How I collect pollen

[Olderfart]

I posted this elsewhere, and someone suggested that I put a copy here:

I keep working on my ways of doing this stuff. Seems to be part of my diy addiction.

When making seeds, I like to pollenate single branches rather than whole plants, so I need to collect pollen. This is how I now do it.

First, I make myself a pollen strainer with a small mason, one of those tiny ones used for jelly. The screen is just a chunk of metal coffee filter screen that I cut out of an unneeded filter. I shape it a bit concave by cutting it a bit large, and forcing it into the mason ring so that the ring clamps it down beneath it. Here it is disassembled to show all parts:

And here it is after loading with male flowers from a reversed plant:

I pluck the flowers with a pair of sharp point disection tweezers. The ones marketed on Amazon for ingrown hair would work, they need to be sharp point. Once flowers are collected into the strainer, the entire mason goes into a stainless container with some silica gel in the bottom. After closing the stainless container and an overnight dry, I stir the flowers around and tap the jar to move pollen through the screen.

This is what I am left with in the mason, nearly pure pollen:

If I am ready to apply to a seed plant, this stuff is ready to go. If I want to store longer term, I move it into a small glass jar, and put it in the drying chamber for a few hours or overnight to make sure it is bone dry, then I cap it tightly and put it in the freezer. Here is my WDA pollen before it hit the freezer:

The silica gel in this pic needs to be dehydrated again, but it will finish the pollen off ok.

I have produced seeds with pollen kept in the freezer for more than a year, but am not sure how much longer it would remain viable.

Happy pollen handling peeps!

 

[Mozzy]

I was just searching for the original posting @Olderfart


@caliOF ...if you hadn't seen this thread before, it might be helpful with that future F3 Reg-Auto breeding Would love to see you cross that Lion's Claw with something interesting...monsters!

 

[Olderfart]

I was just searching for the original posting @Olderfart


@caliOF ...if you hadn't seen this thread before, it might be helpful with that future F3 Reg-Auto breeding Would love to see you cross that Lion's Claw with something interesting...monsters!

it is identical to what I posted here - just a copy and paste as suggested by someone responding to the original post.

 

[MesaBoogie]

This is so much better than what I had going on collecting. Thx for sharing.

 

[Olderfart]

This is so much better than what I had going on collecting. Thx for sharing.

Glad I could help, good luck with your pollen mischief!

 

[caliOF]

Way better than paper plates and hobby brush! Definitely want to try this! Thank you!

 

[Dankerson]

I am going to be attempting to replicate some seeds with my last Mngo Mrrr and this was extremely helpful, thank you so much!

I am curious though, what would be your process if you were trying to flip one branch and self pollinate a plant? I am going to get some twenty20 sts spray but not quite sure how to use it yet. It's my favorite plant so I would like to have a good stash of them and don't want to mess it up.

 

[Olderfart]

I am going to be attempting to replicate some seeds with my last Mngo Mrrr and this was extremely helpful, thank you so much!

I am curious though, what would be your process if you were trying to flip one branch and self pollinate a plant? I am going to get some twenty20 sts spray but not quite sure how to use it yet. It's my favorite plant so I would like to have a good stash of them and don't want to mess it up.

I thought I had replied to this earlier, but don't see it now. Anyway, I have not done partial reversal before, so I can't speak from experience. Others do it though, so I assume it is doable, at least with some strains. As to the twenty 20 STS, I believe that @BCBudlady uses it, and is happy with it. I am sure that STS will reverse successfully, but do not know whether the stuff gets moved around in the plant enough to reverse unintended branches as well. I suppose that some translocation in the plant would not defeat the effort as long as some female flowers developed while pollen was still around.

Good luck with it, but if I were you, I would fully reverse a solo if you have the seeds to do that. Doing a solo has the advantage of getting lots of pollen, and having it available when the seed mother is prime for pollenation.

 

[BCBudlady]

I thought I had replied to this earlier, but don't see it now. Anyway, I have not done partial reversal before, so I can't speak from experience. Others do it though, so I assume it is doable, at least with some strains. As to the twenty 20 STS, I believe that @BCBudlady uses it, and is happy with it. I am sure that STS will reverse successfully, but do not know whether the stuff gets moved around in the plant enough to reverse unintended branches as well. I suppose that some translocation in the plant would not defeat the effort as long as some female flowers developed while pollen was still around.

Good luck with it, but if I were you, I would fully reverse a solo if you have the seeds to do that. Doing a solo has the advantage of getting lots of pollen, and having it available when the seed mother is prime for pollenation.

ALERT!!!!! Do not ever consume any part of a plant that has been sprayed with STS, regardless
of whether that particular area was treated.
If your aim is to create a few dozen to a couple hundred seeds, there is no reason to spray an entire plant, even though a reversal produces far less pollen than a true male. To save on product and also self her, allowing the untreated female flowers to get hit. Also, please follow all safety measures recommended for handling STS.

@Olderfart is a super skillful grower in solos and maybe coco? I’m a dirt grower who struggles with decent plants in solos.
.Tw20 has a good product. Works well and is very easy to prep.

 

[Olderfart]

ALERT!!!!! Do not ever consume any part of a plant that has been sprayed with STS, regardless
of whether that particular area was treated.
If your aim is to create a few dozen to a couple hundred seeds, there is no reason to spray an entire plant, even though a reversal produces far less pollen than a true male. To save on product and also self her, allowing the untreated female flowers to get hit. Also, please follow all safety measures recommended for handling STS.

@Olderfart is a super skillful grower in solos and maybe coco? I’m a dirt grower who struggles with decent plants in solos.
.Tw20 has a good product. Works well and is very easy to prep.

Dunno about the super skillful bit, but yes, I am back in coco now after trying soil-less peat mix and soil. I don't like dealing with the large soil pots because I prefer to remove plants from the 'drobe to trim them, and in moist so called "ten gallon" fabric pots, I'm not strong enough to do that without risk to the plants and my back. I got a good crop from all media, but it looks like I will now be sticking with coco - it produces great yields, the pots are dead easy to move around and maintain, and so far with my winter grows, zero pests of any kind.