how much light needed for making pollen?

[JohninWI]

Ok, I set my crop to 12/12 last weekend, and now they are JUST starting to show there gender.

I have one very nice NLxH male that responded beautifully to LST and topping, so I'm thinking I would like to cross that times my new God Bud (what the heck? I have both of them going, it would be a fun experiment).

Anyway, I'm afraid my male is going to pop before next weekend, so I need to get him away from he females. But I don't have another room to put him in.

I plan to collect his pollen, the put him in the compost heap anyway.

So I'm wondering, can I just put him under a CLF in a desk lamp. Maybe build a totally make-shift little cabinet for him out of an old box or something? I know the light would be WAY under powered--but I don't care if he gets spindly or leggy. I just need to keep him healthy enough to drop some pollen.

Has anyone had experience with this kind of thing?

 

[420_Osborn]

You can cut off a branch and place it in a cup of water.

Put that cup on a mirror or some surface where you can scrape the pollen when it pops.

Place this next to a window or a single bulb. You should make sure no wind can hit the boy and that no girls are near him...

Good luck breeding!!

 

[JohninWI]

Thanks 420!

I read something about doing that--letting the male ripen in a glass of water instead of on the plant. One guy had a clever idea. You would poke the branch through a hole in a plastic cup, and then in to water. That way when the pollen dropped it would fall in to the cup.

The thing is, my branches are JUST showing there pollen sacks. Will they mature enough to drop live, viable pollen if I cut them only 1 week in to flower? I mean, they still mature while they are living off of water? If so, that would be an excellent solution to this problem. That, and it would free up about 2sq ft of real estate in the closet.

Would you want to use a very dilute fertilizer solution instead of water?

 

[420_Osborn]

I would let them go until they plump up...maybe one more week longer.

Do not let them explode in your flower room tho!!!!!!

You will have viable pollen from them if they pop.

 

[Locked]

i wld remove the male and flower him out elsewhere if really want his pollen. I usually put them under a simple spiral cfl in another part of the house and put foil down below them until they spew. then I collect the pollen.

 

[JohninWI]

well, I just put my NLxH under a wimpy little 30W CFL. I think it should be enough to keep a little photosynthesis going for a week or two. I made some little collection sheets out of bits mylar left over from covering the walls--nice and smooth so it should be easy to collect plenty.