THE JOURNEY

Each spring, a new cycle of the journey begins. Blooms are selected, pollen collected, and crosses are made. The season progresses, and with a great deal of care and a little luck, pollination attempts become developing hips. The season progresses further, and after months of waiting, Fall arrives. Harvest time. The hips are collected, the seeds removed and placed in containers for stratification. A few more months of waiting ensues....and then....germinations. The life of a new rose begins.
So, where exactly do my young seedlings spend those early days of life? In my basement of course! It may seem like an odd place to grow rose seedlings. However, it actually has been working quite well for me up to this point.
	In September, I will usually start prepartion for the winter "growing season" by cleaning all of my growing racks; hosing them down to remove any residue from the previous growing season. All light fixtures are tested and new bulbs are installed. Currently I am using standard T-8 flourescent light fixtures that can be purchased at any Home Depot or Lowes for as little as $10 a piece. I have used a variety of different light bulbs in the last couple of years. I have tried your average cool color light bulb and growth appeared to be quite healthy without issues. Out of curiosity I decided to try a higher intensity bulb this past season and used bulbs with a CR rating 90, and a temp of 4000K. I am not entirely sure that I saw a great amount of improvement in overall growth rate, but believe I am seeing bloom colors that are closer to what I might see if they were grown outside. I intend to split the bulbs next season and use 50% cool color light bulbs and 50% of the 4000K light bulbs.
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	Here you can see the initial stages my seedlings undergo after they begin to germinate. At the first sign of the tap root poking out of the seed casing, they are planted in what are known as band pots. These pots provide ample depth for that inital spurt of root growth, while maximizing the use of shelf space. Until the seedlings have put out several sets of leaves, they are covered with plastic baggies, held in place by rubber bands (pictured to the left). This maintains a moisture rich air environment without having to use a misting device, which as you can imagine, would be a bit difficult for my basement setup. Once they have developed several sets of leaves, the baggies are removed and allowed to grow in open air (pictured to the right).
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Here you can see the seedlings as they continue to mature. Notice the position of the light fixtures. When growing seedlings of any type indoors, it is essential to keep the light source as close as possible to the top growth of the plant. If the light source is too high, growth becomes leggy and sprawling, and out proportion compared to the natural growth experienced in direct sunlight. The exception to this rule would be if you are using high end HID "grow lights" (metal halide or high pressure sodium lights). However, these can get quite expensive to purchase at high numbers, and then to maintain use with bulb replacements. If you don't mind continuously adjusting the height of the light fixture as your seedlings continue to grow, the added expense for HID lights, provides little improvement to the growth rate and health of the seedlings.
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A Rose of My Own * Souderton, PA 18964

Original photographs and site content © Michelle L. LeVan-Steklenski 2004, 2005. All rights reserved.

Page updated on July 12, 2005