Rosehip: Sowing Time

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Almost everyone knows about the benefits of rose hips. Vitamin C, as well as many other useful and necessary substances for the body, are found in fruits, flower petals, and bush leaves. And in some countries, even young shoots of the plant are eaten. Vitamin compotes are cooked from the fruits, and the flowers can be used to make jam. Don't have a rose hip in your garden yet? Well, now is the time to take care of sowing wild rose seeds

Features of the breeding of rose hips

Unlike many other berry bushes, which are recommended to be propagated through cuttings so as not to lose varietal characteristics, rose hips can also be grown from seeds. In this case, a splitting of varietal traits also occurs, but this is practically not noticeable on a wild rose. Another difficulty in seed reproduction is the long period of stratification. This is due to the fact that rosehip seeds are protected by a very hard shell, under which a deeply resting embryo is hidden. That is why some of the seeds that have fallen into the soil often germinate in the second or third year after sowing.

Another important point is that stratification is often unsuccessful from seeds obtained from ripe and overripe fruits. To increase the chances of early germination, they need to be harvested immature when the fruit is close to yellow or turns brown.

Also, when breeding rose hips, you should know that when planting one bush of fruits, you can not wait. Many varieties are self-fertile. And therefore, for pollination, it is required to place plants of different varieties nearby.

Seed preparation for sowing

The collected fruits must be chopped immediately, and then wiped with a sieve. The resulting mass is washed with water, separating the seeds. The collected seed is mixed with wet sand. For these purposes, it is better to choose medium-grained sand. The container with sand and seeds is kept in the refrigerator, periodically moistening and not forgetting to stir.

Sowing of stratified seeds is carried out in the fall. Natural stratification occurs during the winter months. And under favorable conditions in summer, seedlings can be expected to appear on the soil surface.

Rosehip seed sowing technology

For rose hips, you need to allocate a site with highly fertile soil. The beds are prepared with a height of about 10 cm. Furrows up to 3 cm deep are made across the ridges. The distance between them is approximately 12 cm.

The bottom of the planting groove is pressed down so that the soil becomes compacted. Seeds are laid out in them with an interval of 2 cm. On top of the planting they are covered with a layer of humus no more than 1.5 cm. Since the seeds will germinate for a long time, lighthouse crops are also placed here - every 15 cm. This is necessary in order not to lose sight of beds with future shoots.

Rosehip crop care

Until the seedlings appear in the beds, the soil is cultivated, focusing on lighthouse crops. The soil is loosened and weeded. With prolonged dry weather, crops are watered. When the shoots sprout, there will be no need for lighthouse crops. Seedling care consists in weeding from weeds, loosening the beds, watering. As a rule, rosehip germination is rarely higher than 50%. If more than 60% of the seed has sprouted and the plantings still become thickened, they need to be thinned out.

But this does not mean that the seedlings removed from the seedling beds will go to waste. If you pinch their roots and immediately transplant them to another place for growing, you can also get good strong plants from them. The remaining seedlings are grown at the sowing site until next year. For the winter, there is no need to mulch these beds or build any shelters. With the arrival of spring, the shoots of the seedlings are cut off.