yep Butch has summed it up quite nicely , we do our pollen gathering very similar , I found the specimen jars you get from the Dr with yellow lids very good to collect the pollen ,have tried paper , cups , plastic sheets , but the lid of these jars sits nicely under the flower ,you can hold it close to the pollen dust. for collection.
the pollen is very fine , and breeze around will blow it away , so do it with no wind or air movement around .
you need to be very vigilant at watching the flower ripen , the pollen only can be extracted when the colour of the anther is past yellow , to early no pollen to late no pollen , i find the best way is to test the anther once a day or even twice a day when it looks ready , usually its a yellowy light brown colour when ready , as soon as its brown or dried its to late , your window of opportunity is only 4 to 7 day usually Less , they seem to release pollen randomly or from only one anther at a time , not had 2 or 3 release at once ever , don't know if Any one else has had a different experience with it or not ??
interesting to know
Butch ??
John