Palm Pollen

[chris.oz]

Right now I ahve 2 big male inflors on one of my Chamaedorea tepejilotes.

So do I catch it in a plastic or paper bag,  and where sould it be stored ,   refrigerator or freezer,   should I use a dessicant bag with it ?

What other treatment gives best viability.?

[Ken Johnson]

Paper only and keep it cool not cold.

[PalmGuyWC]

Cham. tepejilote produces huge amounts of pollen. Collect it in a paper bag, then, keep it dry and cool, then just put the bag over the female flowers when they are ready, and shake the bag. You should get an excellent seed set.

Dick

[Nigel]

Is nobody storing pollen in the freezer, after all ,animal sperm and ova are stored in liquid nitrogen at -150C without damage to the gametes.

Surely in its simplest form pollen is no different ?

[merrill]

Hi, Nigel:

Mild dehydration is necessary before freezing.  The experts at Jamaica Coconut Board were able to dry pollen very precisely so it didn't even require refrigeration.  If one wants to store pollen thru the flowering season, it is best to partially dry and freeze it.

Hi, chris.oz:

It is a somewhat tricky situation, as it is very well established that drying too much kills the pollen.

Best Wishes,

merrill

[chris.oz]

Thanks Dick Ken, Merrill,

What is the estimated life of the pollen collected in a bag and kept "fairly dry"

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Chris

Good questions, looking forward to the answers myself

regards

colin

[Nigel]

Merrill, could you please talk me through the best way of drying pollen for freezer storage using silica gel.

Thanks

[PalmGuyWC]

Chris,

I've stored various Chamaedorea pollens at room temp. for weeks and it was still viable, but it was kept very dry. I have also dryed it and kept it in the refigerator and that seemed to work too. I would imagine in more humid climates it might be a little more difficult to keep dry.

Patrick Schafer drys his inflorescences in a warm oven until the moisture has evaporated away. On a hot summer day in Calif. just laying it out in a warm room is sufficient. After drying, the pollen is extracted, and then put in 35 MM film containers and frozen. Freezing and refreezing doesn't seem to hurt it much.

Nigel, an interesting question, but who has a pot of liquid nitrogen sitting around? I imagine it would work and it's probably been done. I imagine a labatory could store pollen at -150, but it might be a little expensive and just a refigerator freezer seems to work fine.

It kind of disturbs me that more people don't pay more attention to their palms when they are flowering, and save the pollen to brush on the female flowers later on when their receptive. There are plenty of photographs of palm flowers, of the male and female flowers and usually they look quite different. The male flowers almost always open before the females, and if there is only one inflorescence, the male flowers usually drop off before the females are ready for pollenization.

Dick

[chris.oz]

(palmsforpleasure @ Nov. 23 2007,16:56)

QUOTE

Hi Chris

Good questions, looking forward to the answers myself

regards

colin

Hi Colin,

Pleased to say all my Chams are doing very well,  and hoping to get a female inflor on the tepejilote soon.  The male has been flowering freely for about 3 years,  but the others are of unknown gender.   Unfortunately for us C. tepejilote is about the most common Kami but I am still hoping to have a biig seed set this year.

[merrill]

Hi, Nigel:

Do you remember a post somewhere about carrying palm pollen overland from central Europe to St. Petersburg in a prior century resulting in successful pollination?   Don’t remember, but think it was Phoenix or Trachycarpus.   There is no chance of such durability in the case of Butiinae!   To hold live pollen for an entire, long, Florida summer requires extra effort.

My experience with liquid nitrogen, which is dirt cheap, suggested that it’s only marginally better than a good freezer set at its coldest, and the freezer is simpler.  I worked w/ Phoenix, and various Butiinae.  Collected pollen/male flowers were crushed w/ a rolling pin, sieved thru 60 mesh or so on a shaker, and the male flowers were heated to 40C for 1-1.5 days and sieved again.  If the male flowers didn’t dry completely, they were heated and sieved yet again.  Pollen was put in serum bottles, 30 or 60 ml; the old models are better than the new models; we’ve used both.  The bottles were half-filled with pollen, and the mouth covered with a single thickness of Kleenex or toilet tissue held on w/ a rubber band.   The filled bottles were rolled so that the pollen was loosened before drying.  The bottles of pollen were dried on their side over Silica gel in covered tight plastic containers for 24 to 36 hours, then capped and stored in the freezer.  My silica gel was used when pale blue, not the brilliant blue it shows when first removed from drying in the oven.   This is less complicated than it may seem, as I’ve tried to give a complete explanation.

Best Wishes, merrill

[Nigel]

Hi merrill,

I just tried my own experiment with your pollen preparation method on the internet.

Anyway, I today cooked the remainder of an inflorescence from my fridge in the oven for 3 hours at 35C and then put the flowers into my wifes liquidiser ,and after sieving attained a quite amazing quantity of fine yellow pollen. This is now in the freezer  so I am very hopeful..

[merrill]

Hi, Nigel:

We applaud your success!  Not familiar w/ your liquidizer, but if it's like mine, you might consider putting the blade on backwards, so it doesn't cut as much.  I certainly share your hopefulness, and offer my very best wishes to you.   merrill

[Nigel]

(merrill @ Nov. 25 2007,09:24)

QUOTE

 Not familiar w/ your liquidizer, but if it's like mine, you might consider putting the blade on backwards, so it doesn't cut as much.  

What an excellent idea!

Now I have to hope that the life of this pollen is quite considerable .........

[Kris]

very intreasting topic & i like reading Merrill's posts & replies,very informative & the approach is quite scientific..

Love,

Kris