Question about storing pollen?

[ultrastealthgro]

Hi all, I just had to chop my 2 male Lowlife HK's. I put them into freezer bags and left the top of the bags open for the past 24 hours to let them dry a little. I grabbed the boys by the stem still in the bag and gave them a good shake to see if they would drop any more pollen, HOLLY HELL did they ever! The bottom 1/2-1" of the freezer bag is chuck full of pollen. I took the plants out of the pollen bag along with any flowers and any other plant material and stuck them into another freezer bag and into the freezer they went(gonna try my hand at making hash once the girls finish). My question is this, I want to pollinate one of each strain of my AF girls for a good seed run but they are only coming into their second week of flowering and only have a few nice little bud sites right now and I know in a few weeks their will be a lot more pistils to pollinate thus more seeds for my big outdoor grow this summer. What is the best way to store the pollen I just collected? Can I leave it in the freezer bag? And is it best stored in the freezer, refrigerator or just a dark cool closet? Any help would be very very very much appriciated! Thanks guys and girls!

 

[ultrastealthgro]

Nobody has an opinion? I could really use some help here

 

[JamieShoes]

a friend of mine used to keep his in the fridge in a film case (you know the old 35mm film cases for cameras?)

I cant say its right or the best way.. but its a response all the same - hopefully someone will be along soon with a proper answer for you. :smile:

 

[ultrastealthgro]

Thanks Jamie Shoe! I don't have any of those type of film canisters but I will double bag it and put it in the fridge. Thanks for the help!

 

[hippie_lettuce]

i've been wondering this exact same thing..how does one store pollen efficiently and correctly? i want to pollen-chuck one day and i need to be prepared..

 

[Luther Budbank]

I recently did a test with pollen stored in the refrigerator and pollen collected at the same time stored in the freezer. Both samples were from the same male. I collected and stored the samples on black construction paper and cut them 10-1 with white flour dried in the oven for a few minutes. I let the pollen dry for about an hour at room temperature before storing it. The pollen stored in the refrigerator produced 100 good seeds and the pollen stored in the freezer only produced 2, both on small females. With the refrigerator method, I used desiccant which may have helped the drying process. Granted, my test is very limited but the results are useful. Very long term storage would probably be best using the freezer. Viability after an entire year in the refrigerator is very impressive, if you ask me.

 

[ultrastealthgro]

Luther that is exactly the kind of info and help I was looking for! I just want to store it a few more weeks until my girls have more pistils, definetly the fridge for me. Thank you so much!

 

[sunnydog]

I put about an inch of rice on the bottom of a canning jar, and put pollen in a paper envelope in said jar, keep in fridge.
Keeps for quite some time.

SD

 

[2ezy]

Film canister and desiccant sachet and then in the fridge.

 

[dubwise]

Very useful indeed. I recently had to murder mr. wrong, and saved the pollen....this was 2 weeks ago, i put them in freezer bags and threw them in the fridge. The fridge I've got them in does not have a light (kegerator) and kind of forgot about them. I'll check them out tomorrow and will be able to advise if they've remained. 5 ppp seeds and all went male.=(

 

[ultrastealthgro]

Thanks for all the very helpful info everybody! I just stuck it in the fridge inside a couple of ziplock bags. I'm going to do some more targeted pollination with said pollen today. Thanks again

 

[sunnydog]

Thanks for all the very helpful info everybody! I just stuck it in the fridge inside a couple of ziplock bags. I'm going to do some more targeted pollination with said pollen today. Thanks again

If you do not use a dessicant or a paper bag, it will probably rot.

 

[ultrastealthgro]

Crap, I'll put it in a paper bag right now! Hopefully it hasn't rotted yet

 

[medmaker420]

make sure and let the pollen dry first before you store it up for good, odds are it would mold if you don't dry it up first before you toss it in with flour, rice or whatever.

 

[Bozo]

I have used this method for many years

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=1034&highlight=pollen+storage