottles you buy at the drug store have chemical additives ( I think as preservatives, but I could be wrong on that).  However, you can find food grade hydrogen peroxide, and this is an organic product.  I haven't done a lot of research on food grade H2O2 (yet), so if you are using it you will have to do your own legwork.  I do know that it comes in much stronger concentrations, so you will have to adjust for that when you make your mixtures.

Once your mix is ready, add your seeds.  Mix it up so that the seeds get spread out in the baggie and have good contact with the soil.  Seal up the baggie and put it in your fridge.  I put mine in the crisper drawer of the old fridge we have in the garage.  Don't put them in the freezer.  You want the temp of the fridge to be at least down to 40 degrees, maybe a touch cooler.  Some people suggest taking the seeds out every week or so and letting them warm up slightly, then returning them to the cold temps.  This mimics the temperature fluctuations of a natural environment.  I didn't bother, and it didn't seem to matter, but you can decided what you want to do.

Here are my seed baggies all ready to go in the fridge:

Check your seeds at least once a week.  If the potting mix is getting dry, put some H2O2 mixture in a spray bottle and mist the mix to add some moisture.  Look for the seeds - you will want to keep an eye out for root tips.  This will be a tiny white piece coming out of the seed.  They can be hard to see, but most rose seeds are large enough that you can see them if you look carefully.  Use a magnifying glass if you need to.  A seed with a root tip has germinated and is ready to be planted.  But you must be very careful - those root tips break off very easily, and that means death for your seed.

My rose seeds developed root tips much quicker than I expected.  Maybe I was lucky, maybe my fridge should have been a touch cooler, or maybe the seed seller let the seeds stratify before harvesting them.  Who knows?  All I know is, less than two weeks after putting my seeds into cold treatment, I had root tips.  When to plant is kind of a balancing act.  You want a good number of seeds to have root tips - if you plant too soon, seeds may not germinate.  But if you wait too long, the seeds will sprout before you get them planted, and it is difficult to work with a seed that has a tiny & extremely delicate sprout attached.  This is one way stratifying in a tray has an advantage - the seeds are already planted, you just pull the tray out after a few weeks or if you start seeing sprouts.  But with the baggies, you know how many seeds are germinated and can get a better idea of the best time to pull your seeds from the fridge.

Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of a root tip at this time - at the next opportunity, I will take one and add it.  But if you are really unsure of what you are looking for, Google the term and you should get lots of good pictures.

Once your seeds are ready to plant, pull them out of the fridge and let them warm up.  Now you have to decide how you want to plant them.  A friend of mine had an extra seed tray with the little soil pods that expand when you add water.  I used that for some of my seeds, and filled the plastic lid with potting mix to plant the rest of the seeds in.  With the pods, I dumped the seed mix onto a paper towel and used tweezers to separate out the seeds.  This was a long, slow process, and you have to be very careful not to break the root tips off.  I put two seeds in each pod, assuming that not all would survive.  When I ran out of room, I used my labeled bags to make sections in the other tray, dumped in the seed mixture, spread it out, and covered it lightly with potting mix.  The seeds do not need to be very deep at all - barely covered works well.  Just make sure you are still keeping track of which seeds are where - there will be no way to tell them apart if they aren't labeled.

Now, this is a pretty easy way to get the seeds planted and let them take off.  The problem is, you will later have to separate the little plants out to repot them.  I had a much higher germination rate than I expected, and my seed trays ended up being very crowded.  The seedlings became twisted and difficult to remove without breaking them.  The soil pods worked a little better, because even if both seeds sprouted and survived, at least they weren't tangled up with 20 other fragile plants.  It wasn't too hard to break the soil pod in half and replant.  But, if you plant a lot of seeds, this requires a lot of seeds trays and enough space to put them in.  Next year, I will probably try something different with this process - look for that info at the end of the post.

Once the seeds are planted, water with your H2O2 mixture.  Give them a good soaking, but don't overdo it.  You want the soil to stay moist, but too much water may still cause your seeds to rot.  Put the trays where they can get some light - mine were on my dining room table, a room that has a lot of bright, indirect sunlight.  Once your seedlings start emerging, I suggest moving them immediately into a place where they can get plenty of sun.  If the weather is warm enough (no chance of freeze, night temps staying above 40) you could put the seed trays outside.  Your plants would get plenty of light and wouldn't have to be hardened off later.  But, outside you can't control the environment as well - a rainstorm, strong winds, or hungry critters could quickly destroy your seedlings.  Mice love rose seeds, by the way!

Here is a look at my seed trays when I finished planting:

Depending on how many seeds you had with root tips, you may see emerging seedlings very quickly.  I had some sprouts breaking the seed coats as I was planting, and a lot of root tips.  Here are my roses emerging:

 

When the seedlings emerge, they should have a pair of leaves. These are not true leaves.  These are called cotyledons.  They generally store food for the seedling until it is capable of photosynthesizing.  After a week or two, the first true leaves will emerge, and they will be a different size and shape.  Eventually the cotyledons will die off. 

