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How airborne is Pollen?

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
and whats the deal with pollen and water??? ..some folks are reporting fertilization with a mix of water and pollen...so water must not kill pollen but just make it heavy and stick instead of floating freely in the air...yeehaw
 

moses wellfleet

Well-known member
Moderator
Veteran
and whats the deal with pollen and water??? ..some folks are reporting fertilization with a mix of water and pollen...so water must not kill pollen but just make it heavy and stick instead of floating freely in the air...yeehaw

Maybe the moisture makes the pollen heavy and it can't float away so easily. I usually select a flower and pollinate it with a paintbrush then I spray surrounding foliage... Look it could be bro science but it's 'worked' for me so far :biggrin:
 

Sam_Skunkman

"RESIN BREEDER"
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I may believe in interstellar materials, but pollen, do you have any proof of interstellar pollen? And as for the Rif pollen I believe in it for sure, but have yet to see any proof it is still viable when it lands in Europe, I do not know, do you?
-SamS


Well then it would be difficult to convince you of the existence and viability of interstellar pollen, fertilizing the earth... ;)
 

moses wellfleet

Well-known member
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I may believe in interstellar materials, but pollen, do you have any proof of interstellar pollen? And as for the Rif pollen I believe in it for sure, but have yet to see any proof it is still viable when it lands in Europe, I do not know, do you?
-SamS

Before you guys go all cosmic on us, is it possible to give your thoughts on moisture denaturing pollen, right here on Earth?

For example if it rains after plants have released their pollen do they have to start all over again?
 
I pulled probably 50 to 100 rouge seeds with tweezers outta 9 plants. The pollen came from a male plant in the next room over that I killed quickly after taking pollen. Then I brought a female into the next room and pollinated one if its branches. No more males next time, I have enough seeds. lol
 

Heusinomics

Active member
and whats the deal with pollen and water??? ..some folks are reporting fertilization with a mix of water and pollen...so water must not kill pollen but just make it heavy and stick instead of floating freely in the air...yeehaw

Iv wondered about this. And always figured it was a process of "sprouting or activating the pollen tube". I could swear I learned in bot that it was the moisture from the live stigma that stimulated the pollen tube to form and acomplish the fertilization of the ovoum/egg.

Edit: " If the pollen–stigma interaction is compatible, the pollen grain hydrates and germinates shortly following landing on the stigma. "-sciencedirect.c0m



I can't recall the time needed to cause action in the pollen grain. I belive it was within an hour. (Allowing for H2O as a one time only application method?) But Once that happens the pollen is shot.

It was my understanding that moisture spoils pollen quickly.
Perhaps Sam or Chi could comment on this process or wether they hav observed pollen under the microscope to comment on weather pollen sprouts from rain/moisture.
Edit: or wether a hormone/enzime is required to activate the pollen?..

Pollen is your friend. You can always make concentrates lol

Big ups respect and happy growing.
 
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moses wellfleet

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Sam_Skunkman

"RESIN BREEDER"
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When I pollinated several thousand 3 foot plants in containers, and then moved them into my main flowering room in rows touching each other, one row pollinated, one row un-pollinated, one row pollinated, one row un-pollinated. I pollinated in separate air tight negative pressure rooms, and then spray washed with dozens of mounted sprayers on the roof, walls and floor, the plants down after 24 hours, then let them dry 24 hours and put them in the big room with un-polinated plants, not one singe seed in the un-pollinated plants, several thousand plants. I am not sure how fast you can sprout and kill extra pollen with water but it does work as I did it. With several negative air pressure pollinating rooms you can use a single male's pollen, water spray clean the room, dry and reuse every 48 hours. I had two pollinating rooms that held 50-100 plants each. With two rooms use another different male every 24 hours to use as a pollen source. Allows for unlimited controlled pollen work.

-SamS
 
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thebaronofsd

New member
Well - significantly more info that I had hoped for but very appreciated. Now I know even in tight spaces with a tent and maybe a spacebucket or two I can start slowly building up my own seed stock.

Would be fun to do some crosses too, maybe one day my own strain.
 

oct

Member
I left a few males and females out in the woods about 100 yards from my large outdoor crop. The winds pretty strong in my area but also a lot of foliage and brush the pollen would have to travel through. Nothing was pollinated.
 
