How to: Self-Starting Rose Hips Gardening

Rose hips contain the rose seeds.

Rose hips are seed pods that develop on a rose bush after it has stopped producing flowers for the year. The hips look like berries and develop at the end of each stem where the flowers dropped off. Inside each hip are multiple seeds that will grow if planted. The resulting rose bushes may be identical to the parent plant but can also be a hybrid if the pollen was from a different rose variety.

Things You'll Need

• Hand pruners
• Newspaper
• Knife
• Paper towel
• Bowl
• Distilled water
• Bleach
• Strainer
• 3 percent hydrogen peroxide
• Food processor
• Dough blender attachment
• Bucket
• Sterile potting soil
• Vermiculite
• Seed tray
• Combination rooting hormone and fungicide powder
• Water

Instructions

Preparing the Rose Seeds

1. Watch the rose plants daily starting in the early to mid-summer until you see tiny red or green, berry-like growths at the end of the stems. Write down the date and wait four months to allow the seeds inside the hips to fully mature.

2. Cut each rose hip off of the stem 1/2 inch below the base using hand pruners.

3. Lay a piece of newspaper on a table and place the rose hips on top. Slice each rose hip open gently with a dull knife to reveal the inner seeds.

4. Scrape the black seeds out of the hips using the knife tip and place them on a paper towel. Discard the pulp and the rose hips.

5. Fill a bowl with a mixture of 1 cup of distilled water and 2 tsp. of bleach. Place all of the rose seeds into the bowl and allow them to soak for 20 to 30 seconds.

6. Pour the mixture through a strainer to remove the seeds and then pour an additional 1 to 2 cups of distilled water through it to rinse the bleach off of the seeds.

7. Fill a bowl with 1 cup of 3 percent hydrogen peroxide, available at any pharmacy, and place the rose seeds back into it. Allow the seeds to soak for 24 hours and then scoop out and discard the ones that float since they are not viable. Pour the mixture through the strainer to discard the peroxide.

8. Insert a dough blender into a food processor and fill the container with 1 cup of distilled water. Place the rose seeds into it and place the lid. Turn the food processor on low for two to three minutes then pour the mixture through the strainer.

Planting the Rose Seeds

1. Fill a bucket with a 50-50 mixture of sterile potting soil and vermiculite. Mix the two well and distribute the mixture into the compartments of a seed tray until each one is 3/4 full.

2. Place one rose seed into the top of each seed tray and then sprinkle a dusting of a combination rooting hormone and fungicide over the top of the compartments.

3. Cover each rose seed with 1/4 inch of the soil mixture and apply another light dusting of hormone/fungicide powder to the top of the soil.

4. Water the seed tray until the soil is saturated and place the tray outdoors in direct sunlight. Choose an area under a patio or tree to protect the trays from frost. The seeds will sprout in approximately six weeks or when the temperatures warm.

References

• Santa Clarita Valley Rose Society: How to Grow Roses from Seed
• Simple Gifts Farm: Growing Roses from Seed