question: How would you go about collecting pollen?

[seymore_budz]

A question for thr breeders out there. How do you collect and store your pollen?

I have a pack of regular seeds and was thinking of playing with some pollen. My plan is to put all 10 down and grow them out, then take 2 clones of each and put them into flower as soon as they're rooted. The primary objective is to sex the plants but my idea is to continue to flower the male clones in a isolated tent until they produce pollen. Then collect the pollen and use a vacuum pack bag to seal and make water tight and pop into the freezer until I'm ready to use the pollen.

I suppose my questions are;

1) Is my hypothesis sound or would you do things a different way?
2) Would you store pollen in the freezer or just in a cool, dark place.
3) Does pollen expire? If so, what timescale would you put on it's viability?

I could google all this but I thought I'd ask here as it's nice to hear peoples opinions and share the knowledge.

Thank you in advance for any information recieved.

[Wizard]

i would put a paper bag over the branch and shake that fucker to no end , pollen would coat the inside of bag then i could use a little paint brush to sweep it uo in a vial

[Wizard]

oh keep it in the fridge

[seymore_budz]

i would put a paper bag over the branch and shake that fucker to no end , pollen would coat the inside of bag then i could use a little paint brush to sweep it uo in a vial

Cheers for the tips Wizard! I was going to cut the flowers of and store the pollen within the flower. Would you extract the pollen and then store that in the freezer?

I have found pollen doesn't stay viable very long, even in the freezer.

I just cut the balls off plants and whack them in a plastic snack bag thing with a grain of rice or two and pop it in the freezer.

Then when ready to use it (after a week or three) I get the bag out and give it a good shake to open the sacks up and then dip a qtip in and away we go.

Cheers Marcus. So you're saying the pollen is done after a few weeks? I was planning on keeping it for several months before using it.

[Wizard]

Would you extract the pollen and then store that in the freezer?

if i was saving it for later useage yea , if i was using it right away id dust ti with the brush where i wanted seeds to grow

[seymore_budz]

I try and use it as soon as possible, but I don;t see why it wouldn;t store long term.

Some freezers warm and cool in a cycle to stay frost free, so that could bugger it up. I know it's buggered up some frozen dope I was curing. Went to mush after a while.

You can mix it with flour for longer term storage I think.

But I'd just hit the plants now, make beans and then you got the genetics to do it all again.

Cheers for thr tips. Long term was to first hit a lower branch of the same strain. Then another clone only strain on my run after that. I wanted to avoid running another batch to find more males unless it was necessary.

[seymore_budz]

So after doing some research and considering the comments here, I've come up with some bullet points to consider and I plan of action.

• Pollen will have the best chance of survival when kept at a constant temperature between 1
  -10C & -30C
• Temperature swings will damage the pollen.
• As with most things, air will damage the pollen if storing it for a long time.
• Moisture is also bad for storage.

Considering these points, the plan is as follows.

Grow the males out in an isolated tent.
Extract the pollen from the flowers.
Dry in a DIY dehumidifier (more on that another day)
Place the pollen into an air-tight container.
Cook some dry rice to make sure it's 100% dry.
Fill a glass vacuum seal jar up with rice and place the container of pollen in the middle. Then seal and place in the fridge.

I've read the rice will consume any moisture as well as protect against temperature fluctuations.

Most things I read suggested that this will keep the pollen active for up to 1 year if done correctly. What do you think guys? I suppose I'll just have to try it and see. Most of the information came from chilli and cactus sites online.

[Candyman]

Or u could just cut it with flour 50/50 ratio and seal it and freezer it


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[seymore_budz]

Or u could just cut it with flour 50/50 ratio and seal it and freezer it


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Thanks CandyMan. That was the original plan until I read some of the cactus forums. They were suggesting that the biggest threat to pollen in the freezer was temperature fluctuations from when the freezer is being opened and closed. That's where I learnt about the rice in a jar trick. They were saying it gives you more protection than just the flour. What are your thoughts / experiences?

[Candyman]

Don’t really collect pollen as I don’t have the room to grow males but tbh unless a person is choosing a male from around 20/30 seeds then it’s not really the art of selection to keep that male they find from just 3/4 reg seeds and use him for breeding
See so many people these days grow 4/5 grows and be one master breeders overnight by hitting all there elites with the first male they find
For that reason I only buy from a couple of sources for my seeds



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