Return to the Roses Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
Posted by
lceh 7 (
My Page) on
Wed, Jul 20, 11 at 23:10
| This is my first summer with the Rugosa hedge I planted last fall (mostly Foxi, plus 2 Fru Dagmars and 2 Hansas). We have acid, clay soil, so we turned up the whole strip and added amendments to break up the clay before planting. This spring everything leafed out beautifully, and the shrubs were covered with roses which turned into huge, beautiful hips. Then about a month ago leaves started turning yellow, then dropping off. I figured it was an iron deficiency and gave them iron. Now the yellowing has stopped, but some of that first crop of hips is starting to look shrivelled and the stems are turning brown, while at the same time the shrubs are putting out new growth and reblooming. What's going on? Would iron deficiency cause this, or is there some other problem? Do I need to water more? I'm distressed to see those hips getting wrinkled, I planted these shrubs for a harvestable crop of hips and I'm not sure these will hang on until first frost for harvesting. Otherwise the plants look very happy and healthy. Please advise! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Could it be that you sprayed them? I sprayed mine with fungus spray, when I did the rest of the roses. OOOPs~I thought I had killed them, but they came back ok. |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Nope, no spray. Nothing but water and iron. It almost looks like the hips are over-ripe or something? They look like the photos I've seen of hips ready for harvest after a frost (soft and wrinkly, with brown stems and blossom ends), but it's hot as heck here now. Not all of the hips are like this, some are as fat and taunt as ever. The bushes just finished a rebloom and are getting ready to make new hips, so I know they're happy. (It's my first time with Rugosas, so I'm a newbie on the hip-harvesting thing.) |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| DO NOT SPRAY RUGOSAS. What you are seeing is perfectly normal. Shrivelling hips and dieback is normal for rugosas (and many other plants). The hips are seed pods, just like on other shrubs and perennials. The hips are shrivelling because they are drying out and getting ready fall off, open up and spread the word. Just like apples. The dieback is because that branch has done its duty. The plant's energy can now be directed to new growth, new flowers, new hips... To prevent this, remove the hips while they are still green. I leave only the last batch of hips in the fall. Or, if you want to use them for jelly, pick them just as they turn red, before they shrivel. For rose hip tea, you can wait until they dry a bit and then they are easier to grind up. Iron deficiency is very obvious. The leaves turn chloritic (light yellowish green) and the veins stand out a darker green. |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Thanks Catsrose. I figured out yesterday that they were probably just ripe and went ahead and harvested them for rose hip syrup (yum!). I only picked the ones that were soft when gently squeezed, but there are lots of bright red ones that are still hard -- should I harvest those now too, or wait until they're a bit softer? I'm glad that's all it is, everything I read about rugosas said to wait until after first frost to harvest and that threw me. Now I know to harvest in waves starting in mid- late summer. Thanks! |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Reviving this thread because I think I have the same condition, and I'm wondering if it's ok to prune off the area of dead leaves and shriveled hips. I'd like to clean up the hedge, it just looks so unkempt. But in a mid-summer drought, will it be ok to hack the branches back a bit? |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Laurie, sure, have at it. |
RE: Rugosa hips shrivelling, but plants happy -- why?
| | |
| Thanks, Michael, I was definitely looking for permission. Sometimes you just need to hack. Now I can say 'Michaelg said I could!' |
Post a Follow-Up
Please Note: Only registered members are able to post messages to this forum. If you are a member, please log in.
If you aren't yet a member, join now!
Return to the Roses Forum
Instructions
- You must be a registered member and logged in to post messages on our forums.
- Posting is a two-step process. Once you have composed your message, you will be taken to the preview page. You will then have a chance to review the contents and make changes.
- After posting your message, you may need to refresh the forum page in order to see it.
- It is illegal to post copyrighted material without the owner's consent.
- HTML codes are allowed in the message field only.
- No advertising is allowed in any of the forums.
- If you would like to practice posting or uploading photos, please visit our Test forum.
- If you need assistance, please Contact Us and we will be happy to help.
