When to harvest pollen

[NewEnglandGrowz]

I’m stuck with 2 males from 2 seeds
How long before I ca harvest pollen? They’ve been in 12/12 for 17 days and this is what they look like.

 

[chilliwilli]

Shouldn't take too long. Some pods look already big so they will start pop in a day or 2 and release the pollen.

 

[NewEnglandGrowz]

If I were to cut a stalk and put it in a ziplock bag and agitate it a little to release the pollen will it be viable? Or do they need to mature and open on their own?

 

[troutman]

Don't worry, it won't be long now.

 

[chilliwilli]

If I were to cut a stalk and put it in a ziplock bag and agitate it a little to release the pollen will it be viable? Or do they need to mature and open on their own?

I think pollen should be mature when harvested. You could put the stalk in a water glas over a clean sheet of paper and collect the pollen every day.

 

[Dime]

You can put a bread bag with a plastic window over the tops and rubber band or string the open end and after the pollen is released cut the branch and it is already collected.

 

[LostTribe]

You can put a bread bag with a plastic window over the tops and rubber band or string the open end and after the pollen is released cut the branch and it is already collected.

Old School!

 

[St. Phatty]

I've done the "pollen in a bag" routine.

It works most of the time.

The humidity in the bag gets really high and I think that interferes with the movement of pollen.

But that might be a good thing.

Now I prefer to put the male plant, or a clone from it, in the garden with the females.

Then it depends how many seeds I want.

If I want lightly seeded, I wait for the first pollen sacs to visibly open, so I can see the tiny dust cloud from it .

If I want medium seeded, I let it openly pollinate for maybe 4 days.

If I want heavily seeded, I let the male plant go till it's done.

 

[NewEnglandGrowz]

So, l pollenated a bud on a Black DOG and an LA Confidential a on 3/17, l tied a ribbon on each bud so I’d be able to harvest them separately.
After I collected the pollen I took a tiny paint brush and basically painted the buds with pollen, those suckers are fat and lumpy now. I can feel the seeds. I’ll post pics after I harvest them, depending how many I get I may gift some.

 

[shawkmon]

Yezzzz

 

[Dankdude]

Sounds like a worth while venture.

 

[revegeta666]

I

If I were to cut a stalk and put it in a ziplock bag and agitate it a little to release the pollen will it be viable? Or do they need to mature and open on their own?

I wouldn't do the ziplock bag thing, just because fresh flowers and leaves will make the humidity rise a lot inside the bag, and this may cause the pollen to spoil. Pollen needs to be as dry as possible. They are just about to open by the way

Edit - oh wow I'm 5 weeks late lol

 

[Dr.Mantis]

So, I’m not a pollen harvesting expert, but I have done it successfully a few times now.

I took a cutting of the male I wanted, rooted and immediately flowered it. This kept one stem, and a small easily manageable plant. As the pollen sacs matured, I would pluck them off with tweezers (carefully). I would wait to pick them when they were a few hours before opening. I’ve found the male flowers that are getting ready to open grow very quickly in the hours leading up to blooming. I put the closed flowers in a small vial. This small vial was then placed inside a larger vial with some oven dried Epsom salts as a desiccant in the bottom of the larger vial. I left this for a few about two days before moving it to the freezer for longer term storage. After a day or two the desiccated flowers bits can be easily plucked from the dried pollen.