RE: HYB: Getting Ready

Well, I'd rather throw away a thousand Q tips than pluck one bloom.  Hard
enough to cut a great stalk to take to a show.  I tried the tweezer method and
just got frustrated dropping things in the dew.  I don't have acres of blooms,
so every one is precious - well, almost every one.  Usually I can get all the
pollen from a bloom on both ends of a Q tip.  My finger is about twice as wide
as the Q tip, so I'd be smearing pollen where it does no good.

Whenever possible, I pollinate in the AM, before work.  Then, if I want to
save pollen, I generally collect it in the afternoon, when it's drier and
there's more time.  Q tips are great for saving pollen.  That way, you get
nothing but the pollen - no moisture.

Have you ever noticed that the bloom you want to pollinate is as far away from
the pollen as possible?

Notebook getting wet is a perpetual problem.  Less so, since I started
carrying it on a clipboard with a sheet of plastic clipped on top, but I'm
still looking for something better.  Not sure I'd want to lug a box around.
It's not that far back to the front porch for me.

Mary Lou, near Indianapolis

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