Re: Pollen Strike Rates/ Fw: BUGLES AND HORNS

In a message dated 5/27/2004 3:12:09 PM Central Daylight Time, kellydn@frontiernet.net writes:


Not disagreeing, just sharing my technique.



Thanks Kelly. I don't think any of us feel we are disagreeing. I think we are just lookin' at how to best polish the apple without reinventing the wheel.

Are you pollinating all stigmas or one?

I too use a brush. Earlier in one of our discussions Greenfield (I think) mentioned he had attained higher strike rates using the anther as a brush than the strike rates with his inexpensive Walmart brushes. At the time I was usin' inexpensive brushes with plastic bristles.

I first tried chewing the bristle tips to soften them. Then I tried beatin' 'em with a hammer against the edge of a piece of angle iron. My assumption was that we could be injuring the stigmatic lip with the harsh bristled brushes both Mike and I were apparently using or dragging the pollen grains out of the crease in the application process.

Due to a fortuitous event, I found some soft, squirrel hair (I think) artist's brushes of the proper size on sale. I purchased several. They do not pick up the pollen grains from the anther as well but were soft and less likely to injure the stigma or pull the pollen back out once applied. Too, I started using a single, gentle stroke to apply the pollen to the lip. Anyway, my strike rate increased with the change in brushes and application finesse though I did not keep good numbers.

As a point in passing, I lose a lot of brushes here. When I have succeeded in losing these, I'm gonna' shoot one of the squirrels round here or try to catch one and bite off it's tail. (laughin')

Smiles,
Bill Burleson
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