Separating pollen from anther?

[wjs2nd]

I have some paphs that will be blooming soon and I was thinking of making a cross. My question is what is the best/easiest way to remove the pollen mass from the anther? I know that you don't have to separate the two but I would also like to know how just incase I decide to save my pollen for my next blooms/new orchids.

 

[Rick]

It comes off real easy on a stick (tooth picks are popular) or wire.

Most orchids have very sticky pollen. Often I have experienced Phrag pollen as dryer and more prone to drop off the stick.

Storage is more debatable, but some just squash it in a small square of wax paper or aluminum foil and stash in the fridge.

I prefer to store it in gelatin medicine capsules (in the fridge). It can hold up for several months in the fridge.

 

[wjs2nd]

Thanks, when I looked at Troy Meyer's website it tied about this. The pictures also show the pollen in a perfect ball shape. Does it really come out like that?

 

[Rick]

Thanks, when I looked at Troy Meyer's website it tied about this. The pictures also show the pollen in a perfect ball shape. Does it really come out like that?

Pollen (or pollinia) shape varies from species to species.

Paph pollen is like a gob of earwax.

 

[wjs2nd]

Thanks Rick!

 

[Marc]

On the first page of this topic you can see how I handled the pollen that I received from forumuser Mathias.

It was packaged in baking paper and Rick allready described it looked like earwax

Normally you can acces the pollen with a toothpick to the left and right of the staminoide. If you want to pollinate another plant it's easiest to remove the pouch of the flower to gain easy acces to the stigmatic surface.

 

[wjs2nd]

Thanks Marc, that was very helpful!

 

[eggshells]

Hi Billy, Matt wrote a thread about it here but the images on his server are gone. However, lucky you I did cached it so here you go.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/993342/how-to-pollinate-paph-matt-gore.pdf

 

[wjs2nd]

Great, thanks. The pdf had great pictures to follow.

 

[Marc]

On the first page of this topic you can see how I handled the pollen that I received from forumuser Mathias.

It was packaged in baking paper and Rick allready described it looked like earwax

Normally you can acces the pollen with a toothpick to the left and right of the staminoide. If you want to pollinate another plant it's easiest to remove the pouch of the flower to gain easy acces to the stigmatic surface.

Forgot to add this link:

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24048