Pollen - How To Collect It And Use It

Smokin Moose

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex Moderator
How to take and use pollen:

This is a simple method of collecting and administering pollen to your female plants in a shared environment.

Collection

As the picture shows, this male plant is raring to go. (My totally simple pollen collection technique in action.) I recommend doing this only after you have closed the ladies up for the night. Shut off any fans in the vicinity, as pollen is an airborne 'agent' and will travel for quite some distance if allowed.

Also be considerate of household members that are sensitive to pollen


1) Place a dry, sterile, open bag/container under the opening male flowers.

2) Gently tap the stem with a finger. The pollen will slowly settle into the container. (If you are careful, only a few flowers will fall into the mix.

3) Remove any flower/plant parts that land in your container with the pollen. Tap them off gently before removing, to recover the pollen. (Moisture = BAD)

4) Dilute pollen with sterilized flour at a four-to-one ratio. This will allow more coverage if required (Optional)

5) Refrigerate until use. (Viable for around 3-5 days)

6) Immediately change your clothing and clean up before going near your female plants.

[Also, it is a good idea to isolate your pets during this time. I had a cat run in once when I was collecting pollen and after I chased it out, it promptly ran downstairs and into my Flowering room. A month later I had some very unusually crossed beans]



This is a real easy and practical method for harvesting a small amount.


Pollination disclaimer: This method is not recommended for everybody. Cross-pollination is often a result of pollinating plants in the presence of other females. Proceed at your own risk.

Due to weak branches, space and size considerations, etc., it may be necessary to pollinate your plants without removing them from the others. If possible, I would advise removing the female to be fertilized prior, but when that isn't possible, this is a good alternative.

Step 1
Wait till the grow lights go off as scheduled, and shut down all of the fans. Adjust your timers to eliminate 'surprises'. Eliminate any drafts in the outer and adjoining room and shut off your furnaceAC. The room must have zero air movement before you begin. Place a small garbage bag in a pocket at this time, later you can put all of the pollen 'tools' inside it when finished.


Step 2
Strategically locate the female(s) to seed next to each other and against a wall earlier in the grow. Now prepare a clear plastic drop cloth to isolate these plants from the rest of the garden. The plastic featured here is 4' high and 7' long.

Tape a straight edge against the far side of the tarp so that you can anchor it against the wall securely. You do not want it to come down! Use the thinnest plastic you can find to avoid excess moisture and damage to the plants. Because it is thin, be very careful to avoid damaging it.

Step 3
After arranging your divider by draping it loosely between the plants, (do not anchor it yet), mist the floor, net pots and buckets with distilled water. This will neutralize any errant pollen that drifts by or lands on the floor.

Thoroughly mist the other plants that you do not want to pollinate, being careful to avoid blowback on the plants to be fertilized.


Step 4
I prefer to wear tight-fitting clothes during this procedure to reduce pollen transfer. Carefully retrieve the pollen container, put the brush inside (a Q-tip will work for smaller amounts.) and place it into a larger, clean, storage bag. After sealing it shut, wipe the outside with a damp cloth to remove any pollen. This is important, you do not want any pollen to escape during the trip to the selected plants.

Step 5
Select the branches that you intend to fertilize and label them with computer labels. This will aid in identification later. Avoid going overboard here. A single MJ plant is capable of producing several thousand beans; only pollinate a few depending on your needs.


Make sure that the branches to be pollinated are in an area that will get good light coverage. Avoid pollinating the extreme lower branches, as they will likely not mature into viable seeds.

Step 6
While wearing gloves, position the bags nearby and below the branch and lightly coat the paintbrush with pollen. While holding the brush a short distance (3-6") above the target bud, lightly tap the brush, releasing pollen onto the fertile flower(s) below.

Do not contact the flowers directly with the brush. The 'tap' is similar to tapping off the ash on a joint, be careful, a little pollen goes a long way. For interior buds, simply tap the end of the brush lightly against the stems.


