No no mold, must be paper towel your seeing. But thanks so much for the tip. So you just sow them in seed mix, when you are ready?

Being in a completely different and more benign climate than where you are, yes. I can plant nearly ten months of the year successfully. As long as it should remain mild, I plant when I have collected enough to fill slots in the tables I created to raise the seeds in. I've detailed them, and what I am able to do here on my blog. I prepare the tables for planting after I've removed the previous batch of seedlings from it, then plant as more seeds are harvested. As it only takes about 110 days from pollination for them to be sufficiently mature, I can keep going almost year round, pretty much about ten months of the year. One of the many benefits of this location. As they are outdoors, all I really have to do is keep the tables watered; keep them covered with screen to prevent the birds from eating the seeds and seedlings; make sure they don't grow through the screen covers before being transplanted and watch them grow. I have experimented with a suggestion from the Rose Hybridizers Association about treating the tables with calcium nitrate as it's supposed to help germination. I can't say whether it actually does or not, but I will continue as I had to buy 50# of it to get just calcium nitrate without anything else in it. And, it only takes about a teaspoon per gallon of water, used once, after planting, so I have more than a life time's supply. Thankfully, I was able to get it wholesale! The retail sources wanted $65 for it!

Kim, I neglected to plant the seeds you sent me right away. Is it still ok to plant them outside, now? I was sick, and then busy. Sorry about that. The good news is that it seems some of the “Green Rose Reversion” cuttings seem to be making it. They’re not growing gangbusters or anything, but one container in particular still looks quite good. The canes are still green, and surely they would be black by now if they were going to die. I hope? Thanks, Lisa

Hi Lisa, I'm glad you're better! No worries, particularly with the weather we've been having. It's actually excellent for germination. Cooler, damper, wetter (as long as it's above freezing) helps to stimulate them to come up. Plant them as soon as it's convenient for you and you feel up to it, but keep in mind, YOU are the MOST important! If you never get them planted and you remain healthy, what's the loss? Congratulations on the Green Rose Reversion cuttings! I would say their remaining green without a lot of growth on them should be good news! You're welcome! Good luck! Kim

roseseek, I winter sowed mine. They were in 20 degree weather. We even got snow. (rare here) I am going to have to get my list and review my seedlings. I have some that are extremely robust! I used a marker to number the sides of each plastic cup to the corresponding number I gave the rose seeds on my list. I am tickled to death with them!

I know you guys are dying for an update, I mean, it has been a couple of days!

There are a number of things and thoughts involved. If your weather cooperates, remains cooler, damper, perhaps with some rains, definitely, separate them into individual pots so they can continue developing. If you can realistically expect your conditions to get hotter and drier, you could upsize the whole soil mass into larger pots and allow them to continue growing together until next fall/spring, when they can be separated into individual pots. It all depends upon what your weather should be expected to do and what works best for you. If you are comfortable it's still safe to separate and transplant small seedlings with what your weather should be expected to provide, go for it! They can endure quite a bit of disturbance, even to the point of being bare rooted, as long as it will stay cool and damp. We've had very stiff, very dry winds which have dried out pots of moisture control soil very quickly, but with the very damp, cool nights, the several year old seedlings I've had to virtually bare root to get the Bermuda grass out of have seemed to not even notice. The newly emerging foliage and the few developing flower buds haven't even wilted and some flowers are actually beginning to open. That surprises me due to the uncharacteristically cold temps we've had the past few days. Our "average temp" here is 75. Two nights ago, it dropped to 26, then 28, 32 and now above freezing. The tender things such as the Cassia didymobotrya are complaining bitterly with frozen foliage and looking quite distressed. None of the roses have even noticed. The hibiscus sinensis are all covered either by the patio cover or frost cloth and sheets in the yard and from what I can see, they don't look "happy" but they seem not to be damaged. The exposed, repotted roses are all continuing to just grow and come out of dormancy. That wouldn't have been as simple had it turned hot and dry. What do you think your conditions will be for the next couple of weeks?

Do you transfer them to regular potting soil?

Roseseek, I took your advice about putting them in the same pot. It’s hot here, but they are shaded in my hoop house. I was afraid to leave them much longer! You have bred some beast! The roots were around two inches long! Wow! I do have some still in cups, but they are newly sprouted. I put them all in an earth box. (first time winter sowing and I did not have them in full cups. Lesson learned! I made the same mistake on a few other seeds. Had to plant them up to! They were growing in 2 inches of soil. I didn’t think that everything would sprout so fast!

You were taking about dormancy and I have a question.. I set up my cattle panel hoop house to uses as a shelter for my rooted babies over the winter. We had nights in the low 20s and days that stayed in the low 30s. (Not many). It seemed like my rooted cuttings and bands never stopped growing. I had cuttings leaf out right after a freeze. Crazy. I am glad, don’t get me wrong, but they were in an unheated environment. The humidity on the inside on the plastic would freeze. I just set up the hoop house to keep the frost off them. I thought they would go dormant and lose their leaves. During the cold times, I would leave it closed and at 10 am roll the sides a foot to get the air flow.

