Hip ripening

Has anyone noticed any appreciable shortening of hip ripening time when grown in high temps and high humidity?
Thanks
John

Re: Hip ripening

My first pollinating was done the first days of April so its been over 100 days and they still aren't ripe and I live on the Gulf coast where its hot and humid.

Patrick

Re: Hip ripening

I have noticed that hip s of my crosses do not ripen as fast as open pollenated ones.

Ron

Re: Hip ripening

John, the only comparison that I can make is between seed parents in the greenhouse (warm and humid) to seed parents grown outdoors (very hot and dry). I have not noticed much difference under those two conditions. I suppose that they might have the same number of heat units since the greenhouse stays warmer at night - but don't know...? Good question.

Jim Sproul

Re: Hip ripening

Aside from variety-specific factors (species, for example, that produce ripe hips in 4-6 weeks), "ripeness" is not necessarily visible to the naked eye. The ripeness that we see (color) is often a result of temperature and relative length of day and night. Together, these things tell the hip to change color. A hip from a July pollination may begin to turn orange just as early as one from an April pollination. In a short-season area such as Michigan, the change may begin in July or August. In a long-season area such as Alabama or Louisiana on the Gulf Coast, the change may not begin until November. But you may be fairly sure that the later seeds will not germinate as well as the earlier ones unless the necessary number of days has been reached or passed.

Past articles in the RHA Newsletter have indicated that, regardless of the color of the hip, seeds on HTs are generally ready to germinate 14 weeks after pollination (and give the best germination if harvested at this time). Probably those in cold climate and warm climate sections of the country could give more specifics about what the date of "ripeness" is for them, and how long that is after pollination. I believe that I"ve seen previous comment that the pollen parent seems to influence the length of time needed for the hips to ripen or at least to appear to ripen. And of course hip colors are quite different from variety to variety--some hips just turn dull green and drop, while the colors on others may be brown, or yellow, or orange, or red.

Re: Hip ripening

Thanks everyone for their comments. I think all the unknowns just make this hobby much more interesting. I also live on the Gulf coast Pat. I have hips on mini's that appear to be ripeing now. I think I will harvest some and leave some and see what happens.
Thanks
John