No it is not possible to harvest seeds without rose hips. Do you normally remove the wilted flowers from your rose? If so, that's why there are no hips. The hip develops from the center of the flower after being pollinated. So theoretically a rose bush should produce a hip for every flower.

But, here in zone 6 where I am it is too early in the year for rose hips; if you are in a similar zone your rose will also not have any yet.

Well, I tried leaving wilted flowers to produce rose hips but all that was left was a wilted flower, and eventually just a shrivelled up brown thing. Could it just be that my roses aren't being pollinated? Could I just do that myself?

The shriveled up brown thing may develop into a hip, it takes a month or two after the flower falls off for the hip to be noticeable. Most roses will produce hips on their own, all you have to do is ignore the plant. But it's possible yours are not getting pollinated if you have a shortage of bees in your area or if the plant is indoors. Yes you can hand-pollinate roses. The simplest method is to pluck one flower and rub it center to center with any other available flowers. It's also possible to use a paintbrush, tweezers, or q-tip to collect pollen from the anthers and rub it on the pistils. One other possibility - if you have only one kind of rose, it might be genetically sterile, a few varieties are.

I found a good site from the American Rose society that tells about growing seeds from roses..this might give you an idea of how long it takes for the hips to form and what to look for.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rose Hybridizing

I just bought a J&P Disneyland florabunda rose today for $10. it has tons of blooms opening, and had several brown and withered hips. which might not have gotten polinated, oh and it also has a mildew problem. I'll be treating the mildew powder problem with a neem fungicide, and will replant it tonight in a self watering container that I'm going to make for it. I'll keep you posted about weather or not it grows hips.

If the hips are brown and withered that usually means they are empty, unless they have gone through an outdoor winter. Fertilized hips are green until they reach their full size, then turn red when they ripen or the weather gets cold, then may turn black/brown and squishy if left on the plant over the winter.

Many modern roses will not set hips. At least, not reliably. If after the bloom fades, and what remains withers, turns brown/black and crispy, that won't turn into a hip (seed pod). It is dead. You can tell pretty quickly after a bloom fades if it has set a hip, the hips swell fairly quickly.

Just found this thread and I'm really excited to try to grow roses from seeds. I've posted that I bought a house with many neglected, overgrown roses that are 40 years old or more. I was going to cut them way back, but after seeing this thread, I looked them over and there are lots of swollen hips on them.

Think I'll try my hand at growing some from seeds and see how it goes.

I love this forum and am totally hooked on roses now.

I planted 30 Dart's Dash-rosa rugosa-2 years ago-no hips. I chose this variety because they supposedly produce abundant hips.

D you all think I should plant another variety in their midst (I have a hedge) to cross pollinate? Is that the reason I have no hips?

Thanks for your help.

dr.patm - what zone are you in, do you have an abundant bee population, and do you normally remove the flowers after they bloom?

Hi sunshadow,

I am in southwestern Maine- mountain/lake area- zone 4-5, but I usually buy plants based on zone 4 to be sure.

I have TONS of bees!!! I tried an experiment and removed spent blooms on some plants (they are currently sparsely reblooming) and not on others (no hips on either).

Once the flowers drop, there are little things that look like they will develop into hips, but they soon shrivel and die-not one hip in 3 years.

Yes, you should get another rugosa to fertilize your DD: rugosas are notoriously self-infertile.

Thanks, daveinohio. I suspected that was the cause. My hedge row is 2 deep and 30 plants long with a few bare spots where i could insert a different variety. Will I need more than a few new bushes? Also, I chose Dart's dash because of its low growing characteristic. Does anyone have recommendations for a different variety to help cross pollinate but which will also retain a low-growing shape?

Thanks!

Fru Dagmar Hastrup and Purple Pavement have been good smaller rugosas here; both set many hips.

Aha my first rose hips of the year are finally starting to get ripe - I noticed them starting to look a bit yellow/orange today. Maybe in about a month they'll be ready to trade.

Is it possible to ripen a rosehips even when I plucked them early?