Try to select branches that are nearest to a wall, to avoid direct contact with other non-pollinated branches. Cross-pollination will occur anyway, but usually only a few extra seeds are a result.

Step 7
When you are satisfied with the coverage, seal up the inner bag, remove your gloves carefully and place them in the larger zip lock before sealing it as well. Now place the bag into the clean garbage bag that was previously secured in your pocket.

You may wish to remove your shirt slowly and place it in the bag as well.

Keep a wet washcloth nearby to wipe off your face, arms, legs and other pollen magnet areas. Doing this will reduce the spread of pollen as you leave the area. Remove the pollen bag from the room and return after washing up.


Step 8
Secure the far end of the plastic barrier to the wall. Be careful to do this slowly to avoid stirring up the air/pollen. Secure the end closest to the door using squares of stiff cardboard and tacks. These are essentially homemade roofing felt nails and will prevent the plastic from tearing.

Now shut them in for the night, making sure that the fan(s) are still disabled. You may need to raise the lights during the lights on period to compensate for the lack of fans.

This continues for 48 hours. On the third day's lights off time, mist the fertilized plants thoroughly to take out any viable pollen that remains behind, in the morning turn on the fans and adjust the light(s) as normal.

Remove the plastic divider after one week when you are certain that there is no contamination threat.

Remember at the end of the grow to thoroughly clean your grow room with a damp cloth to remove all traces of pollen.


Four to five weeks later, you should have a bunch of viable beans to grow or share with your friends and nature.
 
great. I bought some seeds. Dropped a few c-notes. germed 4 days, saw one tail and planted. Just like many,many times b-4. Not a plant to speak of. Its like the seeds are hollow. Don't know just what to do. call and say something? pissed me off to the max. luckily, i've been playing w/ clones and have a sm crop. not enough for a felony but some for my aches and pains. i want to get my own seeds and luckily again, i have a good male starting to ripen and will be ok. just needed to freshen my thots on how to get my diesel seeded w/ papa kush. and viola' u r what i needed. i have a solitary sex spot so none of the other girls get a good hosing:). trying to make up for the burn i took on purchasing from someone new. SUKS A UGLY ONE,WAY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:bravo::tokin::passitleft::woohoo::rollit:
 
Okay this is the most I have read so far,, and I have Ed's book and Jorge's,, so then I am still looking for land and only learning here on what was five plants. I had fully intended on breeding seeds (later) but my OG went male. (every strain here is different) So I haphazardly collected the pollen and petals with paper and pencil. Now are you telling me it is expired after 3 days? I should be chillin it? and how long does it last chilled? BUT more importantly what do expect letting it go full growth time? Will it be any bud at all or have I seen it all already. We have two more months to go on six. It now has the worst spot on position so it does not matter to me. I found nothing in either book, except kill it nows.
 
thanks! I'm looking for a way to pollinate two branches, one each, on two outdoor early bloomers without a disaster. sounds like using plastic and wetting down everything BUT those 2 branches might work....
 
I was wondering if I had a crop and maybe took some choice girls outside and pollinated them up good and kept them out for two weeks if they could be placed back inside with the rest without upsetting the bunch. maybe hose them off good the last week. I am not ready to try it but has anyone?
 
so my update is,, I needed room and didn't hear back from anyone on the male. I forgot I was going to watch him for seeds. It didn't ever look like he was making anything other than pollin and I forgot about waiting,, so I chopped him down and save all his man parts. Pollen and petals I don't mind.. All the girls are pregnant and that's fine with me. I only wish I had super sour diesel because now I will have to do it again. And it doesn't look so great with something more than seeds for me now. But I am still very happy/proud of my girls. Only my tomatoes and flowers are stealing the show anyway.. They just can't help themselves.
 
I also noticed I am making every mistake there can be,, it must be the thing for new people.. me too. Well except for the "weed guru" youtube star with the entire devastarvation collection in one playlist on his first run..
 
