Hi Lennie, No, 92F is fine. I've tried germinating seeds up to a constant 36C (roughly 97F) and they actually came out faster. The seeds do have to be covered by about half a centimeter of soil and/or sand (about an eighth of an inch?). In your soil-free mix, you should make sure the seeds and later, seedlings, are consistently moist. They are thirsty things when that young and dry out very quickly. Good luck Pagan

Happy Holidays, Michael! 1. How long do they usually take till they usually have their first blooms? Six weeks to never. Some can flower within a month and a little more. Some never flower. Not all are able to flower. 2. I'm not so much concerned about color as that can be a left as a nice surprise but I would like highly fragrant roses, so should I only be growing rose seeds from fragrant varieties or is that also left to chance? Pretty much left to chance. Two highly scented roses can easily produce one without scent, and vice versa. There are many things which affect scent. An old article of mine on Help Me Find - Roses helps to shed some light on scent. There are likely more recent discoveries, but the basics are still there. 3. Could I winter sow seeds? It's my first year trying that with other seeds so I figure why not rose seeds? lol Winter is when you should sow rose seeds. Their germination slows to a virtual halt once temps rise much past about 70F. Some will continue germinating, but MOST will stop. If you live where winter is really severe, you may have to plant them indoors in a basement or greenhouse. I live in "The Land of Endless Summer" (Southern California) so my planting time is right now. Most of what will germinate this year must come up before the summer temps hit. A few continued germinating in the high heat this summer, but they are the exceptions rather than the rules. Good luck! Kim Here is a link that might be useful: Fragrance: Much Ado About Nothing?

You might want to stratify them in the fridge before planting. I think the usual time quoted for that might be 5 weeks, but I could be wrong. (I just leave mine in the fridge until they start sprouting, then I plant them.) By then you'll be into September, so it's not clear how much growth you'll get before your first frost.

I started seeds on my first "large scale" operation last year and had really great success. Previously, I'd done two-four trays (72 pack jiffy starters) on a card table in my home office, which was north facing with one small window - horrible light. To supplement, I bought two small florescent fixtures from wal-mart, maybe 16 inches long, probably meant as under-cabinet lighting, with just regular florescent bulbs, both were less than $10, and my husband nailed some scrap 2x4s together so I could suspend the lights from them over the trays (at a fixed height, not adjustable, as I didn't know any better). I did this for several years, and while some of the plants may have been a little leggy, I had no idea what I was doing so didn't ever notice. They all grew when I put them in the ground! I left the lights on most of the time, as florescents are pretty efficient, and I kept the door closed to the room most of the time (cats would chew the seedlings) so I'd forget to turn on and off. Also, I never potted up, I just grew them until they were taller than the lights and the weather was right and plugged the peat packets right into the ground. Again - probably not optimal or the "right" way but it worked for me! Last year, I wanted to go bigger, so bought a $45 wire five-shelf unit at target from the storage aisle, four shop lights from Lowes with daylight-temp regular florescent bulbs (not grow lights, just the Kelvin color for daylight), and a timer from the lamp aisle. Total about $100, plus I bought more 72-pack jiffy starters and I could fit three trays per shelf (only used four shelves) and put the whole shebang in my dark garage. I'd start two trays at a time on my kitchen counter and waited for germination of a few, then moved to the garage (unheated). Worked great, most if not all germinated, and my problem became having enough space to pot up and find place to put the potted up plants! My only other expense was an inexpensive heat-mat off ebay from some guy who makes them custom length and they are mostly used for reptile cages so they were cheaper. Can't remember the cost, but I got one cut to fit my lowest shelf, put some cardboard between it and the wire shelf, and got 100% within-a-week germination on my peppers. That may have been overkill, I was just nervous about having enough heat in the garage or kitchen (we keep the thermostat at 67 day, 62 night). Hope some of this rambling helps!