Congratulations Uli! I think we should put your description on PBS. It would help others. I am sorry I did not take the time to explain you the details. I should have know better! On Fri 28. May 2021 at 01:03 Uli via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > Dear All, > > It worked! I now have a few thick seed capsules ( and more look promising) > on my one and only Albuca clanwilliamigloria bulb after pollination with > microwaved pollen. I want to thank all of you for your help and advice, > especially Robert who gave me insight into the technical ins and outs of a > microwave oven. > > I combined the different advice I got from different people and here is my > "Recipe" > > To collect the pollen I use a cotton swab (Q-tip), I do not remove the > anthers from the flowers. The swab with the pollen on it is placed in a > drinking glass with about 1cm of water in the bottom, the swab points > upwards and has no contact with the water. The glass is placed on the > rotating plate of the microwave oven with a mug of water next to it. > Microwave at max power, which is 700W in my case, for 10 seconds. Then I > collect additional pollen with the same microwaved swab and with this > mixture I pollinate. Preferably young flowers before they are fully open. I > carefully open the 3 inner petals to get to the stigma. But I also > pollinate mature flowers. Afterwards I keep the swab dry in the same glass > without water on a sunny windowsill and repeat the process every day with > the same cotton swab which contains some old pollen from the previous days. > This combines the different advice I got, but I do not know which of the > actions taken is the key. Success rate with this procedure is good, about > 75% of the flowers seem to form a seed pod, the others abort. Please keep > your fingers crossed for me that these seed pods will contain viable seed > at the end, both for myself and to share. > > Here is a picture of the developing seed pods, the plant has two scapes. > > Thank you again, Uli > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>