Re: HYB: question - storing pollen

Easy solution is to put the pollen in your envelopes/tubes in your storage container with the dessicant (i.e. dried milk or silica crystals) at room temperature right after you harvest it from the flower.  Let it sit there about a week before you put it in the freezer.

Upon removing it from the freezer when you decide you are going to use it simply pull it out of the freezer a few hours before and let it warm up still closed inside the container.  Once at the same temp as the room the water cannot condense on the pollen.  Before placing it back into the freezer let it sit at room temp to allow the water vapor inside the container to be absorbed by the dessicant.

Paul Archer
Raleigh, NC  Zone 8


-----Original Message-----
>From: Linda Mann <lmann@lock-net.com>
>Sent: May 24, 2008 8:20 PM
>To: iris@hort.net
>Subject: [iris] HYB: question - storing pollen
>
>Loic, I haven't had any success trying to use frozen pollen either.  I 
>don't know if I let it dry too long before freezing, or not long enough, 
>or if it was too hot and soggy humid in the house (and in the garden!) 
>or if it was bad before I froze it or if the pod parents just weren't in 
>the mood or compatible or ....so many possibilities for failure!
>
>However, I haven't tried using dried milk powder in the bags with the 
>pollen containers before, and it's been a few years since I tried.
>
>I have had pretty good success storing pollen in the refrigerator from 
>beginning to end of bloom season <if> it was good pollen to start with 
>(i.e., some of the same batch successfully set pods before I stored the 
>rest of it) <and> if I've been careful to get it into the fridge within 
>a day or two of collecting it.
>
>The pollen that I tried to store in the freezer was late summer/early 
>fall collected, and before I started routinely keeping humidity inside 
>the house below 70%, which is pretty much where it used to stay.
>
>So maybe it wasn't getting dry fast enough before I froze it, so was 
>going bad?  Loic, this might be a factor for you as well?
>
>Betty, others who've had success with frozen pollen, any tips on 
>collecting and handling it <before> it goes into the freezer?
>
>I was also concerned about getting it out of the freezer into the humid 
>air, condensing moisture onto the pollen and ruining it.
>-- 
>Linda Mann east Tennessee USA zone 7/8
>East Tennessee Iris Society <http://www.DiscoverET.org/etis>
>Region 7, Kentucky-Tennessee <http://www.aisregion7.org>
>American Iris Society web site <http://www.irises.org>
>talk archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-talk/>
>photos archives: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris-photos/>
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>
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