Congratulations! It appears as if you are a "natural"! You would be surprised just how cold tolerant roses can be, particularly when given more than just half a chance. Your lows weren't low enough, nor long enough to do any real damage. Many years ago, we had what was being advertised as "The Alaska Blaster", a severe cold front which swept down from Alaska into Southern California. We had days of hard frosts and even snow where there hadn't been snow in many decades. My roses never stopped flowering, nor were there any with freeze damage. I did nothing, other than to keep them watered and they all kept right on doing what they had prior to the cold front. I'm sure it would have been significantly different had there been many days of single digit to sub zero weather, combined with bright sun and the freeze and thaw episodes which can devastate many plant types.

Keeping the frost from forming directly on the leaves, seedlings and cuttings surely helped prevent any damage to them. I did the same here, though no where near as elaborately as you did for yours and they have kept right on germinating and growing. Good job!

Kim when you transfer the seedlings, do you transfer them to regular potting soil?

I do, Alana. I raise them directly in Miracle Gro Moisture Control potting soil (not the "organic" stuff, which is nasty, but I use it for larger plants because it costs two-thirds what the better stuff costs and when you're buying ten bags at a time, that adds up!) so I reuse the soil from the seed tables and add fresh to it as I pot them up. I would suggest using whatever soil you find most suitable for your conditions. They germinate and grow in plain old dirt in Nature. It is we who expect them to require expensive, "scientific" stuff.

I just potted them up. I used a soil mixture I mix and mixed some bone meal in for root development. Didn't add any nitrogen or anything to burn them. I potted the single ones up in their own pot and one large group I split up using a spoon where I could with out hurting them. The spoon worked perfect, I used it to do them all. Here they are. I do hope these live!

They look good to me! I'd put them back under the cover to keep them in higher humidity.

Ok I thought you said the higher humidity caused aphids and such. I'll put something over them. I think I'll use a gallon Ziploc, or a quart bag. Thanks for telling me they needed covering.

Alana, those are awesome! What are they? I also used the Miracle Grow moisture stuff. (all I had) I do not have mine covered. They are protected from the top, by the plastic on my hoop house, but I have the sides rolled up. I did not know I needed to worry about aphids!!! UGH!! Now you have me freaking!

I thought Kim mentioned the aphids up top, but I looked and couldn't find it, maybe I'm wrong..

Galgal I couldn't tell you who they are. I do know all these seedling are off of my once bloomers.

Higher humidity can help aphids get established (as well as other more "green house condition" loving insects) but higher humidity will also help any plant whose roots have been disturbed to re establish itself without wilting. They also help cuttings continue developing because they help reduce the water stress problems which can cause them to fail. It's a balancing act. The humidity is beneficial in helping plants not quite ready to support themselves in harsher conditions to survive as well as helping to foster those insects and fungi/bacteria which also flourish in it. You pay attention and handle whatever starts happening.

Thanks!

Kim, question, I did some roses using your burrito method and out of the nine different varieties, 7 got potted up, now two out of the 7 don't look as awesome as the other five, but I think it may be because they were newer plants that I got last year. Now my question is do I leave them with out a cover or put a two liter bottle over them to hold humidity?

Edited to say:

I followed your instructions and soaked the paper towel and then wrung them as dry as I could. I think that helped my success. Then I put then in plastic grocery bags , tied them and got out all the air, put labels in with each variety in their bags, and put them in a shoe box. I used rooting hormone powder, I left them two weeks and I think two days because I couldn't get to them until now. Here's a picture.

Lily I wanted you to know I went on eBay and got me a sweetspire for 4 or 5$ from that dude they recommended in the perennial thread in the rose forum. It was a plug starter plant but the stuff I got from him was so well rooted! Just so you can maybe get you some stuff, where you can get a variety of plants, he has clematis too and it doesn't cost a arm and a leg.

Hi Alana, whether to cover them or not depends upon how humid it is there. If you're getting rains and the humidity is decent, I would put them where they can get rain. Being kept bathed in water helps push them to grow. I can never depend upon rain nor consistent humidity, which is why I plant them so deeply after removing from the wraps. These cuttings go almost all the way to the bottom of the bands, leaving just the tops to protrude from the soil. That keeps them cooler, darker and damper while permitting the green parts exposed above the soil level to absorb light and begin photosynthesizing for themselves. Add rain and it would be perfect...as long as the soil drains and doesn't remain too damp. Normally, I would cut them a bit shorter so less protrudes, but these are being rooted for stocks and I wanted to allow as much smooth cane without any growth buds to bud in. When I start seeing roots growing out of the bottoms, I will invert them with the cutting between my fingers and bounce them to loosen the soil so they slide out of the bands. I will then put more soil in the bands, replace the soil ball on top of that new soil and press them down, removing the soil above the top of the band sides so they will be raised in them, allowing the roots to grow into the new soil. When the roots grow out the bottoms again and new growth is vigorously growing, they will be ready to either bud in the bands or be planted into gallons, ready for budding.

