For many roses, it can be harvested all the way to the full open stage. Some, such as the Basye's Legacy type, begin releasing their pollen VERY early. You can safely harvest pollen as soon as the sepals begin peeling away from the petals. If you collect it at that stage, you are probably more likely to get as much as possible from each bloom. It will probably require being dried for a day, two or three before it begins releasing from the anthers, depending upon the temperatures and humidity, as well as the particular variety. For pollen collection, shouldn't make much difference which of the Austins you are using,

When you say, "nothing has worked", do you mean the pollen hasn't released from the anthers or none of the blooms you've pollinated have produced hips? And, are you sure the seed parents you have tried, set hips? Some roses simply will not set seed, while others seem to set hips and seed from every bloom.

Well, it's kind of a long story. But, I tried collecting pollen last spring. I collected the anthers/stamen and tried getting the pollen to spurtz out. It never did. So I just dropped the stamens with the filaments on - right on to the sticky ovaries. Nothing happened. I tried many, many roses.

So was it the heavy rain/cool weather we get every spring/early summer?

Was it that the pollen didn't spurtz?

Was it that the roses were sterile?

I don't know.

I just started collecting anthers/filaments the past week. I've tried warming them up in the oven after starting the oven for a few minutes, then shutting it off. I think those got too hot. Threw them away.

Now I have some in the freezer where the pollen actually spritzed. I placed them beside the stove while I do my cooking. Gets kind of warmish - but not very. That seemed to work.

I've taken pollen from roses that HMF says were pollen parents. Quite a lot of mine are listed as having any descendents. So I guess I have a lot of sterile roses.

But, in the spring, I'm going to try with my friend's hardy roses and my tender rose pollen. Her roses set hips that turn red. Last summer many of my roses set hips, but they didn't ripen. Some actually had seeds in the hips, but there wasn't time for them to ripen. Whereas my friend's OGRs, rugosas, and rugoas hybrids did set hips that I germinated and grew. They haven't flowered yet. So I'm just thinking that the tender roses (in pots) can't fully ripen seeds. Not really sure.

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't know that you can dry them for up to 3 days. I always thought if they didn't spurtz by the next day that I should throw out the anthers. Whoops.

I also didn't know about the sepals being an indicator.

Thanks!!

Carol

Hi- I usually gather pollen (anthers and stamens) in the morning, place them in an open, tiny ziplock container and let them dry out, usually on top of my fridge. By evening I can usually see them releasing their pollen. The next day I put the lid on and shake the heck out of it. Usually I can see pollen coating the inside of the container. (Some varieties just never release much pollen but most do.) From that point I use the pollen for a week or so, or until it runs out. I just wipe the side of the container with my finger, coating my finger with pollen, and then really plaster it onto the rose I want to pollinate. I had a pretty good year for pollinations; whether they're all viable seeds remains to be seen.

Thanks, Donald! I've had success this fall with gathering pollen. I'm quite amazed that it's working! Yay!! I think the finger idea is a good one.

I love that you've got hips!!! Can't wait to see some seedlings!

I have hips too, but they're from my friend's garden. She has a lot of rugosa/rugosa hybrids, OGRs, and Explorer roses. So, I'm going to be getting those seeds going pretty soon. They're in my fridge right now.

I'm so excited about the whole process.

Carol