Your question is very broad; actually hand pollination is a very easy standard procedure in the horticultural world. That is the way most new cultivars are created. Now getting into details one has to know the type of pollination strategy the specific species you are trying to preserve. Some are outbreeders ( they won't accept own pollen) , others are inbreeders ( i.e many Fabaceae that do not open their flowers to external pollinators). Those that have some degree of outbreeding in their genes have their stigma and anthers maturing at differing times. One can store pollen in the freezer for later use, if that were your need. The procedure just requires collecting pollen from mature anthers ( they tend to be "dusty") and stick onto a painters brush and them smear them on the sticky stigma. Stigmas become receptive when there's is a glue like sticky exudate. Since you were so broad in your question; I can't provide any specific experience if I were to have. We regularly hand pollinate our Zucchini's inside our greenhouses because Zucchinis start to bloom much before there is a sizeable fly population that would do that regularly. The flower only lasts a day and the pollination ought to be carried sometime around 10 am when both male and female flowers are on their prime. Arturo TarakBariloche, PatagoniaArgentina _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…