Storing Male Pollen: How do you do it?

jar'd in the fridge, mix a little flour into it.

wicks away moisture, and makes it easier to spread.

you will have about 7-10 days max shelf life.

 

I've been breeding plants which I've collected from around the globe for ten or fifteen years, I've used 6+ year old pollen with the same success as fresh pollen.


If you keep it in the freezer, in well-sealed containers (or at the very least oven bags) with desiccant sachets, it can last for years!


If preserving the specific genetics is crucial to you, you're best using at least some right away to create seeds, just in case something in your freezer/fridge goes amiss (broken freezer, torn storage bags, smashed jars, whether plastic or pyrex).


If you keep it with desiccant sachets, but outside the fridge or freezer, it should last for one to three months. Some people like to thin it out with different flours, but I don't bother before storage, it makes it easy to distribute but it can effect the shelf life. If I'm out of desiccant I'll have a separate bag of starch, or rice flour in the same container with the pollen. You're best off storing it properly as-is, then blending with a more inert spreader once you're prepared to fertilize your ladies.


If you are going to cut your pollen, try corn starch, or organic rice flour, and cut it no sooner than a few days to a week prior to pollination. Both the corn starch and rice flour have superior absorptive abilities, and better, drier 'flow', compared to traditional flour, and they are somewhat 'more inert' than most wheat flour which, by law, is usually fortified. If it's all you have, regular flour still works fine as far as pollination goes, many people use it. The others are just a bit easier to work with, and store a bit better (and they healthier/safer, as far as the plants are concerned, due to the chemical/man-initiated fortification required in most store-bought wheat flour).


Good luck!

 

6 + year old pollen? I have my doubts.