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rosariveter

Growing Roses From Seed indoors

RosaRiveter
9 years ago

Im not an experienced gardener or rose grower.. but my interest in plants has grown recently. Ive always had some random house plants that can tollerate my lack of attention.. The past few months, I started paying attention to them, and it seems I have a natural green thumb! Plants seem to like me.. hell they did just fine when I barely paid attention to them.

So anyways.. Ive fallen in love with the idea of growing roses, but I cant ever seem too much info about growing them from seed. Let alone even seeds! So google to the rescue. I ordered some Osiria Rose seeds (And they should be here any day!).

These will be grown indoors in large pots, under T5 lights... I know it may seem silly to not have them outside.. but keep in mind I live at 9000ft, and I dont get the best sun through any of my windows. I happen to have T5 light hoods from something my girlfriend cultivates indoors. Since what shes cultivating pays for all the electrical useage.. im not too opposed to growing things that are just pretty for fun :)

In the past when Ive grown some things again it may seem silly, but I really enjoy mixing my own soil from raw materials. Ive already made some superior cactus soil by buying bags of all the things I need and mixing them in parts. I gather joy from this part of growing.. and havnt had much fun in just buying premade mixes from stores.. I only do that for a few things.. My pride plants (cactus, certain flowers, and now roses!) Id really like to mix up my own soil... any recipies anyone has??

Also I can be paitent. I just planted some cactus that wont be mature for a decade! How long would you say it takes to grow a mature rose from seed? Anything special I need to do in the begining? Any tips from people who have actually done this?

Im not totally opposed to a premixed soil, if you know of one that is just perfect for this situation.

Oh and in particular that may be specialized knowledge.. What kind of light cycles to roses like? Being that I control the sun I can really make them grow with efficency. Most plants seem to like 18hours for daylight for growing and 12 hours for flowering. I know very little about roses, and almost everyone grows them at the mercy of season and sun outdoors. Me personally Id love it when its cold and snowing for 9months of the year to come into my house filled with beautiful plants in various stages of growing... plus... who wouldnt want a beautiful osiria rose from christmas? :) Thanks for your help!

Comments (5)

  • seil zone 6b MI
    9 years ago

    Well, RR, where do I begin? First off, where did you get those seeds? Ebay, perchance? I hate to break it to you but you may well have been scammed. There are some very unscrupulous dealers on there and others who bought seeds this way ended up with anything from roses to radishes.

    You need to know that roses DO NOT grow true to variety from seeds. There are a very few exceptions in the wild rose category that will self seed and grow true but all other varieties, especially modern hybrid tea roses like Osira, do not. Each individual seed will be it's own new variety. It may look similar to either of it's parents or it may look like any of the roses that went into the parents breeding but it will not be the same rose. So Osira seeds will not grow Osira rose bushes. The only ways to to grow roses true to their original variety is by rooted cuttings or bud grafting. Basically cloning.

    Secondly, not knowing exactly what your growing set up is, I will tell you that, for the most part, roses HATE to be inside. It is very difficult to produce the right temperature, humidity and light combination that will make them happy and thrive. I have tried many things and never succeeded in keeping even the small mini roses alive indoors for more than a couple of months. Barely long enough for winter to end and I can plant them outside.where they immediately perk up.

    I do hybridize roses and start my seedlings in January inside under lights during the winter. But as soon as it's warm enough for them to go outside they do! Sometimes that's as early as March if at all possible. They always struggle until they get out in natural sunshine and humidities and then they take off like gangbusters!

    If you'd like to know how I do my seeds send me a PM with your email address and I'll send you the paper I did for my rose society. Or go to the link below which is the Propagation forum and you'll find tons of info on how to grow rose seeds. There are as many ways to do it as there are growers, lol!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Propagation forum on GW

  • RosaRiveter
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    bummer to hear about the seeds.. :/
    Oh well I only paid 5 dollars. As for growing inside.. well really all I need to do is recreate what they get outside. Trust me.. my gf has a room of 40 plants thiving inside. We adjusted the humidity and temp to be exactly what that plant wants. So I know its entirely possible to do it with roses. Really I just need to know what roses want. Obviously Id rather have them in my living room, but I have some spare rooms to grow them in and create the enviroment they want.

    So my question is.. wheres the info on what they like? What do you think failed you before growing inside? Humidity? Temp? or Light? I can control light and temp fairly easy. Humidity might require a bit more.. Do they like more or less? I live in an old house, and a dry climate, generally, my house is dry (althought the addition of plants has increased the humidity a bit _

  • mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
    9 years ago

    I've overwintered roses under fluorescent lights in the basement. Compared to upstairs, the basement is cool and damp. The coolness allowed me to get away with less than optimal light. The humidity may be more important.

  • seil zone 6b MI
    9 years ago

    Mad is right, they need cooler and damper conditions than most homes have. I can't give you exact figures because I really don't know. They also like good air circulation too so you'd need a fan to create some air movement. I guess if you can provide all of that it might work. But truthfully it will be a hard job to keep them happy. They're better off outside.

  • henry_kuska
    9 years ago

    "The Effect of Photon Flux Density and Lighting Period on Growth, Flowering, Powdery Mildew and Water Relations of Miniature Roses"

    See:

    http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=46556#.U5c9PvldWcU

    Here is a link that might be useful: link for above