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Collecting, Storing, and Mailing Pollen

i recently reversed a purple bubba kush plant with ga and silver to make some fem hybrids im collecting the pollen now to be dried and applied to a few different clone only strains. it has worked in the past well see how it goes this time.
 

Owl Mirror

Active member
Veteran
I've advocated for mailing pollen" community to form.
One of the arguments against closet breeders is the lack of diversity of donor plants.
I currently have four different strains of pollen and, when I find a special girl or two I would like pollinated for seed-making, I simply dip a small straw (hollow stems work great) and, blow a tiny bit of the selected pollen inside the flower room.
This way I can pollinate my girls with a variety of male pollen, adding to the diversity I'll later find when I germinate them.

This method allows me to mimic four males in my room at the precise time my girls are ready, without having to allow both sexes to grow side by side.

Imagine if there were a way to buy strains just like we do with seeds yet, opens up the breeding possibilities.
 

onegreenday

Active member
Veteran
why would you EVER mess with silica. just use RICE. it will absorb the moisture. thats why resturants will put a few rice kernals in the salt shakers, to absorb any moisture that mite pop up.

my question. any one here every mix thier pollen with sterlized flour?
the pollen will go alot farther.

well silica is standard for seed & pollen storage but u welcome to rice also. But,

if you tape a dessicant pack into the top of a petri dish &
keep your fresh pollen on the bottom dish & tape it around the dish edge; you'll have fine pollen storage; without a paper pack;

of course the paper pack r for dividing up pollen & will work also in the petri with desi-pack
 

GET MO

Registered Med User
Veteran
this is a dope thread.... maybe breeders should start slangin there pollen. Ima make some feminized pollin using silver on some of my best females, see wut type uh crazy crosses I can make!
 

Ghostwolf

Pirate & Cherokee Warrior for Freedom and Cannabis
Veteran
That's it I'm going to do this when I get some more males. This is great.
 
YES!

YES!

Can preflowers releas pollen? I just sexed a afghani male and has 3-4 preflowers , moved it out of the direct light to put more prosperous females in better field position. I was just wondering how long I should leave in the room with the females. Thanks for any replies. Later

I got 3 seeds from 2 plants in veg preflowering & polinated another female in preflower. I have one popped & running
 

medmaker420

The Aardvarks LED Grow Show
Veteran
I like to use flour when storing my pollen. I have used rice for seeds though BUT like the fact that with flour you can blend it all and end up not using up as much PLUS seeing the white flour where you pollinated really does help you see where you have dusted already.
 

xebeche

Member
Thanks for the info.

Flowerman, what ratio of flour to pollen did you use?

Do you use a specific type of flower or just regular Gold Medal from the grocery store?
 

slmndl

Member
great thread. I panicked when I saw my boys with ripe looking pollen and pulled them.
Can I stick them in water (just been a few hours) and get sacs too open since I
pulled too soon?
 

nobull56

Member
ICMag Donor
Freezing

Freezing

I posted this on anothger thread & was invited to move it here. So here goes & thanks mean mustard!!

We had a discussion at GKG last Saturday & I thought I’d post some of it here. We were talking about saving pollen in the freezer. Someone liked small jars & some liked baggies.

The problem with jars is that each time you open the jar the volume of air is changed & as the new air gets cold, moisture can condensate out of the air. Each time adding a little bit more moisture. Canning jars are the best for long term sealing.

The problem with zip bags is that they are not very good at holding out moisture over extended periods of time. Pressing out as much air, each time they are opened & double bagging can help.

Without too many steps (too much & we skip steps) lets kick around some ideas.

Using a simple double zip lock & a upright freezer we have 5/6 year old pollen that works fine.
 

nobull56

Member
ICMag Donor
I'm going to try to get the wife to help with a photo spread & I'll post.

As Davey Crocket used to say "Keep Your Powder Dry".
 

subrob

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
ok...heres what i am doing w my pollen i collected tonight. please point out any obvious errors as i dont wanna screw it up...the goal is not long term storage...maybe a month...i collected from two donor plants..i used notebook paper to make a couple bindles...used very small strips of tape to seal edges...got all strips on one side of bindles...placed two bindles in a film container..the sides of bindle that were tape free are facing each other and a lil dessicant bag thingie is in between(no rice at the moment) this will be double bagged and put in fridge for couple days..then freezer...correct? any advice welcome....
 

Cool Moe

Active member
Veteran
subrob, i'm new to this, your way sounds good. another way to package pollen for longer term might be to cut out 2" or 3" office paper squares and fold them into little packets like those commonly used 30 years ago for blow. make a bunch of small paper packets for each pollen batch, all stored together in a film vial, in tupperware, in the fridge. then when you need some you can pull out a small packet without exposing the entire batch. the paper serves as dessicant. i'm hoping to use some pollen in august that i collected in march. hope it works!
 

subrob

Well-known member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
hey thanks moe...sorry term bindle is kinda old... back in the 80s when we used to score blow it was the word for small paper packet! haha im showing my age..
 

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