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How To: Collect Pollen

Okay.. now what? :scratch: Male N. specabilis x ventricosa

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Let's see, you...uh, it's on the...you get it from the...Man, those are some crazy flowers!
 
LOL.. Ro, you crack me up!
 
Thank you, thank you *bows*. Maybe you should just, like, rub the flower together.
 
Wait till you notice a yellow powdery substance form on the pollen balls. Then when you collect the pollen, just cut off the pollen ball. leave the rest of the flower on the stalk. But be sure to let the entire pollen ball form the pollen on it first before cutting it.

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It seems you get a rather short window to do so, right? The first flower that opened has already turned brown.
 
The pollen should start forming on the pollen balls within the first day or 2. I would collect each pollen ball as hey ripen. It is a short window though.
 
place a desiccant like a silica gel packet in the bag as well and put the pollen in a cold refridgerater @ 4C. that should help extend the life of the pollen (how long i cant guarantee, maybe 2-3 months) till a suitable female flower is available.
 
Roger that! I'll keep a close eye on them.. Thanks for the help.

---------- Post added at 01:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:07 AM ----------

in a cold refridgerater @ 4C.

Dude.. we talked about this. IN FAHRENHEIT PLEASE!!
 
  • #10
Another method is to pick the flowers that have mature pollen, then scrape the pollen off using an x-acto knife or something like it. Collect the pollen on waxed paper, then air dry the pollen (in the house is okay, out of direct sun) for a day. The idea is to minimize the moisture without killing the pollen in order to prevent rot. Scraping off the pollen is kind of tedious, but I've done it this way and sent the pollen half way around the world, and it worked.

Of course, if you have the female plant handy, just pick the male flower and, holding the stem of the flower, lightly brush the pollen onto the female flower.
 
  • #11
Okay, so I wanted to cut off the first ones that are ripe. What am I putting them in.. just wax paper then into the fridge with it? Do I need to do individual pollen wraps each time, or can I just fill the one I began with? Didn't know if it affected it if I take it out of the fridge over and over.

---------- Post added at 08:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 PM ----------

So I put quite a few ripe flower heads into a wax paper wrap.. Dated and labeled it, and stuck it in the fridge. I would say almost half of all of the flowers on the stalk were ripe. Once I cut the first few, it got pretty easy to tell the difference in color between the ripe and unripe heads.
 
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