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Ohio

Does anyone know if you pick a male flower(still green) 2 days before its time for it to open and put it in water, will the flower still turn yellow, open, and produce pollen, or does the flowers need to be left on the plant in order for the pollen to grow to maturity before using it?

Reason I ask is Dan Kirts is wanting some of my 805 Pukos pollen, he has some females opening on Friday and I think tomorrow morning around 8am is the only time he can make the 1hr 30 minute drive to come get it.
Another thing,sometimes its hard to tell if a male flower will open until the evening before, so if he comes in the morning around 8am it still might be a little early to tell if they will open the following day

Whats you guys ideas on this?

Brooks

6/27/2007 8:08:32 PM

Windsor, Ontario, Canada

Should be fine.

6/27/2007 8:16:12 PM

Ohio

huh?

6/27/2007 8:50:29 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Brooks, we have only picked ready male flowers the day or evening before pollination so I don't know if 2 days or more will work. I have noticed that when you do pick them the day or evening before needed them, the pollen seems to be nice and dry and easy to apply in the morning when it counts.

Last year a mainland grower here in Vancouver, transported flowers from Vancouver Island (thanks to Dave Pley) and successfully polinated his pumpkins after more than 24 hours inside sitting in water....take it from there.

Hopefully someone else has done it and will chime in with some more facts.

6/27/2007 10:08:42 PM

Ohio

Ive always done the same as you aswel, Ive never put a male flower in a vase of water when it was still green to see if they would bloom , mine have always have had the yellow tips that opens the next morning.

But now that I think about it Glen, roses will bloom sitting in a vase of water for weeks, so maybe it would work for pumpkin. But would the pollen be good/

6/27/2007 10:28:51 PM

Buffalo, MN ([email protected])

good test brooks, try two days and if it works try three and then four. you may be onto something. try it on your extra plants and cull them at 20 days and call that a determining test.

bill

6/27/2007 10:44:56 PM

sevierville, Tn

i would think it would work, just use a little extra pollen in case its not 100%.

6/27/2007 11:39:41 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

Brooks, at least give it the old college try and let us know how it works. My thinking is that the pollen will not develop and mature over those final few days in the vase.

Be interested in knowing, let me know Brooks.

6/28/2007 12:06:24 AM

Waitakere New Zealand

you might need a little sugar in the water as food for the flower to grow with plus a bactericide to stop the rot that will happen ? ask a florist -we use a flower preseritive with our cut roses as a matter of course to open them up, that might be a better idea?

6/28/2007 4:43:05 AM

South Bloomfield, Ohio

Brooks:

I kept males for three days in water earlier this year. The stems dropped off and the pollen had deteriorated, even though the blossoms were still closed.

I suggest picking no sooner the the night before and using pollen next morning at the latest.

6/28/2007 4:49:02 AM

Rhode Island

HOW BOUT PUTTING THEM IN THOSE ROOT TUBES WE TALKED ABOUT IN A PREVIOUS POST. YOU COULD CALL THEM " POLLEN IN A TUBE "?

6/28/2007 6:17:09 AM

Western NY

tomorrow i'll be trying to pollinate with a 2 day old picked flower if it looks like the pollen is good. i'll let you know.

6/28/2007 8:00:51 AM

Minnesota

Brooks - I was trying a similar test and after 4 days in water in the fridge i little black dots started to develop in side the male. It looked like the pollen started to mold. After seeing this i tried two different things to try to keep the water fresh and oxygenated.

cup with 7 ounce water + 2 drops bleach - same mold 5 days

cup with 7 ounce water + 2tblsp hydrogen peroxide - mold at 7 days.

Here is what i noticed - I cut the flowers two days before i figured they would open and they did on the second following morning but the flower in the water never fully opened and the flower in the hydrogen peroxide water opened fully and it was bright and looked vigorous. And at the end of the test looked looked like it did allow the flower to stay fresh a little longer.

6/28/2007 9:58:40 AM

Little-TON - Colorado

I noticed that the flowers were too wet, so maybe sealing them so they dont suck the humidity from the fridge.

6/28/2007 10:26:21 AM

No Place Special

never worked for me

6/28/2007 10:43:32 AM

Indiana

we use 3-4 day old males all the time. We pick them the night before and keep them in the fridge. pollinated dozens of fruit this way.

Tom

6/28/2007 1:22:40 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

I posted some information on pollen viability last year. I can not remember the exact numbers but anything longer than 4 hours it starts to drop rapidly. Now if you kept them in the fridge, and slowed them from opening it may work.

6/28/2007 1:36:37 PM

Menomonie, WI ([email protected])

After 24 hours the Viability of pollen is less than 10%. Can be worse given heat or humidity.

6/28/2007 1:39:52 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

But back to Brooks original question of picking flowers well before they are fully formed (a few days). Will they continue to form pollen and be OK or not....

Let us all know Brooks.

6/28/2007 9:07:39 PM

Ohio

Ill give it a try on a side vine female, but do you think I should put the greenish flowers thats going to open in a few days in the fridge or should I just leave them out in room temp? Which one do you think would work best? It might take the ones in the fridge a little longer to mature?. Ill give em both a try. Thanks for all the replies.

Brooks

6/29/2007 5:32:23 AM