Keep your seedlings watered and let them have plenty of sun.  If they didn't emerge to full sun, increase the amount they get each day so you don't burn them with sudden sun exposure.  Keep using the H2O2 mixture to water until they have several true leaves.  This will help prevent losing all your seedlings to fungal infections.  This is important - the biggest threat to your babies is damp off, which will kill them before you even know it is there.  All of a sudden, a seedling will shrivel up and turn brown, and that's it.  In addition to watering with the H2O2 mixture, use a spray bottle and mist your seedlings every day or two with the mixture.  Watering with the mixture prevents root disease, misting prevents leaf disease.  Misting also increases the humidity, which roses like.  If the top of your seedlings are turning brown, they probably need more humidity.

Once the seedlings have a few true leaves (2-5), you can transplant them into their own little pot.  The smaller the plant is, the more difficult this will be, so the longer you can wait without the plant suffering for it, the better.  I had to move mine because the tray was so crowded, and they were still very small.  I lost quite a few because I broke the main stem trying to extract them. 

At this point, I put my seedlings into the large disposable plastic cups you get for picnics, etc.  They are a good size for this project, and fairly cheap.  Plus, I can use them again next year.  I would suggest poking a hole or two in the bottom for drainage - I didn't think to do this, and I wished many times that I had.  Use a potting mix - at this point you can use one with fertilizers if you wish.  If you add fertilizers, be careful - start with about 1/4 normal strength and work your way up so you don't burn the plants.  I continued to use Miracle Gro since it was on hand, and didn't have any problems.  After a few weeks, I sprinkled on small amounts of the granular slow release flower food I use in my gardens.  Give each plant its own cup, and use a Sharpie to label the cups so you can continue to identify which plants came from which seeds.

I moved my seed trays outside once I realized that my seedlings needed more sun.  I put them on my porch, where they are protected from heavy rain and get bright, indirect light most of the day, and direct sun part of the day.  When you move your plants outside, they need to be hardened off - gradually accustomed to the wind and sun so they won't get burned.  Do this by putting your trays outside for an hour or so the first day, then a little longer the second day, and build up over a week or so until they are outside all the time.  This is obviously easier to do if the seedlings are all in a tray instead of individual pots, so I suggest hardening them off before the first transplanting.



Roses need a lot of sun and a lot of water, especially if you have a hot summer like we do.  Also, rabbits love the tender new growth on rose plants - so you should consider how to keep them away.  Some people sprinkle cayenne pepper or use chemical deterrents.  I have found that the most effective way to keep the rabbits and squirrels away from my plants is to collect the hair my yellow lab sheds and spread it on and around any plants that I want to protect.  I have to reapply every couple of weeks or so, but the fresh scent of dog has worked pretty well for me.

You will have to decide if you want to spray your plants for bugs and diseases.  Once my plants moved outside, I stopped using the H2O2 mixture on them.  I never treated them to prevent insects from feeding.  My thought was that I wanted strong plants that could resist diseases and bugs, and the plants that didn't survive weren't worth keeping.  You may feel differently.  I do suggest fertilizing once they start to get bigger.  Plants need food - a starving plant won't produce many flowers, and those little cups will get depleted of nutrients pretty quickly.

Once your seedlings are in individual pots, they should be settled for several weeks.  Mine are now a couple of months old, and are starting to bloom.  This is the most exciting part - getting that first look at the flowers you worked so hard to raise.  I purchased some 6 inch inexpensive pots from a school supplier.  As each of my rose babies blooms, it gets assigned a number.  I use this number to record the parent of the plant, the initial bloom color and type, and the date it bloomed.  I give it a name & will also record where it is going - if I give it away to someone, sell it to someone, keep it, or if it doesn't survive.  I transplant it into a bigger pot and label the pot, then put it somewhere on my patio to get lots of sun.  Once they bloom, your babies are well on their way to adulthood.

Eventually I will write an entry that deals with culling your rose crop to get rid of undesirable traits, and how to identify the type of roses you have.  But for now, I am enjoying my new babies too much to think about discarding any of them just yet.

As I said, I decided to grow roses from seed on a whim.  I wanted to see if I could, and apparently, I can!  I have a lot of babies to find homes for.  But it has been an interesting experience, and I have learned a lot along the way.

Next year, I will make some changes.  Now that I have some experience, I have some different ideas.  Instead of mass planting in a seed tray, I may go ahead and plant the individual seeds in their own cups from the very beginning.  This will take a lot of time, and it will mean that my roses will be outside from Day 1.  But I don't want to end up with crowded, overgrown seedlings, and I won't have to worry about transplanting until they begin to bloom, so I am really just putting the time and effort in at a different point in the process.  To make planting a little easier, I may try the paper towel method for stratifying.  This would save me the painstaking process of sorting the seeds out from the potting mix when it is time to plant.  But I am not decided on this, because I think the soil contact does really help with germination.  That may be part of why I had so many plants sprout this year. 

When it comes time to start my next batch of seeds, I will keep you updated on the changes I make and how it goes.  If you are trying to grow your own rose babies, good luck!!

Next up: Undecided - you will have to be surprised!