Pollenation.....

Discussion in 'Advanced Cultivation' started by wawona, Nov 2, 2005.

  1. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    Due to the increased heat, or at least appearance of heat, with seed companies and rising prices I have decided that the order I just placed will be my last seed order.

    since my timing with cloning is not perfect yet I have decided to pollenate my incoming plants. I have been using femminised seeds which has left me with no male pollen. until now. One of my strawberry cough that I just started from seed a month ago is a male. I am gonna pollenate the other female SC and a hindu I have going. also gonna pollenate the chocolate chunk, ak47 and the matanuska. none femminised

    thanks to a cupl GK members and the faq I believe that I have a pretty good understanding of the pollenation process. The question that i have is, "when is the male pollen viable"? any particualr age? I have a separate area to put the male. I would like to keep some of the pollen for the near future too. just wondering if there are any signs that I should be looking for that the pollen is "ready"?

    seeing as how I have never kept a male plant once i realized it was male i am not sure what it's going to produce. do i collect the "balls" like you see at the onset of flowering? the whole group of balls? does each "ball" contain lots of pollen or what? just knock a bunch of them off into a film canister? They are 6 days into 12-12 now.

    just looking for tips on pollenation. looking to get some of what I have been paying for for free. any infor would be greatly appreciated.


    :animbong: wa
     
  2. Joe Gardener

    Joe Gardener Full Flowering

    I believe males are ready before females.
     
  3. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    these males have about 3-4 "balls" at each of the top cupl nodes. fewer as you go down the plant. you all know how it works.


    :animbong: wa
     
  4. Joe Gardener

    Joe Gardener Full Flowering

    Oh and Wawona;

    I understand the harvest of pollen is best in the morning.
    Put something under the open sac's and tap them with a tooth pick or some such thing.
     
  5. Angry Iraqi

    Angry Iraqi Begun Flowering

    This is how I harvest pollen. Wait until you have a branch with balls along it almost ready to open. Remove the whole branch (or two) and lay it on a large clean sheat of paper, and cover it with another sheet of paper (keep away from wind). The balls will continue to open over a few days, releasing the pollen onto the clean paper. Crease the paper and funnel the pollen into a vial, or container of your choice. Use a toothpick or even a finger to apply to individual buds, or whole plants to pollinate them. A good tip is to spray male plants with water to make the pollen unviable if they are close to female plants in your garden. Good luck. (This method gives you TONS of pollen)
     
  6. Bong O Matic

    Bong O Matic A Fat Sticky Bud

    I forget where I read it and it may be this faq section but somewhere I head you take some sort of small bag like a sandwich bag and put it around a branch that has quite a few pollen balls then put a rubber band at the end so none can escape.Then I guess when you think you have enough just pull it off and freeze it.And in order to fertilize you take a small paint brush (Like the kind in water paint sets) and use it to apply the pollen to the hairs on the female.
     
  7. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    so overall, the balls appearance will be obviously different once they start to "open". like I said, i am only 6 days into 12-12. on average, it takes about how long after the balls appear b4 pollen is "released"?


    :animbong: wa
     
  8. 4Q2

    4Q2 Begun Flowering

    WA' the balls are actually small flowers that will open just as a bloom on any flower opens. When the petals open, viable pollen is released.
    I've been at pollen collectin for years. Here is my "MO"

    Once the male flowers are well formed, but before they open, I'll cut an entire branch off at a 45 angle. Just as you would for a cutting to clone. Place it in a glass or dish of ph adjusted water. Place the glass on a mirror or pane of glass so that once the flowers open and begin shedding there pollen, the pollen will fall onto the mirror/glass.
    Your pollen can then be easily scraped up and gathered with a dbl edged razor blade. At this point, it's wise to dift through and remove all plant matter. (flower petals)
    It's ready to use. But if you are planning to store it for future use, it should have a descicant added to an airtight vile and freeze it. I like to mix pollen 50/50 with flour, then I'll add a few grains of rice to the vile before freezing. The flour keeps it dry AND lets a small amount of pollen go a loooong way.
    If you're looking at saving it for multiple uses further down the road, keep in mind, it must be used immeadiatly after thawing and re-freezing is NOT an option.
     
  9. Mrgreengenes

    Mrgreengenes Administrator

    hey wawona, I have a friend that works in a green house, and they use a small paint brush to put pollen on the female plants flowers ofter collecting the pollen. I think I'll be trying to pollenate my own plants for seeds in the near future. good luck wawona.
     
  10. SFC

    SFC Latae Sententiae Excommunication

    4Q2's method sounds solid. But all that **** is just complicating a simple process. Just use a 1 quart,or one gallon plastic kitchen bag, shake some pollen into it. Then take your femal brancf that you want to pollinate,annd rub it gently on the sides of the bag. Wait,and hour,or two, and mist them babies down to kil any pollen than didn't find a pistil to knoock up. Let dry,and back into the room they go. I also left my oscillating fan off for awhile to be safe.
    if you are trying to be absolutly precise though 4Q's method sounds solid.
     