Are yours indoors or out? How rainy and damp is it there? I didn't think it was damp enough in Encino where we had inland valley heat and very low recorded humidity levels for them to work, so I tried covering them. They all molded. That's why I hit upon planting them deeply, as you would mound up a new bare root to keep it "dormant" until it develops roots. I hope that helps.

Hey, mine are outdoors, we are getting rain today, but it's the last we will get until next week. So I guess tomorrow I'll start covering them. Our highs are in the 60s for the next week :). So I think my timing may have been perfect. Thanks so much!

You're welcome! Does it remain humid after your rains? It may seem an odd question, but with our perverse climate, often, as soon as the rain stops, the dry winds begin in a seeming effort to take all the rain it gave, back. Check your humidity levels. As long as they remain high enough for the soil in the pots to remain damper, it may be too damp to cover them. You don't want to get this far only to lose them to mold. Good luck!

Sometimes it does, so I will check the weather before covering them.

Good! Once covered, keep checking. It won't take much of a rise to help them mold.

Alana, I don't know if I would cover them. I never cover mine. We southerners are blessed with high humidity. I found that I would kill them when I tried to harden them off. (one of my many life lessons with cuttings!) Just make sure they are where they can drain good. I left mine to mother nature.

Thanks!

Update...some of the seedlings have tiny little buds! It’s so exciting!!

Were these some that you started earlier? Mine are still small, or is it cause mine were mostly OGR?

Alana, they are the same as above. It may be type rose. I believe many of the crosses used for mine were minis. I also have a very hot mirco climate area with my hoop house. White sandy ground, with a light wood fence. The temp is so much warmer and its much brighter there. (of course, I can't grow anything in the ground in that spot, because it is near my septic tank and the ground is hard as a brick!!)

Alana, my blush noisette is really jumping!! (as well as they others you sent!) Thank you!!! You are an awesome rose starter!

Alana, congratulations! Don't worry about their size at this stage. That can a function of age of the seedling, genetics, and/or the conditions under which they have been raised. It doesn't necessarily mean you have done anything "wrong". Some of my most vigorous seedlings were tiny and apparently "weak" to start with. Some of the others started like bulls right out of the ground. Just like some people started as tiny infants until their make ups decided it was TIME!

I think it may be because we have gone back kinda cold since they all came up. Also as you said genetics. As soon as you said galgal that the ones you had were minis, I knew right off.I had to cover them up more then a few times because of low morning temps. We are suppose to have a warm this week and they should more likely grow more than. These may grow slow, because all but 3 seedlings are OGR so far. The only reason I know this is because all the seedlings that came up in the one container were leftover couple of year old OGR seeds and three came up from the new container that I just put the seeds straight in without any cold from the fridge like the others. I just did them straight in our yard. We have had some cold weather since doing it but I am not sure cold enough for the OGR to come up this year. I planned on leaving these in the yard and over this next winter to see how they come up. Hopefully I can keep them damp enough over the summer.

They are pretty strong though. I think one pot I'm going to move because my cats have knocked the same pot over twice so it must be in a location they use alot. Heres a new photo

They look great! I battle squirrels here! I had to wrap my hoop house in that plastic bird netting. Those dang squirrels dig in my pots! It doesn’t hurt the big ones, but it totally uproots my little plants!! I am gonna try to cross some roses this year. Just to try it. It will probably be a big bust, but can’t hurt to try!!

I know I am not alone when I say I am sick of this weather!!! I am ready for some true warm spring! We are gonna be in the 80s wed.!! Woo hoo! I am ready!

UPDATE! I have two blooms on my babies!

They are beautiful, I have a hard time choosing a favorite!

Alana, a red opened and it is fragrant! Not super strong but you can smell it about 3 inches from your nose! Woo hoo. I’ll het a pic of it later.

You are a propagating inspiration!!! You'll be opening your own Etsy shop before we know it! ; )

Vape, while that would be fun, it would also be a lot of work! Something I am trying avoid right now...lol I actually enjoy the growing process. I work in my yard all the time, but there is only so much you can do everyday! Rooting plants gives me something to piddle with! (you know I gotta piddle!) Almost all my little seedlings have buds! I bought the big wooden craft sticks and I am writing the description of the plant on it and fragrance. It's too fun!

More babies are blooming! I cannot get over how vivid the colors are! My phone doesn’t do them justice!

Wonderful! Congratulations! Now, can you imagine what it must have felt like for the breeders to see the first flowers of roses such as Peace, Double Delight, Mr. Moore's first stripes, the first Hulthemia hybrids and Jim Sproul's first Eyeconic seedlings? Wow!

Kim, I just couldn't imagine! This has just been so fun. I do have many babies that have a touch of mildew, but I am leaving them be. They are growing and putting out new leaves.. I have been awed by the strong, vivid colors! Just amazing!

New today! A cool burgundy red!

Beautiful pictures galgal!

Oh Gagal!!! Such lovelies!!! My favorite is the pink rose (bottom pic) from April 13th. So fabulous!! Love them all!!

Carol