Re: HYB: technique
- Subject: Re: HYB: technique
- From: p*@coupeville.net
- Date: Thu, 31 May 2001 00:25:51 -0000
--- In iris-talk@y..., Linda Mann <lmann@i...> wrote:
> Anybody care to describe in detail the technique of using
toothpicks to
> spread pollen? I must be missing something or else just don't have
the
> patience to use this technique. How does one get the pollen onto
the
> toothpick? I'm trying to use round picks - are the flat ones
better?
>
> Also, not having figured out where these little condiment cup
thingies
> Sharon McAllister uses for pollen come from (they don't have them
at my
> local hardware store <g>), after accidentally knocking over another
> little plate of several carefully gathered anthers again this year
while
> fumbling around in the iris patch, I grabbed up some weekly pill
> reminder container thingies and used those. They work great! Each
one
I'm finding that my transparent-baggie technique works even better
with experience. My problem was the anther falling as I tried to rub
the pollen from it. Talk about tweezers being hard to find! But if
I have a baggie tagged and dated, all I have to do is drop the
anthers in with the tweezer. Then I not only have them captured, but
if the pollen is plenteous, grains often are deposited inside the
bag. Ditto the toothpick I've deposited there when I prepare the
bags. Then I can rub the pollen off both the anthers and the bag
with the toothpick and then have my whole left hand free to carefully
get standards and style out of the way of the lip and roll the pollen
right on with the toothpick. I use round ones also, so as not to
damage the stigmatic lip, and hold the toothpick parallel to the lip,
not touching the tip to the lip. This gives me way more pollen to
work with, and all visible inside the clear bag.
Happy pollenizing!
Patricia Brooks
Whidbey Island, WA, zone 8
> is big enough to put a bit of card stock in the bottom with the
name of
> hte cultivar and has enough room to store more anthers than will
ever
> grow here. I think they make transparent ones, but mine are opaque
> plastic. I labeled the tops with Sharpie. The plastic is slick
enough
> that the Sharpie label is easy enough to rub off to make room for a
new
> label, but stays on well enough for the day's crosses.
>
> For freezer storage, I like Jim Ennenga's trick of storing in
punctured
> gel capsules from the health food store. Getting the freeze dried
> pollen out again is not as easy as with fresh anthers - a brush or
> ?toothpick? would definitely work better.
>
> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
> enjoying a few drops of rain!
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