I have two rugosa roses and neither of them have any hips this fall. I stopped deadheading around late July. Last year I had just a few on one of my bushes. I have one Hansa and one Theresa bugnet.
I don't think these two doubles are that fruitful anyway, when I grew 'Hansa' it seemed like it had some hips but not an abundance. 'Therese Bugnet' I am currently growing but in a position where it cannot develop fully anyway.
did it bloom again after you stopped deadheading?? if not, or there weren't that many or the buds/flowers were damaged, you may have missed out on hips this year.
maybe ron hit it right. they're just not all that fruitful? i have 7 different types. the two ramblers are prolific hips producers; 2 of the bush types produce a fair amount and the other bush types don't ever have too many.
Yes, I think that may be the case. If so, I will go back to deadheading them throughout the summer. I had read that Hansa was supposed to produce lots of hips, so I just wish that plant information was more accurate.
hips are only made when you leave the buds on and allow them to mature to hips. if you deadhead for too long, you can easily go past the point where more blooming will occur and then won't have anything left to develop into hips. you may want to stop deadheading earlier in the season (at least partly) so that you end up with hips come fall.