Two separate pollens applied to one female

[Treevly]

Because of some restrictions I am under, I wish to apply the pollens of two differing strains to one female plant. The pollinations will not be very large. As far as I have thought, I would do this: spray all buds except the subject bud with water, wet them well. Then paint the pollen on the subject bud/s. Two (3?) days later, do the same thing with the other pollen and bud. For further isolation, perhaps put a small and light plastic bag around the pollinated bud/s; however, it seems to me that this might be unhealthy for both the covered bud and the pollen, bagged up and worse, in the sun. The purpose is to prevent pollen from blowing from bud 'A' or 'B' to any other bud or for that matter, any other plant. Any comment or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[TakenByTheSky]

Pollen only needs about 20 mins or so to germinate.

What I'd do is put pollen in a paper bag, tie into branch, shake bag. Wait a half hour take bag off and spray the rest of the plant down with water.

 

[Switcher56]

Because of some restrictions I am under, I wish to apply the pollens of two differing strains to one female plant. The pollinations will not be very large. As far as I have thought, I would do this: spray all buds except the subject bud with water, wet them well. Then paint the pollen on the subject bud/s. Two (3?) days later, do the same thing with the other pollen and bud. For further isolation, perhaps put a small and light plastic bag around the pollinated bud/s; however, it seems to me that this might be unhealthy for both the covered bud and the pollen, bagged up and worse, in the sun. The purpose is to prevent pollen from blowing from bud 'A' or 'B' to any other bud or for that matter, any other plant. Any comment or advice would be appreciated. Thank you.

I don't know sheet about breeding, but I am pretty sure it applies here as well. It's the fastest swimmer that wins the race. For what you want it to do, it would have been preferable to mix the 2 polens in equal amounts by weight using a digital scale. But, then again it is still going to be a crap shoot!

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Like a cat, you'll end up with different daddies for different seeds on the same plant. Once a pollen attaches to a pistil, the door is closed for that pistil.

Like Switcher56 said: the fastest swimmer that wins the race.

 

[Treevly]

.......

 

[Treevly]

Like a cat, you'll end up with different daddies for different seeds on the same plant. Once a pollen attaches to a pistil, the door is closed.

That is exactly what I am trying to accomplish. I must not have been adequately clear in the OP. What I want to do is end up with two separate strains having the same mother but separate fathers. I would use two separate femals but have only one.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

That is exactly what I am trying to accomplish. I must not have been adequately clear in the OP. What I want to do is end up with two separate strains having the same mother but separate fathers. I would use two separate femals but have only one.

You won't be able to tell which seeds is which let alone which plant is which.

- Take two clones of the mum.
- Flower them.
- Separate them.
- Pollinate them with their own male pollen.

 

[Tynehead Tom]

I have been doing bagged branch pollinations for years. Was taught this method by my mentor in the early 90's.

some care must be taken of course but it is quite easy.
I remove the female from the garden to a room that will have the same light schedule.
I just use florescent tubes
I take a desired amount of pollen from the donor jar of pollen I collected by flowering out the selected male. I place said pollen in a small flapp of paper like a cocaine flap. One flap for each male.
I place that in a large ziploc bag and attach the ziploc bag to the branch, closing the bag around the branch.
I make a very small hole in one bottom corner of the bag to insert a drinking straw. This will be used to blow the pollen from the flap onto the flowers in the bag.
then I manipulate the bag so the hole and pollen flap are above the flowers to be pollinated and I work the flap open. Then I gently blow and the pollen permeates the bag. I can't stress enough to blow gently, you do not want to force any air out the bottom where the bag is sealed around the branch.

I usually pollinate an hour or so before lights out.
Next day I take a spray bottle and insert it in the hole we used for the straw , enlargening the hole ffor the spray bottle nozzle. Spray enough to wet the inside of the bag and the undo the bag and remove it slowly while spraying the branch with water.

return plant to flower area.

I tie colored string or yarn on each pollinated branch, and each male used will be color coded to that color of string. So it's easy to tell which seed is which come harvest time.

 

[Treevly]

I have been doing bagged branch pollinations for years. Was taught this method by my mentor in the early 90's.

some care must be taken of course but it is quite easy.
I remove the female from the garden to a room that will have the same light schedule.
I just use florescent tubes
I take a desired amount of pollen from the donor jar of pollen I collected by flowering out the selected male. I place said pollen in a small flapp of paper like a cocaine flap. One flap for each male.
I place that in a large ziploc bag and attach the ziploc bag to the branch, closing the bag around the branch.
I make a very small hole in one bottom corner of the bag to insert a drinking straw. This will be used to blow the pollen from the flap onto the flowers in the bag.
then I manipulate the bag so the hole and pollen flap are above the flowers to be pollinated and I work the flap open. Then I gently blow and the pollen permeates the bag. I can't stress enough to blow gently, you do not want to force any air out the bottom where the bag is sealed around the branch.

I usually pollinate an hour or so before lights out.
Next day I take a spray bottle and insert it in the hole we used for the straw , enlargening the hole ffor the spray bottle nozzle. Spray enough to wet the inside of the bag and the undo the bag and remove it slowly while spraying the branch with water.

return plant to flower area.

I tie colored string or yarn on each pollinated branch, and each male used will be color coded to that color of string. So it's easy to tell which seed is which come harvest time.

