ZenMan said:Hi David,
" your description of putting pollen in a small container sounds funny to me "
Well, I was describing putting pollen florets in a small container. The only way I transport pollen grains themselves is in the bristles on the end of an artists brush. The pollen itself is a fine powder, with each grain of pollen being almost microscopic.
" ...is it not easier to pick the whole flower or you think it is not moral? "
I wouldn't classify it as a morality issue. With respect to a community garden, the rules of the garden or the municipality would govern you. If they don't mind you picking the flowers, then I suppose it would be all right. But if you go to the garden and find that somebody else has already picked all the flowers, you might want to rethink the rule.
" ...how about picking the flower and then rubbing the whole flower 1 on top of flower 2? "
If flower 1 had a lot of open pollen florets on it, then rubbing it on flower 2 could conceivably pollinate some of the upper exposed stigmas on flower 2. But that is reminiscent of the fable about killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. A zinnia bloom develops over a period of several weeks, and produces new stigmas over a period of several weeks, and can produce new pollen florets daily over a period of several weeks. So picking a zinnia flower to use its pollen would lose all those future pollen florets that it would produce in the coming days and weeks. That would be logically similar to eating your seed corn. You might have a good meal, but at the cost of a whole corn crop, and future starvation.
Maybe I shouldn't mention this, but if the community garden management doesn't mind you harvesting pollen florets for your own use, they might also not mind you plucking a few of the lower petals, which might be attached to viable green seeds. If you were discrete, no one might notice a few missing lower petals.
ZM
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