Collect, save, and use tomato pollen?

albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

Some tomato blogs suggest that the failure of some strains to fertilize above 85 ℉ may be sterile pollen.

Cannabis breeders and a few others write of collecting, saving and using pollen.

Do you have any links to people who have tried to collect, save, and use tomato pollen?

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Comments (5)

bau the man (uk, bristol,zone 7a)
7 years ago
Wow interesting, never knew that.
digdirt2
7 years ago
It isn't that the pollen is "sterile" (as in never capable) but that it is reduced in number of grains and no longer viable under those conditions. Its form becomes tacky, clumps of grains form and its basic composition shifts (the balance between starches and sugars becomes skewed) and it dies. Can it be collected and stored? Yes, hybridizers do it all the time. But the storage conditions are quite specific and its viability continues to decline even under ideal storage.

See:

Storage Life and Viability of Tomato Pollen

Long-Term Viability of Tomato Pollen

Dave
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft. thanked digdirt2
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It's best stored after dessication in order to remove a lot of it's moisture. You can buy or build a dessication chamber which range from complex machines to a simple large jar with silica gel. After dessication it's best stored sealed in a near-air-tight container and inside another container. Small petri dishes (with covers) sealed with parafilm are excellent for this...then into a piece of tupperware (or similar). After that it's into the fridge or freezer. 1-2 years of good storage this way. If you want something a bit more low-tech and you're planning on a shorter storage time then you can collect tassels or knock a bunch of pollen off a tassel into a paper bag. You need to store this in consistently dry place without much moisture/humidity and give it time to dry. Once dried out it's generally good for a few weeks to a couple months without losing too much effectiveness. This method is a bit less consistent, but it's generally a good one if you have a quick turnaround for the pollen use and you can get the tassels/pollen dry + keep it dry.
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Hi, All I do is remove the pollen.. sometimes.. I let it dry for a day or two and sometimes I don't.I just use my fingers, nothing fancy...and I use those little teeny winy plastic zip-lock bags you can buy them at a craft store or at Walmarts..and you can refrigerate it for several months. I think some people freeze it if you don't plan to use it within the next maybe 2 or 3 months..I've never frozen it but you can.. maybe someone else can direct you to the best way to freeze pollen. Truthfully, I don't know the shelf life of amaryllis pollen, but it keeps pretty well. I use a half of a Q-tip to dab it on the recipient and I do it twice a day for about 3 days..seems to help as earlier in the game I'd just do it once and that was that and I didn't have much success but now I am fairly successful. Charisma is supposed to have about a 5" flower so it may open up a bit more and I'm sure it will be just beautiful..mine had 10 flowers all open at basically the same time and it was amazing. I'm also pretty sure there are some past threads on saving pollen just type it in the search box at the top of the thread and you may get more answers... Donna
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Also meant to add that I always cut the pollen off. Pulling it off with tweezers doesn't seem to work for me. Those filaments are attached tightly! (Maybe it would work better if I only pulled the anthers but I hate to touch them directly with the tweezers.) Here's my cutting method. The stamen (with the pollen-covered anthers on the tips) are shorter and above the stigma, the female part of the flower. It is easy to hold the plastic sauce cup just below the stamen but above the stigma. Before you cut, make SURE that the stigma is separated and NOT where you plan to cut. (If you cut off the stigma, you will not be able to pollinate this flower.) Then cut slowly across all of the filaments, dropping the anthers into the cup. Cut slowly because if you snip quickly, the anthers can fly off and not land into the cup. Have FUN!!!! Carol
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A word of caution. I put a plastic grocery bag around a bud to save the pollen from rain and used a clothespin or two to connect the ends of the bag. We had a big thunderstorm and I found the entire scape broken off, lying on the ground. It was a new arrival so I put the scape in water inside and did manage to get 3 blooms, but they kept getting smaller and smaller. Maybe the clothespins made the bag too heavy - I am not sure. Here is what I am doing now. I have a lot of plant supports that are 3' tall from the big box stores. They have a circle on the top (sort of) so that one can put the stem of a flower into the circle. This circle is parallel to the ground and about 3-4" in diameter. I now put three of these into the ground around the daylily I want to protect and place a white garbage bag over the plant supports. The circles on the top provide a platform for the bag to rest on and keep it off the bloom. I use clothespins to connect the bag to the plant supports very close to the ground. It has worked very well for me. Doesn't look too great to have a bunch of tents out in the garden, but if I want the pollen it is worth it. If I want to pollinate the flower when it is raining, I can do so (under an umbrella) and place the bag back on for that day. Good luck! Ann
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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
7 years ago
Interesting. If you had such a supply of pollen, how do you fertilize flowers? Just a Q-tip? Why would running a Q-tip around inside a flower with added pollen do any more in hot conditions than running a Q-tip around a flower without any added pollen? Isn't there is plenty of pollen in the flower but it's just tacky and doesn't want to fall?

I guess the simple question is why, when the pollen is hot and tacky, you can't just manually stir it around in the flower to fertilize. I'll bet it would just take a few seconds to do that in one flower.
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks Dave. It seems Cottrell-Dormer (1945) anticipated our use of the electric toothbrush as a vibrator over a half century ago and they could have done with Dustbuster and some plastic tubing.
digdirt2
7 years ago
"Why would running a Q-tip around inside a flower with added pollen do any more in hot conditions than running a Q-tip around a flower without any added pollen? I"

Dan - two different situations addressed. Under hot high humidity conditions saved dry pollen might increase the odds of effective pollination but you sure would have to move fast before the pollen got hot. :-) And given the chemical changes that take place in all parts of the bloom, might not make any difference at all.

But hybridizers - the one who save and store pollen don't use it in hot conditions but in controlled ideal conditions with a fine brush (like most MJ growers do).

" Isn't there is plenty of pollen in the flower but it's just tacky and doesn't want to fall?"

Not really. As the above links discuss not only is the amount of pollen severely reduced but it is chemically altered so even if it does come into the necessary contact it isn't viable.

Dave

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Collect, save, and use tomato pollen?

Comments (5)

bau the man (uk, bristol,zone 7a)

digdirt2

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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
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Collect, save, and use tomato pollen?

Comments (5)

bau the man (uk, bristol,zone 7a)

digdirt2

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daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)

albert_135 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.Original Author

digdirt2

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albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
Original Author