There was a discussion in the Bulbs_Images list about saving pollen for
later use. this is well known to the daylily folks, who do it all the
time. It is used by Clivia breeders as well. I have used it on Crinums
myself, as well as on daylilies and clivias.
The pollen should be ripe and dry. Some pollen, like daylily pollen, will
ripen after the anther has been snipped off. Others, like crinum, need to
be allowed to complete ripening of the anthers ("anthesis") on the flower
before the anther is collected.
I dry all pollen over "Drierite" (anhydrous calcium sulfate granules) with
blue indicator before storage. Once dried, the anthers can be stored in
small ziptop plastic bags or in Eppendorf micro-centrifuge tubes. If you
store the pollen in gelatin capsules, the capsules will need to be stored
in an air-tight container.
Place the pollen containers in the freezer. How long pollen retains its
viability in the freezer depends on how well it was dried before freezing
and on the genus you are working with.
Thoroughly dried daylily pollen stays viable in the freezer for several
years. Hippeastrum pollen lasts for about 12 months in the
freezer. Hymenocallis pollen lasted only about 6 months for me (many years
ago), so I will try that again for Hymenocallis. Clivia breeders maintain
that clivia pollen lasts at least several years in the freezer; they
further note that ripe clivia pollen is already so dry that it needs no
extra treatment before storage. I have used frozen crinum pollen that was
about 6 months old with success.
You only need to let the pollen (in its container) reach room temperature
before using it. An anther in a small (2 inch X 3 inch) plastic ziptop bag
will equilibrate to ambient temperature in 5 minutes or less. The contents
of an Eppendorf tube may need 10 minutes to reach room temperature.
I use a small camels hair artists paint brush to apply the pollen.
Jim Shields
in central Indiana
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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA Tel. +1-317-896-3925