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