A fun experiment, the multiplication of roses by sowing is within everyone's reach. With a little patience you will obtain beautiful surprises!
To know before starting
The majority of roses sold on the market are grafted hybrids for a better resistance to diseases, parasites or unfavorable climates but also to combine the qualities of the two original plants. The sowing of these species may therefore give you a result absolutely different from the mother plant, thus offering you some nice surprises! As the rose is allogamous (i.e. cross-pollinated), you will most often obtain plants that are different from the original plant.
The seedling is very interesting for all those who want to try to obtain a new variety of rose by hybridization.
Harvesting the seeds
Always choose a healthy rose to collect your seeds;
- Pick the rose hips when they are mature, when they start to wilt and soften with a well disinfected pruning shears;
- let the rosehips dry in the open air and under cover for a few days before opening them;
- place the seeds in river sand to which you have added charcoal powder to avoid the development of cryptogamic diseases;
- Pour the seeds into a small paper envelope, write the name of the rose on it, and place the envelope in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator for at least one month (vernalization). The relative cold will trigger the 'awakening' of the seeds.
Sowing roses
- Fill a polystyrene box (like the ones you find at your fishmonger's) with a light mixture of 1/3 potting soil, 1/3 river sand and 1/3 peat moss. Add a handful of charcoal powder to this mixture;
- Pack the surface of the mixture and water to moisten the substrate;
- with a pencil, draw small furrows 10 cm apart;
- Place the seeds in the furrows, spacing them 5 cm apart;
- Then cover the seeds with half a centimeter of river sand;
- spray the surface gently to moisten it well without disturbing the seeds;
- place the box in the dark at a temperature lower than 10°C, but not frozen;
- install then the box under cold frame and keep the substrate slightly wet during all the period of germination.
And then?
Once the seedlings have 4 leaves, transplant into individual rose pots (deeper than wide). The substrate should be well drained and composed of good commercial potting soil, a little vermiculite, clay and chopped straw. Be sure to water your seedlings well and to add fertilizer during the growth period. The plantation in full ground could be envisaged in the autumn, two years after the sowing.