Take the target plant out of the grow room just before light's out. Put a garbage bag over it and poke a branch out of a hole on the side. Use a small paint brush or roughed up -Tip to dip in the pollen, tap off excess in the container then tap lightly over a few buds. Dip and tap until the buds you want seeds on are dusted. Leave sit in the dark until it's time to go back into the flower room. Approach the bagged girl with a loaded spray bottle and mist it all over including the dusted branch to deactivate the pollen.. Hit the floor as you approach and around the plant too. Allow the branch to dry then take off the bag and put her back under the lights. If the plant is ready to crop before the seeds are splitting their calyxes crop the plant but leave that branch on. Move it somewhere and put some CFLs close to the branch if the plant is in the way in the grow room.

I've devised over the decades a couple ways to collect pollen that are easy-peasy. If he's not in the way cut off all the branches but one and bag it. Use a paper bag, cut a window in it and carefully tape some clear plastic in there. Tape it inside too for extra security. Hold the bag up to the light and inspect closely for any cracks or weak spots and put some Scotch tape over those if any. Those windowed bread bags for French bread work really good. The window lets light in to grow the flowers and the paper bag part lets the moisture out so it doesn't mess up the pollen. A horizontal branch works best so the pollen doesn't fall into the neck of the bag and maybe find a tiny hole to slip out of. Don't have a horizontal branch? Make it so! Tie the bag tightly around the stem with twist ties and wait for the pollen to drop. I've done this 3 times and it worked great. This one I thought of for sure as it was a dozen years ago the first time.

BoyInaBag01.jpg


If the male isn't too big find a cardboard box it can fit in. In a box line the bottom with tin foil, shiny side up then lay the plant on it's side with something under the top side of the pot to hold it up at a bit of an angle. Put a 2700K or 2 above the foliage and stick it in the closet with a timer doing 12/12. To water jiggle the plant a bit to shake any loose flowers and pollen off then stand it up slowly and give it a drink. Don't worry about feeding it or pH or anything. It's on it's way out and giving up the goods as long as it doesn't dry out. When you have enough pollen toss the plant then carefully lift out the tin foil and pick all the dead flowers and any little bits of plant material out until it looks clean. After pouring the pollen into a vial or container you can seal put that in a bigger jar that can be sealed. Put some drying crystals in the bottom or some white rice that you've warmed up in the oven a bit to dry it completely then put the OPEN vial of pollen in the pile of rice and seal that jar for a good week to desiccate the pollen. Then if kept in the freezer should be good for 3 - 6 months.

Pollen01.jpg


Another thing I've done a few times that is even easier is just cut a branch or two about a foot long. Clean the bottom few inches of foliage then stick it in a glass off water so it leans out to one side and lay some tin foil under the branch on a shelf in a closet far removed from the grow room. Same with the light and timer. If you have 2 nice looking males of the same strain and can't decide which one, take a branch of each and get a better mix of genetics in the beans you produce. Don't have a pic of that. Sorry.

Here's a nice pic of the little buggers that make the pollen. Notice their resemblance to bananas? Hence the term 'nanners. :)

Kali_Babies01.jpg


How much pollen can a pollen-chucker chuck if a pollen-chucker could chuck pollen. Say that fast 3 times when you're really blazed! :rofl:

:passitleft:

L8r


 
thank you so much for the answer,, that's what I thought when I cut it down early. Then I been kicking myself wondering because the male was OG and I only have one more seed left. Thank you so much. lucky me I will have 1000+ really good greencrack seeds from this.
 
Forming and operating a business is full of daily responsibilities and obligations that can have a business owner working well before nine and long after the five o’clock punch out. With the many duties leading a company entails, it’s no surprise that many business owners fall behind in their scheduled minute book updates.
I got to know about this from Robert Peers Calgary

That’s assuming they have created a schedule at all.
Assuredly this will be of help.
 
i need some pollen realy bad im 3 weeks behind i dident no males took this long to ripen up its taking along time is there any chance in this world i could buy some of you to the uk thanks if you do my emaills karlepton@hotmail.co.uk or ill swap you for some beans
 
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