[Satyros]

This is my first time looking at trying this, so I'm asking due to lack of experience.

My plants are an outdoor grow that has two full weeks of flowering (pistils). Eight weeks old total. There is one Orient Express male with no shortage of pollen sacs.

I'm thinking of mixing it to an Orient Express female, which is the same size, color, and shape as the male, so this would be to get more of the same. I'd also look at seeding a Mekong High, which is fairly similar--this line has for some reason been discontinued, but the plant is quite impressive, so it's probably worth a try.

As with many strains, the very lowest branches of these have not produced much of a flower cluster. If *only* pollinating the lowest branches, would they be likely to result in nothing, or two seeds or something trivial? Would it be advisable to sacrifice a higher branch for seed?

[xavier7995]

I have always just sacrificed a main branch. Lowers can sometimes not develop or it's only a few seeds.

Beware, pollination is addicting. Was going to do a few branches this run and wound up just seeding the whole grow cause it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Your thinking is correct that you want a decent bud site with lots of pistils, doesn't necessarily need to be from a particular location on the plant, but upper branches are normally where you find that.

[WelderDan]

A little pollen goes a loooong way. Even one pollen sack can produce hundreds of seeds. Pick a branch with reasonable size flowers, use an artist brush, or a q-tip. A single decent size bud can yield dozens of seeds.

It's one of those things that may take a little trial and error to get down.

Sorry, it's hard to put it into exact words. You will see what I mean, but once you get it, you will find it quite fascinating and addicting.....

[Limeygreen]

You can try what is recommended in marijuana botany (book) with the paper bag, you put your pollen in the bag, carefully put over a branch and twist tie it shut then gently shake it around or use a brush to pollinate it and then bag over, protects the branch and keeps pollen from drifting, when you remove the bag you should have a tag already on that branch with your cross and wait for seeds. How many seeds do you want? That would determine what branch you want to pollinate, you can also cut the pollen 1 to 10 with corn starch or flour if conditions are not wet and such, if it is humid or clear night skies you could end up with mold doing that but it is a great way to stretch out pollen if things are dry.

[Betterhaff]

I generally pollinate a branch that’s midway on the plant and has numerous bud sites on it and in the field I use a q-tip to apply the pollen, just kind of dabbing it on. You may get some overspray but generally it doesn’t amount to many stray seeds. (Indoors I use an artist brush, more control).

Keep in mind that not all pollen will take so you’re better of pollinating a little more than less depending on how many seeds you want. The herb from the seeded buds is not a total loss too. After drying and removing the seeds I generally roll up the remaining weed into joints.

[MJPassion]

I've always pollenated lowers with decent results.

Keep in mind too that you will need about 40 days for seeds to develop to maturity. Going longer can never hurt (unless seed is falling to the ground).

[Satyros]

Those are all some good observations, thanks folks.

I get the impression that if you take a tiny pinch of pollen and broadcast it over your plants, you've got a good chance of putting the whole crop to seed. But when applied by a controlled manner, it's self-limiting, since putting fifty grains on one calyx can still only make one seed. Not really looking for a huge amount, maybe about twenty seeds each.

Other strains seem to have a more reasonable flower at the lowest; these are still really puny and so yeah...that would make a game of waiting around to see if it gets much bigger *and* at that point would have enough time left to develop the seed. Probably better to do it sooner on something that already has some fluff to it.

[Zeez]

Interesting stuff. Is there a preferable technique for gathering pollen? I've been told that pollen can stay viable for quite some time and effect future grows in a closed area. True?

[djonkoman]

yes, pollen can last for a while. I had some pollen that I guess was gathered around the first half of june, and used it a few weeks ago(2-4 weeks), and now I have seeds developing.

I stored it in the fridge, mixed with some flour, in a ziplockbaggie. before scraping it together and mixing with flour I let it sit to dry for 1-2 days or so(used a cut-off little branch in a shotglass over a piece of glossy paper to collect it)

[MJPassion]

Originally Posted by Satyros

Those are all some good observations, thanks folks.

I get the impression that if you take a tiny pinch of pollen and broadcast it over your plants, you've got a good chance of putting the whole crop to seed. But when applied by a controlled manner, it's self-limiting, since putting fifty grains on one calyx can still only make one seed. Not really looking for a huge amount, maybe about twenty seeds each.

Other strains seem to have a more reasonable flower at the lowest; these are still really puny and so yeah...that would make a game of waiting around to see if it gets much bigger *and* at that point would have enough time left to develop the seed. Probably better to do it sooner on something that already has some fluff to it.

I've recently used the q-tip method, in a windy environment, to pollinate several plants lower branches.
This results in a bit of "overspray", for lack of brtter terms, that produces a few seeds on the other lower branches.
BUT
The wind needs to be blowing relatively hard or not at all. A slight breeze will cause pollination of most of the plant.
ALSO...
If it's windy, be aware of wind direction & your other potential mothers locations so as to prevent any unwanted pollination.