Easiest and best way to collect & save male pollen

[Mordecai]

I have two nice male plants outside that I would like to save some pollen from. (One green crack x tres dawg and a fruity pebbles og f4 lime pheno) what is the best and easiest way to collect the pollen and then save it? I would love to hear everyone’s different (or similar) process. Thanks…

[Cartwright]

If you are trying to avoid pollinating the neighborhood, I would take multiple big clones, rootem then flower out indoors.

Perhaps treat clones with a neem oil bath before bringing them inside.

[Mordecai]

no neighbors for over a mile, won’t be ruining any gardens

[sfzombie13]

pollen can travel up to 10 miles under the right conditions and make any hemp in that area hot. not that i care or anything, it isn’t even irresponsible, just an fyi thing. you could very well be ruining some gardens if you care about that sort of thing. my hemp farm may well be doing the same thing for some guerilla grows in the area when i start too. still gonna do it.

edit: then i forgot to post the part about the pollen collection. outside i think i may put a clear trashbag over the plants and have some sort of tray under it but protected from the dew.

[Cartwright]

Then maybe just wait for them to flower. When ready to pop start cutting tops, put them in cups of water , and let them drop pollen indoors.

You could also just shake the flowering males and collect on parchment paper or glass or something.

There are a couple of threads on pollen collection to explore.

Ps, I agree that pollen can go very far under decent conditions

There is fabric made specifically for outdoor pollen control. Schmoogle and scamazon are your freinds

[JustANobody]

I beat them into a glass caserol dish, picked out the flowers and scraped/scooped it into wax paper envelopes left open and stuck that in a Tupperware with a bunch of descicant for 3-5 days.

Then I put the dried pollen into 2 ml tubes, put the tubes in a vacuum seal bag with dessicant, vacuum sealed it, and then into either the fridge or freezer. I sent some to @hoss8455 and that worked pretty well I think.

[Mordecai]

Sweet, thanks! sounds easy enough.

[JustANobody]

It worked well for me without a ton of effort.

[Foreigner]

@Cartwright

start cutting tops, put them in cups of water , and let them drop pollen indoors

This. Depending on how much pollen you need.

I’ve never had any luck storing it.

I’ve also cut them and let them dry and you can swipe the pollen it drops with your finger. Or grind them for a little more kick.

[Tlander]

Just for fun, here’s a little alternative method… First Time (growing legal that is)! - #238 by Tlander . (There’s more posts around this one that cover the “Male Boxes”! May not suit you, but if you have a lot of males at once this method may help! My humidity conditions mean it’s almost impossible to ‘save’ pollen here, but for almost immediate use this worked well! Plus by cutting off tops you can reduce the size/amount of males to worry about. Good luck!

[Shoreline]

The best way to collect or store pollen is paper bags. Cut some branches and let dry in the brown bag, then you can separate. Also storing in folded paper.

Using vials, foil or anything else is the wrong way to do it.

[Grayeyes]

My male isn’t throwing much so here’s what I am doing. I take a clean shot glass and a long handled roachclip out to them. I look for ripe pods that will release within the next day or so and pluck them off. I then put the pods into the shot glass bring it back inside in a place with no air circulation and let them dry. When dry they release the pollen.

I am forced to do this as my females are nowhere near flowering.

When I’m done collecting the shot glass will be covered with plastic wrap and stashed in the refrigerator until I can use it.

[Tlander]

@Grayeyes

When I’m done collecting the shot glass will be covered with plastic wrap and stashed in the refrigerator until I can use it.

Just be very careful when you take it out of the refrigerator! The temp differential inside/outside can cause moisture to form. Others can explain it better than me, but when I use glass vials or zip-locs to hold my folded pollen papers, I generally don’t open them until the whole pack has reached room temperature. Not sure how it works with a shot glass covered in plastic?

[Mordecai]

This makes the most sense to me considering how moisture sensitive male pollen is.

[Budderton]

Hey @Mordecai . There’s a bunch of info on pollen containment in this thread…

How I make small batches of seeds without screwing up my sensi( too much)

Hey. Here I plan to show how I use homemade papper bags to isolate and collect pollen from donors and use that pollen to make small batches of seed, in the same space I flower my sensi. Than you Mel Frank! I collect from clones grown in one gallon pots. When the flowers start to form I trim the lower half off to help focus on flower development and it makes it easier to bag. When most mature flower is close to opening, it’s time to bag. [20220109_094949] Time to bag… [20220109_095025…

And prep for and storage of pollen here.

Best way to collect, store, use and mail pollen?

I’m planning on reversing a plant, and just want to collect plenty of pollen… Please share your methods-

Best of luck with your project!

[Mordecai]

Thank you!

[Cartwright]

I’m glad you said that. I have noticed, my oldest viable stuff is in paper envelopes, and that some of my vials are clumping, I may have to go back to the paper in ziplocs then surrounded by rice in jar, in the freezer.