Outdoors pollination and rain

[Treevly]

I understand that rain will kill pollen. (Does dew?) Anyway, if one is going to pollinate buds and the weather forecast is touch-and-go for the next few days, with possibilities of some rain, is it necessary to bag the branches after pollinating the buds? If so, for how long? How long does it take the pollen to do its work so that rain can't do any damage?
Thanks for any wisdom.

 

[troutman]

If rain could stop pollination seeds probably wouldn't exist. Males will release pollen
for over week if you let them so I think you'll be safe. Outdoors, I notice more pollen
being released right after the dew dries off in the morning. If you're lucky you'll even
see bumblebees stealing pollen. They'll be enough pollen to go around so don't worry.
If you gently shake a male when the dew dries you may see pollen clouds of pollen.
At night, the same male tapped lightly will make pollen clouds that almost looks like
smoke with a flashlight.

You should see signs of pollination around 3 to 5 days after the pollen starts flying.

 

[Treevly]

If rain could stop pollination seeds probably wouldn't exist. I think that would only be true of it rained everywhere, all the time.

I've read that if one is pollinating a particular bud, one should spray nearby buds with water to prevent pollination of those buds. I am keen to know if it is safe to put pollen on my buds if there is rain in the near forecast, or should I wait for a dry day or two? I've just spent an hour online reading about this subject and unfortunately I have found the answer NO as often as I have found YES.

Another part of this question is: how long does it take the pollen to actually get the girl pregnant, so to speak?

 

[troutman]

If you have pollen from another source wait for a dry day then.

Once pollen lands on a pistil it germinates and has sexy time with it. It take a while for the seeds
to mature. I like letting mine go for over a month. In time you'll see the calyxes splitting revealing
dark seeds. Test out a few calyxes, then if enough are ready harvest the plant. Otherwise, wait
longer for them to mature.

 

[calisun]

Once the pollen lands on the stigma it takes 3 to 5 days to reach the ovary for fertilization to occur. During that time pollen can be killled by water and or high humidity above 65%. The first 24 hours the pollen is on the stigma is when the water has the highest affect on the pollen

 

[troutman]

Once the pollen lands on the stigma it takes 3 to 5 days to reach the ovary for fertilization to occur.

It's much faster than that.

Within 2 to 3 minutes, the pollen left on stigma starts to germinate, to grow pollen tube toward the egg cell. Pollen tubes are the pathways for sperm to reach the egg. The pollen tube reaches the ovule. It happens within 15-60 minutes after the pollen tube starts growing.

https://www-plb.ucdavis.edu/labs/rost/Rice/reproduction/flower/fertiliz.html

 

[Treevly]

Ah! The last two posts got to the point I am pondering. Unfortunately the link is post #6 produced a "Connection Not Trusted" warning from Firefox. Still, we are on topic.

An aside: people have posted about putting plastic bags on buds to assist pollination, but I can't imagine that is well received by the buds on a sunny day.

 

[troutman]

Ah! The last two posts got to the point I am pondering. Unfortunately the link is post #6 produced a "Connection Not Trusted" warning from Firefox. Still, we are on topic.

Remove the s in https and you'll see the link work.

BTW: I'm breeding outdoors now and have removed 35 males thus far in the past 2 weeks to a make sure
my #1 male pollinates the plants. The #2 male was removed recently. I know how pollen flies and am not
worried about morning dew or rain from experience.

To make sure those culled males don't pollinate anything I burn them in a fire like evil witches.

 

[calisun]

In cannabis it takes 12-36 hours for the pollen tube to reach the ovules from what I remember when I was researching it.

From what I observed from my own experiments is I can kill the pollen with water within the first 24hrs of pollinating

The 3-5 days may be a little long. Was going from memory. Different studies for different flowers

 

[Treevly]

Wednesday it is.

 

[Treevly]

Close enough. Thanks, everyone.

 

[Treevly]

Close enough. Thanks, everyone.