  11. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    one in the air for growkind and it's excellent staff

    thanks fellas. i more than appreciate the time and effort. sounds like it's pretty simple. tired of paying for something i can create for nothing.

    just curious as to what happens to a male plant that is flowering that is put back into veg.
     
  12. 4Q2

    4Q2 Begun Flowering

    WA' just as with females, most will..some won't.
    I realize at this point, you have absolutely no oppurtunity to select a superior male for your endeavor, but is seriouslly something to consider in the future. I see so many failing to follow any selection process on the paternal end of their breeding. Simply useing the first showing (earliest maturing) male. 50% of your end products genetics are donated by the male. It only makes good common sense to put forth as much effort in the selection of Daddy as we do in the selection of a Mother. No?
    eg.. Would you breed your $50,000 registered quarterhorse mare to the first rogue mustang stallion with a huge roman nose, tiny pin ears, one glass eye, huge paddle feet, crooked legs and a tailset up about the middle of his back, just because he showed up at the pasture gate first? ;)
     
  13. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    well, to be honest, I have 2 males. one of them was completely lanky, stretched out nodes. the other was a very short, compact close nodes and all. 6 days into 12-12 it was obvious there was a difference. completely different. seeing as how i have a limitied height i simply removed the tall plant ank kept the short stocky one. beautiful lil plant. I don't know much about breeding, but i figured it was better to pick the better looking plant. seems odd you would use horses, seeing as how we own race horses.

    i think it's odd that i got 2 feamles at the same time having never had one from femminised beans. The DP SC does say "mostly" female.

    thanks for the tips

     
  14. 4Q2

    4Q2 Begun Flowering

    kewl! then you have selected a preferred male. Good for you. And used an approach that had reasoning seeing as how i have a limitied height

    I'm assumimg you meant males here, not females??

    I'm not positive,(my understanding of genetics is limited) but I think, if that the reversal of "TRUE" females and useing that pollen to fertilize another "TRUE" female, should eliminate the male chromosone in all of the prodigy. I most definately could be mistaken.
    Any geneticists in house?..;)

    I still have reservations about feminized beans. Theoretically. with the use of compounds like silver thiosulphate and colloidial silver, ect. and if proper testing is done for true females before the reversal procedure, they appear geneticly sound. I'm just not convinced everyone offering femmed seeds are following through properly.
    If I were to ever consider a feminised purchase, I would definately stay with the reputable sources as you did.
     
  15. Joe Gardener

    Joe Gardener Full Flowering

    just curious as to what happens to a male plant that is flowering that is put back into veg.



    Wa one can stress the male into a female... Been there done that [
     
  16. 4Q2

    4Q2 Begun Flowering

    QUOTE

    Has anyone else sampled growing tips as a guide for both male and female plants?
    Do you agree or dissagree?

    Absolutely!! There is no better way to test for potency and flavor "IMHO" Stucture and/or vigor are visual characteristics that can be easily discerned, but no matter how big or pretty, "beauty is only skin deep" ;)
     
  17. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    QUOTE

    Quote: from Joe Gardener on 8:41 am on Nov. 2,
    Wa one can stress the male into a female... Been there done that [​IMG]

    these ladies,....erm i mean fellas, had a very kush life. short, but kush. flos early on and temps in the low 70's with a slight breeze.

    this is my second grow with strawberry cough, so i have a good idea of what this strain is "about". I believe that I have a great male here. I have 3 more femm straberry cough to grow. so i'll pick the best female from those to pollenate. makes me smile just to know that I can get all of these seeds for free. I have no idea why this has not occured to me b4 now?



    4q2,
    i agree that if a fella is gonna use fem seeds he needs to stick with a "reputable breeder". Dutch Passion is the only way to go, in my opinion. I am hoping you are right about the genetics from this cross being mostly female. I had similar thought, but i know very lil about geneticsc. and yes I did mean male in that sentence you quoted. your info has been nothing short of stellar and i appreciate that.


    :animbong: wa

    (Edited by wawona at 1:21 pm on Nov. 2, 2005)
     
  18. wawona

    wawona The Trichome Connoisseur

    well, here is the male Strawberry Cough I selected. Beautiful plant. 14 days into 12-12 and I have not fed it a drop. any way, does it look like it's 'bout ready to "spout"? Pollen is ready to be collected? Never kept a male this long or pollenated, so just curious. I plan on just collecting the pollen from the top 3 or 4 nodes.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]


    :animbong: wa
     
  19. Administrator

    Administrator Administrator

    NUTS! :shocked:





    Sorry....natural reaction. :biggrin:
     
  20. SFC

    SFC Latae Sententiae Excommunication

    One more week Wa. He'll have big banana packs hanging then.
     

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