Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
Seedy Subjects! => Grow From Seed => Topic started by: Maggi Young on November 30, 2008, 04:13:01 PM
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Some interesting comments have arisen in another thread about how best to store pollen over various time scales, to enable pollination of species flowering at different times: What experience do Forumists have of this... and what hints and tips can you suggest for successful storing and ease of use of stored pollen ?
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Here are the comments, which began in the Haemanthus thread......
From Fred (Bulbissime): I'll try to keep some H. albiflos pollen in the fridge for the next year and try to cross it with H. coccineus.
Wait...and see ;D
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From Gerd : When you want to keep pollen from daffodils and snowdrops over a longer period it must be stored in a freezer (Gefrierschrank) instead in a fridge.
Is there another method recommended for (sub) tropical Amaryllidaceae ?
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From Hans: Sorry but I have no experience with storing pollen of Amaryllidaceae -I have never tried it .
My experience is only for storing pollen of Cacti -this works fine .
I made the pollen on a Q -tip - than in a box for dia films and put it in our fridge ( Kühlschrank ) - the important point of my experience is that the pollen must gain room temperature before using it -if it is too cool it does not work.
I have produced many seeds of Cacti on this way !
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From Fred : Ok Gerd, I'll freeze it ;D
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From Gerd: Sorry if my contribution here looks like I had much experience with storing pollen.
I only repeated what I have read for Galanthus and Narcissus.
So please be careful with freezing pollen of other genera.
Of course the pollen has to be dry before and after storage.
Hans, how long do you keep the cacti pollen in the fridge before you use it?
I would be glad if some forumists with more experience will add their know-how here!
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From Hans:
I have stored the pollen of cacti only for weeks ( for one flowering season ).
(Maybe you should start a own topic with of pollen .....maybe other members looks not under Haemanthus)
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From Paul: Fred,
Why not store your pollen from the Haemanthus coccineus and then put it onto the albiflos in the same season, as well as storing some of the albiflos pollen from this year for the coccineus when it flowers next year. I have stored pollen dry from coccineus in March (southern hemisphere) and used it on albiflos in April the same year. I didn't even refridgerate it, just left it in a plastic bag with the paintbrush I was using to collect it. Doing it this way care must be taken that the pollen is dry of course. I had seed set, but unfortunately lost the seedhead to a bird of something at one point, so I know the pollen was still viable.
I'd still be collecting albiflos pollen this season if you've got it, but also consider trying the cross the opposite way around next year as well. It can't hurt, and you definitely wouldn't need to "long term" store the pollen if you were just taking it from one month to the next.
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From Fred:
You're right Paul !
I'll try both ways
Anyway, I'll have to wait some months to start
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From Tony Willis:
I stored the pollen of dysosma for a couple of months in the fridge ,like Hans, in a film container. I pulled of the complete anthers and stored those. When I finally used it it produced very good seeds. Germination is awaited.
My only thought on the haemanthus is that they are not hardy and I would be concerned as to whether freezing would kill the pollen. The two genus that Gerd mentions are hardy and often subject to frost when in flower
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From Fred: I don't think that frost could kill the pollen...
but I'm not too sure.
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So... over to you : what experience with pollen storage do you have?
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I keep mine in little foil parcels in a jam jar in the fridge. It's certainly OK for 3-4 months like this, but I haven't tried leaving it for a full year. However, I'm about to try it with some pollen left over from last year, and I also have some from 2006 (so I don't clean out my fridge very often...) so if I can I will try that too.
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Ok,
Haemanthus albiflos pollen is frozen for 10 months
-22°C
see you next september ;D
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Dear Friends
I have experience with peony pollen: I collect the anthers and "bake " them under a 40W lamp to dry pollen that is then stored in a sealed plastic vial.
The vial is kept in the fridge + 5°C for use in the following weeks. Part of the pollen is stored in a sealed vial and kept refrigerated -4/5°C for use the following year: I had good results with my hand crosses.
Roberto
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Thank you alltogether for these replies.
I am especially curious about the results of a long term storage in the freezer.
I googled around and according the results it seems to be possible to keep pollen viable this way.
Gerd
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From 'Modern Methods in Orchid Conservation' (H.W.Pritchard) Cambridge University Press.
'Long term storage of pollen in air filled ampoules at sub zero temperatures.....offer(s) the potential to extend the longevity of orchid pollen to atleast one year'
If you would like the article let me know.
Best wishes,
Giles
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From 'Modern Methods in Orchid Conservation' (H.W.Pritchard) Cambridge University Press.
'Long term storage of pollen in air filled ampoules at sub zero temperatures.....offer(s) the potential to extend the longevity of orchid pollen to atleast one year'
If you would like the article let me know.
Best wishes,
Giles
Thank you, Giles.
Yes, I am interested in the article very much. Is there a chance to describe the method in short form here?
Gerd
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Gerd, I have found online access to some of this material, here:
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CgQb7J5wsMUC&oi=fnd&pg=PP8&dq=%27Modern+Methods+in+Orchid+Conservation%27+(H.W.Pritchard)+Cambridge+University+Press&ots=4Pb2UGcsgR&sig=LgdbxTqTRF01oQ2prpsL6aQsgGg#PPA3,M1
There are quite a few pages shown in this link......... :)
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Dear Gerd,
Maggi has posted all the bits that are relevant (the first 14 pages).
I think in essence it means you need to do a 3 year research project to optimise storage conditions for each individual species you are interested in (!!!)
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Maggi+Giles,
Thank you for your kind help.
I'll start my next research project immediately because this is a fine excuse
for not doing too much housecleaning ;D ;D ;D
Gerd
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I'll start my next research project immediately because this is a fine excuse
for not doing too much housecleaning ;D ;D ;D
Gerd
I'm still learning.... 8) ;)
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I'd better start such a project myself as I started to clean out my kitchen cupboards yesterday, prior to the installation of a new fridge/freezer. Such a job that I doubt I'll ever see my garden again. :o
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Very interesting thread!
I started freezing pollen this year - first I let it dry at the air, then it is storaged together with sicagel (to dry it still more) in small plastic tubes in the freezer by about -20º C - next year I will see how it works... ;)
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And what about your 'storing pollen' experiences ? ::)
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Nicole,
I have been freezing Hemerocallis pollen for many years, now, and it keeps for at least 3 years for me. It is dried for a day, placed in a small vial with dessicating gel, on top of a small cotton wad. This is then placed in a standard freezer (-8°C) and used as required.
One must be careful of getting ice particles into the vial when using the pollen, as this will damage or destroy the pollen for next use. I have a few vials I've been using for over 5 years, while others seem to have a very limited life span. All pollens are NOT equal!
I am doing this with Hippeastrum, Crocus, and Iris, as well, with good results. I'll be starting with Narcissus this coming season.
Jamie
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Thank you very much Jamie, very interesting ! I'll be going to try... :D
Nicole
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Well ! I've done some pollination with H. albiflos and H. paucifolius, I 'll have some seeds... let's wait some years to get results ::)
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Wait and see Bulbi.... ;)