saving pollen

[Tony]

Can a flower and or its pollen be saved for use at a later date on a different plant of the same species?
maybe in the fridge or freezer?

[parodias]

yes but must be kept absolutely dry, even no air moisture .. trick is to store in a closed container over silicagel beads ..
FWIW

[Tony]

Thanks!
I will give it a shot on my A. myriostigmas that just wont bloom at the same time.

[parodias]

In the same spirit .. when about to use the pollen make sure the container and its contents are at room temperature before opening up just to avoid air condensation on your pollen .. it may ruin them .. just FWIW

[Tony]

In the same spirit .. when about to use the pollen make sure the container and its contents are at room temperature before opening up just to avoid air condensation on your pollen .. it may ruin them .. just FWIW

So there is no damage done by keeping it in the freezer then?
I would guess this would be the driest place to store it.

[parodias]

In the same spirit .. when about to use the pollen make sure the container and its contents are at room temperature before opening up just to avoid air condensation on your pollen .. it may ruin them .. just FWIW

So there is no damage done by keeping it in the freezer then?
I would guess this would be the driest place to store it.

No strictly speaking it should work but the absolute compulsory condition is that the pollen should be absolutely dry ... any moisture in the pollen will freeze solid and the even microscopic ice crystals will probably punture the cell membranes which will probably make the pollen worthless when thawing ... if not frozen the pollen will/may start to "germinate" and will grow to "nowhere"
FWIW

[Tony]

Ok, thanks again!

[mmcavall]

I ' ve just found it. More info them in the other thread. The use of silica gel is a good idea. Has anyone tried?