When do you collect pollen and how do you dry & store it? I always am looking for a better way to do this.
I try to collect the pollen before the anthers open and place them in a labeled open plastic container for drying. I dry the pollen at room temperature for several days before freezing. I put a cap on the plastic containers and then put them in a Ziploc freezer in the freezer. If I am going to be working with the pollen I will keep it in the refrigerator and only take it out for pollinations.
I have used paper & glassine envelopes as well as foil in the past. I like the idea of packaging dried pollen in foil in smaller quantities in the freezer so I don't need to take out all of a pollen lot each time I use it. This is something I want to try this season (several lots of smaller quantities rather than one container holding all the pollen of one lily).
Do you store the pollen with the anther or separate? Do you dry it for a certain amount of time?
Charlie Kroell had an interesting method where he would dry the anthers over night under a warm incandescent lamp and then he would separate the pollen from the anther using a screener and only store the pollen. I have never tried this but it would seem to be effective.
Any other variations out there?
