How do i properly preserve pollen

[Bignaturalbrock]

Hi my vft is flowering and i need to know how to preserve pollen, i would love to have many of these in a few years
and by the way when there is 1 flower stalk is there 1 flower on it or is there as many flowers as i see buds?

 

[pond boy]

There is as many flowers as you see buds.

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Can't say I have ever tried to store VFT pollen.. so this is something I would try but has not been tested...

The problem with Dionaea is the flowers collapse in the afternoon and make a mess of the pollen. So you would need to remove it before this happens.

A couple thoughts come to mind. You could just pluck off the anthers with fine tweezers and store them in little foil envelopes in the fridge. Only problem I see here is the potential for some mold because the plant material. Another possibility is to collect the pollen seperately. Maybe by using a small cotton swab and loading it with pollen and then storing the swab in the fridge in some container. The pollen should last a few months refridgerated so you can do some crosses with other plants as they flower.

Tony

 

[Darcie]

I would agrea with tony on this one, but you can probubly get away with just tossing the anthers/defunct pollen messed flower petals into a baggy. I don't like foil because it gets more moisture in to, I like ziplock baggies, but I'm sure anything would work. Then you just have to cross your fingers and hope for the best, but pollen IS made to be long lasting and dirable so you have nature on your side in this

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Another option is to fold up little packets from white paper. They will absorb some moisture from any flower parts and help prevent mold

 

[Bignaturalbrock]

i can count 7 buds with the middle being the largest and some being less than half its size, the problem with preserving this pollen is i want to pollinate as many flowers as possible so the first one opens can i presere pollen from that and pollinate all with it,

OR the first one opens i take pollen and i give to 2nd one, and then i take pollen from 2nd one and give to 3rd and then take pollen from 3rd and give to 4th?

 

[Tony Paroubek]

There will be lots more pollen produced than you actually need. You can pollinate each flower with some of the pollen and remove the rest for use later on a different plant.

 

[Bignaturalbrock]

Quote[/b] (Tony Paroubek @ Mar. 22 2004,19:40)]There will be lots more pollen produced than you actually need. You can pollinate each flower with some of the pollen and remove the rest for use later on a different plant.

tony i only have one plant, do you mean pollen can be preserved for months ?, and from what i understand i wont be able to pollinate the first flower because the stigma is ready first and then its old and then the pollen is ready?

 

[Tony Paroubek]

Quote[/b] (Bignaturalbrock @ Mar. 23 2004,22:43)]from what i understand i wont be able to pollinate the first flower because the stigma is ready first and then its old and then the pollen is ready?

hmm don't quote me since it's been a long time...

I don't recall there being a problem with self pollinating a single flower. The stigma won't be ready immediately so just wait until it is.. the pollen is ready not long after the flower opens.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Heck, if I am selfing flowers, such as if only one VFT clone is blooming at the time, I usually just use pollen from flower #1 to pollinate flower #1 (after its stigma is receptive), then when flower #2 opens, I use some of its pollen on flower #1 and some of the pollen from flower #1 on flower #2 once its stigma is receptive . . . and so on with any subsequent flowers. The pollen seems to be fine for at least a week, perhaps longer. In the future I may try different methods of long-term storage of pollen, but so far most of the plants I want to use as parents have bloomed at the same time.

If I am crossing between different clones or cultivars I simply use a small piece of masking tape marked with the name of the pollen donor and wrap it around the peduncle of the pertinent flower.</span>

 

[Bignaturalbrock]

wow thanks, well this flowering thing is making me impatient the flower stalk seems to have slowed down at 2x the size of the vft's leaves and isnt it supposed to grow taller, anyways thanks for all the info i plan to get many seeds

now should i make a new thread asking whats the best way to plant and have all vft seeds germinate or anyone here know, heh just wanna be ready with materials when its time, im lazy at buying stuff

 

[fre8train]

A couple thoughts come to mind.  You could just pluck off the anthers with fine tweezers and store them in.

if you did this would the flower that you took them from still be able to make seeds. in other words do they need the anther after it makes and holds the pollin or is that their only functon.

 

[Bignaturalbrock]

one question, the pollen seems to be falling off of the little anthers and down into the middle of the flower, but i cant seem to get any onto the cotton swab, it just isnt sticking.

 

[uglypho]

Pluck the anthers off and put them on receptive stigmas. This well effectivley pollinated your flowers. Do this once a day 2 days in a row.