Uli,
Full power in a home microwave is typically around 1000W. When you choose lower settings, this is achieved by running the 1000W power on decreasing duty cycles. So if you choose 50% power, if you listen carefully to the hum you'll hear the power turning off and on at intervals that are normally in the 5-10 second range. So in a short exposure, you'll probably get full power regardless of the power level you choose.
Note that the microwave process is very inefficient when the thing you're heating is very tiny, and most of the power gets reflected back out of the cavity and into a dummy load. Is the pollen just on a piece of paper, or is it in a glass dish or other container? Glass doesn't absorb MW much, but a ceramic with certain glazes (cobalt blue, e.g.) will heat like mad.
What is the objective? Are you drying the pollen so the stigma thinks it has come from a faraway plant? Does this overcome some defense mechanism against self-pollination? Are you heating free pollen grains, or whole anthers? This will also affect how warm they get because the moisture in the tissues will absorb more energy.
If the flowers open successively over many days, and simply drying the pollen is your objective, you might try putting the pollen in a sealed jar of dry silica gel or other desiccant. In a few days to a week I would think the pollen would be completely dried. A sunny windowsill might do the same.
Hope this helps!
Bob sunny but unseasonably cool in Zone 7
On Thursday, May 13, 2021, 03:59:08 AM EDT, Johannes-Ulrich Urban via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
Dear All,
Can somebody help?
I have one bulb only of Albuca clanwilliamigloria in flower and I am trying hard to self pollinate it with microwaved pollen. So far no success. I followed the instructions in the wiki which indicates microwaving between 5 and 15 seconds. But it does not say at what power level. My domestic microwave can be set at 6 different power levels, I used the second strongest one. I tried different exposure times in between 5 and 15 seconds but all the flowers I pollinated dropped off so far. Did I use too much power? Or not enough? There are still some flowers and buds left so any advice is most welcome.
Bye for now
Uli
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