Thanks, that is very interesting. I have to work outside only. [a] Is the water spray so that the pollen will not affect other buds? Also, in one case I have so little pollen that I will work with a fine artist's painting brush to apply the stuff. In that case, should I still cover the bud with a bag to contain the pollen while it finds its way home, and water-spray afterwards? [c] And when is afterwards? How long does the pollen take to do the job? Thanks again.

 

[Tynehead Tom]

you can branch in bag pollinate a plant anywhere, doesn't have to be removed from the garden.
in the case of tiny amount of pollen.... pick a time when there is no wind or air movement is at a minimum and paint brush your chosen flowers. In this case you will not have a high rate of containment so you do risk stray pollen affecting near flowers.
I haven't dived to deeply into how long it takes for the pollen to take affect but I usually leave the plants overnight and when they wake up next morning I spray them down.

in the case of paint brushing the buds..... I would carefully bag that portion after applying the pollen and keep the movement of that branch to a minimum while doing so.

 

[Treevly]

Blungo

 

[Treevly]

...I usually leave the plants overnight...


...with bag on?

 

[brickweeder]

I reverse bag pollinate, basically bag the mom but leave a branch out, put under a vent hood, brush pollinate the exposed branch buds, and wait 1/2 to 1 hour. Then spray the exposed branch and bag with water, remove bag and put mom back in the flower room.

I'm not a fan of spraying the buds on the whole plant and leaving the branch to pollinate dry, I'd rather do the opposite and just spray the pollinated branch while the rest of the buds are dry and protected in the bag. Next day, pollinate a different branch of the same mom with different pollen.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

I drop pollen in a large freezer ziplock bag, close it up and give it a good 1-2-3 shake. Then I open it enough to slide over a cola and give it a good stroke for a good 5 seconds. Rub it in. You won't hurt it. Next Cola.

This haul was well over 12k seeds.

If I have to protect a branch, I didn't grow enough weed.

 

[brickweeder]

...This haul was well over 12k seeds.

be nice to grow all those out .

...If I have to protect a branch, I didn't grow enough weed.

About sums it all up!

 

[Tynehead Tom]

The plants I am pollinating right now are trees and bushes. I have no need or desire to pollinate the whole plant , nor do I want to pollinate the 40 sum other plants in the greenhouse.
Right now I am dusting up an 8foot tree of Fire Alien Kush. She is getting branch in bag pollinations with Biker Kush, Crumbled Lime and mixed pollen from 2 Fire Alien Males for some F2's.
Then I'll be pollinating Original Glue with Crumbled Lime and a couple others I have in storage.
I'll post up some pics of how I do things these days.
I usually have 100% success in keeping the pollen only where I want it with this method.
you need:
-2 large ziploc bags with the bottoms carefully cut open.
-duct tape or 2" wide masking tape.
-glass vials with the cork top
-tiny model maker paint brush or a q-tip with the fuzz removed from one end
-drill bit the same size as q-tip stick to drill a hole in the cork top
-glue gun to glue the q-tip into the cork top.
* when gluing the q-tip, make sure it touches bottom of the vial as the glue sets.
- Add pollen with a couple kernels of instant rice to the vial and close the cork top
*wipe outside of vial with alcohol or a damp cloth.

-cut bottoms off of ziploc bags and neatly tape them together to form a long bag with ziploc at each end. Make sure to slip one bag inside the other a tiny bit so no sticky tape surfaces are on the inside of the finished bag.

- now you can slip the bag over the branch, zip it close to the stem and tape it so it can't open at the bottom.
-insert your pollen vial and seal the top of the bag above the top of the branch.

-then it is easy to open the vial thru the bag and apply pollen to all the flowers in the bag.

works wonders.

 

[brickweeder]

...I usually have 100% success in keeping the pollen only where I want it with this method.
you need:
-2 large ziploc bags with the bottoms carefully cut open.
-duct tape or 2" wide masking tape.
-glass vials with the cork top
-tiny model maker paint brush or a q-tip with the fuzz removed from one end
-drill bit the same size as q-tip stick to drill a hole in the cork top
-glue gun to glue the q-tip into the cork top.
* when gluing the q-tip, make sure it touches bottom of the vial as the glue sets.
- Add pollen with a couple kernels of instant rice to the vial and close the cork top
*wipe outside of vial with alcohol or a damp cloth.

-cut bottoms off of ziploc bags and neatly tape them together to form a long bag with ziploc at each end. Make sure to slip one bag inside the other a tiny bit so no sticky tape surfaces are on the inside of the finished bag.

- now you can slip the bag over the branch, zip it close to the stem and tape it so it can't open at the bottom.
-insert your pollen vial and seal the top of the bag above the top of the branch.

-then it is easy to open the vial thru the bag and apply pollen to all the flowers in the bag.

works wonders.

Nice tech, thanks for posting. I'll be borrowing your glass tube and Q-tip cork idea, but will replace the Qtip with a small model paintbrush.

 

[Treevly]

Yes, thanks for the good photos and explanation.

What is that Fire Alien like, by the way?

 

[Tynehead Tom]

she has a slightly citrus/pine/chemically sweet top end and a real funky earthy back end.
She has a bit of a racey high at first and if you over indulge. This is one of the few that will give me head spins/vertigo when i close my eyes after overindulging. She's a favorite in our circles.

 

[Treevly]

she has a slightly citrus/pine/chemically sweet top end and a real funky earthy back end.
She has a bit of a racey high at first and if you over indulge. This is one of the few that will give me head spins/vertigo when i close my eyes after overindulging. She's a favorite in our circles.

Thanks for that.