RE: [Aroid-l] amorphophallus pollen collection & storage

From: "michael mahan" <agavestar at covad.net> on 2004.12.19 at 02:02:05(12473) OK Thanx for everyone's advice on this !! you all have been a real help ! here's the story the Madagascar nova bloomed took all kinds of photos ...i had over watered it, rookie mistake & just as it was putting out a smell disaster..the stem broke at the soil level the bloom hit the greenhouse floor {had taken up too much water ??} ,the stem still had about 1/3 to a 1/4 total of skin tissue still attached so I let it be . just cut the spathe to take more photos ... 3 days pass & then smell returns, my hopes return too!!! .was stinky for 2 more days .suddenly the smell stops this morning looked at it no pollen ,checked it agin at 5:00pm pollen all over the male parts ..cut the bloom off too make it easy to move to the house.then cut the spadix off at where it attaches to the spathe ,some pollen falls on spathe .holding the spadix I just tapped it to let the pollen fall on a sheet of new clean copy paper .it all falls of easily turned the spathe over & do the same agin .collected all into 4 bindles made of same copy paper ,wrapped in tin foil & then into a clean small jar into the refer they all go will put some in to the freezer tomorrow to allow the paper to absorb the h2o I have 3 more bulbs pushing stems not sure if all will bloom ..am into sharing ... Mike Mahan , Novato Ca plz email me at agavestar@covad.net +More -----Original Message----- On Behalf Of Julius Boos Sent: Saturday, December 11, 2004 6:54 AM To: aroid-l@gizmoworks.com Subject: RE: [Aroid-l] amorphophallus pollen collection & storage >From: "michael mahan" <agavestar@covad.net> >Reply-To: Discussion of aroids <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com> >To: <aroid-l@gizmoworks.com> >Subject: [Aroid-l] amorphophallus pollen collection & storage >Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 18:32:46 -0800 Dear Mike, >From MEMORY, as I am unable to put my hands on Aroideana Vol. 26 where there is a wonderful article on the storage of aroid pollen, your best bet is to collect the pollen with a brush when the bloom extrudes it, this will occur after the bloom opens, as the sequence is female anthesis, THEN male antheses. It will be very visible, yellow powder or strands extruding from the middle or upper regions of the spadix. Since this bloom probably will not set seed, you may want to sacrifice it by cutting away 50% or more of the spatrhe to the base so as to have better sight of the spadix`s entire length, you will then be able to see the different regions and know for certain the anatomy of that particular species, it will make the pollen collection easier, just attach a paper 'collor' to catch any falling pollen, remove same w/ a paint brush, you may need to moisten the brush w/ sterile water which may make collection easier, it will depend on the texture of that particular pollen. I BELIEVE that the article said to store the collected pollen in a clean glass vial, so maybe a packet of saran wrap put INSIDE a glass jar (to protect from freezer burn) might do, but I`d also try storing a portion in the regular fridge compartment of my refrigerator, another portion in the freezer, especially since you are fairly close to having another bloom opening with which to work. (just in case, try self-pollinating the original bloom, you MIGHT get lucky and get some fruit!) The pollen must be applied to the lowest portion of the spadix which is where the female flowers are located as soon as the bkloom begins to open. I`d then wrap the entire bloom in saran wrap to preserve high humidity, just leave a tiny opening at the top for the tissues/bloom to 'breathe'. Keep it out of direct sun light, remove the saran after about a week, if the entire bloom does not wilt and drop (it is normal for the upper male portion of the spadix to dry/rot and fall off leaving the lowest portion (femele) to develop fruit), you might be lucky, you will see the female flowers developing, getting larger as the fruit form. In several months these fruit will be ripe, change color, and fall off. This should be a lesson to all you 'lurkers' out there to bite the bullet and join IAS, the mags and newsletters, meetings, friends are worth their weight in gold to a true aroid lover! Good luck, Julius >What would the best way to prepare/process pollen for storage? & what is >the best way to collect that same pollen ? I have a nova species from >Madagascar,Mahajanga that is blooming with the flower beginning to unfurl >,it's about 6 foot tall . I also have three more tubers of the same species >that are just now pushing new growth .i want to save some pollen so that if >the other tubers are pushing up a flower I can try my hand at pollination . >I would also be willing to share some pollen .I could use some pollen if >anyone were to have a flower &/OR pollen ,more than willing to share any >seed that might come of this endeavor .I've read the pages on collection on >this site but the links don't work that have the exact way to do it .Mike >Mahan > >_______________________________________________ >Aroid-l mailing list >Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com >http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l _______________________________________________ Aroid-l mailing list Aroid-l@gizmoworks.com http://www.gizmoworks.com/mailman/listinfo/aroid-l

Note: this is a very old post, so no reply function is available.