Storing Male pollen

I’ve read a few ways to store pollen.

But I got some strong genetics looking to store typical I’d refrigerated then out where needed. But was limited by shelf life.

What is the methods others are using so I can find one that works for me.

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I mix it 1 to 4 parts flower and store in the fridge. Works really well. I have stored for a while and have used two year old pollen stored this way, it was still viable.

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Dry the ever living hell out of it. After that, seal it up into separate portions and put it in the freezer. The fridge is no good. You want to freeze out any remaining water vapor so it doesn’t ruin the pollen.

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I’ve had some sitting in my mini-fridge grow cab for a few days at approx 30c and 43-50 RH would that be suitable to consider it dry?

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Moved to freezer…thanks for the tip.

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Freezer for sure ! I wrap it in parchment paper. Ive used it after 9 months in the freezer with great success

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My preferrd method is to dry it like @lefthandseeds suggested, then I put individual sized portions in a snap top centrifugal tube. I put that in a mylar bag with some silica beads as a desiccant and vac seal it. I then vac seal all the mylar bags and stick that in my freezer. I’ve used it three years later with no issues, bet it is still good now. :grin:

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I’ve collected some pollen, and put it in a Tupperware container with a closet dehumidifier, and a hygrometer. Today, it’s at 20%, and I have some questions.

Is that dry enough to store? Is 10:1 a good ratio of flour to pollen? I know the flour
has to be cooked, but I’m not sure how long. I read that you can do it in the microwave, is that right?

Thanks for all your help. :vulcan_salute:
:guitar:

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I’ll spend some time lab it out find what works appreciate the insights. I’ll fond a routine and nail it my way or someone else’s contributed knowledge.

Great relief to find a group that’s into same hobbie I am.

20% isn’t bad. Depending on how well your box seals, you probably won’t get much below 15% in my experience.

I don’t mix with flower, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. The purpose of baking the flour is to evaporate off any water. So anything above 212F should make that happen pretty quick. If you mix it with your pollen and put it back in the dry box, your hygrometer should tell you if it’s ok to package up. If the humidity goes up, just leave it in there and wait for it to come back down.

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@lefthandseeds feel like gonna come out a astro physics after this.

Will run experiments

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I don’t mix mine with flour either. I dry it, put it in a vile, vac seal in a mylar bag with some desiccant, then toss it in the freezer.

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Same here, except I dont mess the desiccant

Being as water vaporizes at room temp in minutes under vacuum wonder if putting it in a vacuum chamber would dry out faster