Any suggestions on storing pollen?

Dennis Kramb dkramb@badbear.com
Fri, 13 May 2016 09:40:27 PDT
i store mine in 35mm film canisters and set them in empty ice cube trays so
that i can easily read the writing on the side.  that way im only
retrieving the individual canisters as needed.  i never thaw pollen i won't
use that day.

Dennis in Cincinnati
On May 13, 2016 12:35 PM, "Michael Mace" <michaelcmace@gmail.com> wrote:

> I could use some advice on storing pollen.
>
> The bulbs that I hybridize bloom over a period of several months, most of
> them from February to early May. If I want to make the widest range of
> crosses, I need to store pollen from the early ones to use on the later
> ones. The way I've been doing that is to put the anthers in plastic film
> canisters (the kind that photographic film used to come in). The canisters
> go in a soft-sided food cooler, which is stored in a deep freeze in the
> garage.
>
> During bloom season I take that cooler out of the freezer for an hour or
> more every time I pollinate. That system worked well for me in the past,
> but
> the more plants I get, the more often I take the cooler out of the freezer.
> This year it was probably out at least five times a week, and I noticed
> that
> the stored pollen started to look bad. It was clumpy instead of powdery,
> and
> flowers pollinated with it often didn't set seeds. My rate of success on
> crosses dropped by about 50% this year.
>
> I think what's happening is that the anthers are thawing and then
> refreezing
> over and over, and that's doing something to the pollen. Do you think
> that's
> likely, and if so, what can I do about it? I can think of a few options:
>
> --Don't freeze the anthers during the growing season. Store the film
> canisters open in a cool day spot and hope the pollen remains viable. How
> long is it likely to last when stored this way?
>
> --Remove the pollen from the anthers and freeze only the pollen. Will the
> pollen alone tolerate thawing and freezing better than pollen on anthers?
>
> --Store the anthers in a refrigerator instead of a freezer. Maybe if they
> don't actually freeze they won't deteriorate so quickly.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Mike
>
>
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