9

99%

I grow in hilly, virgin, sub-tropical bush with two ~ ten plants in each little plot all within an area of a few acres, some plots are only 30 meters apart. I grow from seedlings, always pollinate some plants during the year and I've never had unwanted pollination. but then again I don't allow males to spew out pollen uncontrollably. I think mid ~ high humidity levels and lots of foliage are the reasons why. If I grew in a flat, cleared paddock with low humidity levels and big males etc then unwanted pollination would occur.

Male cannabis pollen from Morocco may be detected in Europe but obviously the pollen is dead or every female plant in Spain would be seeded...I'd guess atmospheric humidity would be the reason why.

and as Sam mentioned, water definitely kills pollen. Apply pollen to a selected branch, cover the branch in a plastic bag then spray water over the rest of the plant and only the covered branch will be seeded (remove the bag next day). But you don't even have to do that, just sprinkle a tiny amount of pollen very close to the flowers you want seeded, a little pollen goes a long way and will produce dozens or hundreds of seeds, just make sure to not throw it all around or use too much or you will have thousands of seeds. It's best to pollinate a lower branch, so when the plant matures, you can harvest it but leave the pollinated branch for a few weeks more so all the seeds will be fully formed and be viable with high germination rates.

Even in the bush you can grow males with females and still control pollination, it's all about timing. Males usually mature from the top of the plant down, so keep a watch on them and remove almost all of the male flowers (and or the top 80% of the plant) before the first pollen drops. This will allow the males to shed pollen a few weeks later and for the females to develop more bud before pollination. Bend and tie the male(s) down level to the ground, this will help prevent natural pollination. I usually only pollinate a little bud or two so I only need a tiny amount of pollen, just before the pollen drops, the pollen sacs can be gently squeezed to pop them open and the pollen can be collected on paper and pinched up with thumb and forefinger sprinkled on selected lower buds.
 
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9

99%

Here's a question for Sam..

If the seeds on pollinated plant requires, for example, five and half weeks to be fully formed, would there be any difference in the seed's viability and germination rates between removing the seeds from the plant after 4 weeks and removing the pollinated bud after 4 weeks and hang drying it? In other words, do seeds keep on developing (even slightly) on a bud after harvesting? From my experience, they seem to, especially if the seeded buds are lightly seeded, the buds dry slowly and the buds/branch are big.
 
9

99%

Many tropical landraces readily drop seed at maturity. It's been said that strains that retain seed when they fully form do so due to man's selection (so seeds can be collected for use).

In the past dd all cannabis strains readily drop seeds at maturity and man selected and bred plants to retain seed at maturity or did man concentrate on selecting and breeding strains that already did not drop seed?
.....my guess is that tropical strains evolved so as soon as the seeds fully developed, they dropped out of the seed bracts or the seeds would germinate in the bud due to wet conditions (during months with lots of rain, it's not unusual to see seeds germinate from the buds of a living plant)..whereas strains that retain seed in the bracts tend to originate from temperate areas that have snow and or winters that are too cold for all year growing. If the seeds dropped to the ground, they might germinate and die or might be eaten so these strains evolved to retain the seeds in the bud to protect the seeds until next Spring (when ideal germination conditions occur) ...I also theorize that resin has less to do with deterring insects on the living plant in temperate zones and more so to do with waterproofing and protecting the seeds between the plant's maturity in the Fall and it's seed's germination in the Spring. Thoughts?
 
9

99%

Time release seeds. Seeds made from modern poly hybrids germinate within a narrow range of a few days, whereas tropical landrace seeds, for example, Thailand strains, are more likely to have some with a delayed germination, most of these will germinate all at once, but it's not unusual for a few to pop up weeks or more later. Why does this occur? Is this a survival trait that "wild" cannabis strains shares with many other plant species? I guess this trait was bred out by Man?
 

hamstring

Well-known member
Veteran
I left a few males and females out in the woods about 100 yards from my large outdoor crop. The winds pretty strong in my area but also a lot of foliage and brush the pollen would have to travel through. Nothing was pollinated.

I don't have the experience of the other posters on here but outdoors this statement closely mirrors my experience. Its not as easy to pollinate with the large amount of native veg between plants.
 
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