Harvesting pollen question

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Hockey1225

Member
I cut down some male plants (female plants the were turned male) about 6 days ago and have them drying in paper bags, i cut the tops off that had the pods and put in bags. I wanted to get them nice and dry and they don't have many pods on them. Will drying them for a week destroy the pollen? Will the pollen still be viable to an extent? I didn't know about several other methods of collecting before i started this process. I was going to put the dry pods over a screen with tiny holes and beat them up a little for extraction onto parchment paper. My apologies if this is in the wrong category for posting. I've searched for answer but haven't come up with much.
 
H

Hockey1225

Member
BobThe420Builder said:
The sacks need to open

I've never seen sacks, harvested, that had viable pollen in them

Any pics of what u have
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i know this is kinda the wrong way to do things. I waited until the sacs started to open and i'm trying a bunch of these I've read that when the sac cracks to open, you can technically open the pod and get the pollen. I dried to do an extraction but it was too wet when i tried. My theory is to dry them a bit so i can rub them on the screen to kinda rip them apart a bit.
 

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H

Hockey1225

Member
BobThe420Builder said:
Just let em pop, tap em on a mirror, keep doing it

I just collected some great pollen from mine recently, like a week ago

Just takes a bit of time
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It's such a wild subject because I don't think anyone truly knows how long pollen is good for in a room if left to just sit there dry. I know it depends in temp and moisture in the air but people say it may only be good for a few days, some say months. There really isn't anything concrete on the subject.
 
BobThe420Builder

BobThe420Builder

Well-Known Member
I've had it sitting well over a week, and was still viable

Freeze it in a tube with raw rice in it. I have some 18mo old and still worked amazing
 
J232

J232

Well-Known Member
Hockey1225 said:
It's such a wild subject because I don't think anyone truly knows how long pollen is good for in a room if left to just sit there dry. I know it depends in temp and moisture in the air but people say it may only be good for a few days, some say months. There really isn't anything concrete on the subject.
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Can cut it with flour I hear to help keep it dry and make it go further. Easy to handle.. can’t remeber who was doing it, @OldMedUser? Prob a lot actually, I haven’t had the space or time to play with pollen myself.
 
H

Hockey1225

Member
J232 said:
Can cut it with flour I hear to help keep it dry and make it go further. Easy to handle.. can’t remeber who was doing it, @OldMedUser? Prob a lot actually, I haven’t had the space of time to play with pollen myself.
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That's what my plan is. I did harvest a bit of pollen from one that was just bursting, dried it a few days and then mixed with 5x amount of flower and a few grains of rice that i dehydrated in the oven, then put in 1ml vials. But its killing me thinking that letting these males dry like i would with females for a week will kill all the pollen.
 
J232

J232

Well-Known Member
I am always reading and also seen pollen being stored in the freezer for extended amounts of time. If I decide to play with pollen this winter, I would basically do what you did and freeze it.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
J232 said:
Can cut it with flour I hear to help keep it dry and make it go further. Easy to handle.. can’t remeber who was doing it, @OldMedUser? Prob a lot actually, I haven’t had the space or time to play with pollen myself.
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I've never added flour or corn starch to my pollen. I hear that's what a lot of people do tho. I just keep it in drying crystals for a few days with the lid off the vial then cap it and keep it for later use. I've got pollen that must be 15 years old now and should see if it still works. lol

:peace:
 
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