When To Pick Your Rose Hips?
A common question is: "when to pick the rose hips?". Rose hips require a long ripening period - usually 60 to 120 days after pollination. Ripening is indicated by the hip beginning to change color, becoming yellow, orange, reddish brown, olive green, or purplish, depending upon the seed parent. The time period can be shortened by wrapping the hips loosely in aluminum foil ( aluminum foil is discussed in "To Hasten the Ripening of Rose Seed",Vera Lebedeff, American Rose Annual, volumn 52, pages 58-59,(1967)). A specific number of days cannot be given as the ripening period depends both on the variety and on the amount of light that the plant has been exposed to.
As the process of ripening continues, the stem will begin to dry (change color) where it is attached to the hip. When this happens, the hip is fully mature and should be picked before it falls off the plant and is lost. Whenever the stem appears to be dying, pick the hip - regardless of color of the hip.
In some areas, the growing season may not be long enough for hips to ripen fully. Leave the hips on the plant as long as the weather will permit. If possible harvest them before the temperature drops much below 32 degrees Fahrenheit ( the exact temperature cannot be given but probably the hips will be undamaged to around 25 degrees. If hips are not fully ripe, cut them off with several inches of stem and at least one set of leaves, place them stem down in water, and store indoors on a sunny window sill to ripen. Add a commercial cut flower preservative to the water.
The following table is from the article: "Germination In Rosa Canina", G.D. Rowley, American Rose Annual, volumn 41, pages 70 - 73, (1956). The research was done at the John Innes Horticultural Institution, Bayfordbury, Hertford, England. Do not be discouraged by the fact that there was very little germination the first year. Species R. Canina seeds take longer to germinate than most hybrid rose seeds.
The septals are the green "leaves" that protect the flower bud before the flower opens. They fold downward when the flower is ready to open.