pollen question

[herbie99]

one of my wonder woman plants has shown itself to be a wonder man.





so...since I'll be out of town for a little more than a week, I've decided to isolate this guy, hope it lives while I'm away, and let it go to seed. I plan to fabricate some sort of tray or pan beneath it so that I can catch any pollen that may fall during this time...is this possible? is this practical? is this even worth it? I have an Ice clone that I'm practicing LST on. I'd like to pollenate this ice plant with the WW genetics, making a wonder ice or the more believable "ice woman" (pun intended, nothing personal ladies).

anyway, I've never done anything like this before and I don't know if I'll be successful or not, but I'm willing to give it a try.
does pollen have a shelf life? can I collect it when I get back? will it be usable after sitting on a pan for a while? basically, can I scoop it up after it's been lying around and still use it?...ALSO, I'll read up on this before attempting to cross breed, but, how late in the flower stage can I pollenate a bud?

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Males do not "go to seed". I am not sure where you plan on containing it, but if it is in the same house, pollen will probably find its way to your girls and you could have a heavily pollinated crop.

IMO, it is better to take clones rather than to wade into breeding. However, if you do decide to make seeds, go to the breeding section and read.

 

[herbie99]

Males do not "go to seed". I am not sure where you plan on containing it, but if it is in the same house, pollen will probably find its way to your girls and you could have a heavily pollinated crop.

IMO, it is better to take clones rather than to wade into breeding. However, if you do decide to make seeds, go to the breeding section and read.

"go to seed" was just a figure of speech THG. I would have thought that the rest of my post detailing my intentions would have made it obvious but you seem to have taken it a bit too literally.
so, your answer to my specific questions is to read?

 

[ozzydiodude]

when you get back and the male is flowering real good, take him and put him in a paper bag. shake him to death. look in the bottom of the paper bag, there should be a powder this is male pollen. Take it and a equal amount of flour and mix. you can store in a AIR TIGHT FREEZER bag for at least 1 yr as long as NO MOISTURE gets to the pollen flour mix. Use a artist paint brush to dust the buds tyou want to seed

 

[Wetdog]

Do the fems have pre flowers, or fully budded?

I mean, if you're not in full bud. The seeds need ~4 weeks to fully mature BTW.

What about the Ice Maiden? Pre flowers there?

Wet

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

Sorry Herbie, but there have been others who thought that male plants produce seeds.

I don't know where you plan on keeping the male, but be aware that pollen can and will go everywhere. Even when I was very careful, I ended up with way more seeds than I needed or wanted.

Another thing to ask yourself is whether these 2 strains are good enough to want to have 1000+ seeds.

When I say read, just make sure you know what to expect. For example, I was surprised to read that the early flowering male was not the best one to use for breeding purposes. I also didn't know that it took 4+ weeks for the seeds to mature and 3+ weeks for them to dry after harvest. I didn't know that you will get wildly different phenos when breeding the crosses, etc, etc. Like everything with growing, the more you know, the better your results.

 

[herbie99]

thanks all... I have many females in various stages including clones. and THG you're absolutely right, I don't know if these strains are keepers. I really like the ice strain and have never finished off the ww, so we'll see. the result of all of this is irrelevant. I just want to see if I can do it. I would have very little invested, other than time, so it would literally be a learning experience.
as far as the male and it's isolation...I learned from past mishaps about the pollen's capability of getting everywhere. I honestly believe that I didn't take it seriously enough in the past and that is the reason for my hermie issues recently. I can whip up a little area on a different floor of my house with plastic lined walls that I feel will be able to contain the pollen.
not sure if ya'll have seen my grow journal, but I flipped all of my wonder women and the ice momma is finishing up (another couple weeks) hence all of my pollen questions at this time. all of the ww plants have shown sex and I ended up with 2 strong females and the one male. and I now have female clones from a variety of other strains. so breeding is the next logical step.

 

[ozzydiodude]

Male pollen and hermies have nothing to do with each other. Hermies are the result of major stress on the plant unless the cross reinforced/brang out the gene for hermaphrodites tendencies.

 

[herbie99]

Male pollen and hermies have nothing to do with each other. Hermies are the result of major stress on the plant unless the cross reinforced/brang out the gene for hermaphrodites tendencies.

it couldn't be because of residual pollen in my flower area? hmmm, I just assumed that the pollen had somehow contacted the flowering females, particularly since I had been growing that strain for a while with no problems, and have grown it since with no issues. all of the hermie issues have been from clones from the same mother with little or no variation in their growth. some have hermie'd, some not. lol, I really do need to read more.

 

[Locked]

it couldn't be because of residual pollen in my flower area? hmmm, I just assumed that the pollen had somehow contacted the flowering females, particularly since I had been growing that strain for a while with no problems. lol, I really do need to read more.

Residual pollen would only result in some seeded bud, hermaphrodites are caused by one or more stress factors, light leaks in flower are a common cause. Taking the plant way past it's natural harvest point also can produce hermaphrodites. It's pretty much a defense mechanism that the plant uses to try and live on in the form of seeds. Some strains/phenos express this trait very easily and those are the ones we want to avoid. Others can take a beating and not show it.

 

[herbie99]

Residual pollen would only result in some seeded bud, hermaphrodites are caused by one or more stress factors, light leaks in flower are a common cause. Taking the plant way past it's natural harvest point also can produce hermaphrodites. It's pretty much a defense mechanism that the plant uses to try and live on in the form of seeds. Some strains/phenos express this trait very easily and those are the ones we want to avoid. Others can take a beating and not show it.

ok, perhaps I don't understand the difference. if a plant hermies, will it be the whole plant or just random buds? I may have been confused. all of the plants that I've referred to as hermies have had only certain buds produce seeds. I guess what I'm asking is how will I know if it's a trait in the genetics or a pollen contamination?

 

[Locked]

ok, perhaps I don't understand the difference. if a plant hermies, will it be the whole plant or just random buds? I may have been confused. all of the plants that I've referred to as hermies have had only certain buds produce seeds. I guess what I'm asking is how will I know if it's a trait in the genetics or a pollen contamination?

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