I added a similar post under Hazels 2023 but I wanted to reach out to a broader area for advice. Any comments or advice is welcome.
Have any of you saved/stored hazel pollen and used it on later blooming varieties like Theta? My situation is that I have an unknown variety that is shedding pollen now and will stop soon. I would like to save some pollen and hand pollinate the Theta when it blooms. Can the pollen be collected and frozen for a few weeks?
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@Auburn … found this online…
…
Pollen lost its viability after 4 weeks at room temperature. Pollen remains viable after 40 weeks at 4 °C, and after 96 weeks at both − 20 and − 80 °C of storage. Viable pollen could be successfully pollinated to the female parent at all effective storage conditions and produced seeds.
…
Sounds like your best bet would be to store it in the fridge… dry and in a sealed glass jar.
I have never collected or stored pollen myself… but may be doing that soon… so going to be following this thread.
I have some scions of a plumcot… that if first blooms get frosted… it will bloom again about a month later. I will have to save some plum pollen and hand pollinate that second blooom.
So… yes… i need to know any tips on how to do that well.
Thanks
TNHunter
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There is an older thread with some research papers linked in the replies, but I don’t think any were specific to hazels (and I assume different species have different pollen viability in storage):
(actually, looks like both links are broken now, oh well)
I will be doing avocado hand pollination in my greenhouse again this year (the earliest varieties will be opening soon), but still haven’t found a method of collection and storage that I like. I’m thinking I need to spend an afternoon wandering the Container Store in search of inspiration.
My biggest problem is the anthers and nectaries are too close in avocado flowers, so I end up with clumpy pollen glued together with nectar, and nectar on my brush, meaning the pollen is hard to dry out for refrigeration or freezing. I assume that’s not an issue with hazels.
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I will be trying to save walnut pollen this year. Trying to self-pollinate a heartnut that has no pollen partner.
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Sorry for being OT:
@TNHunter, just curious which variety of plumcot often produces this double bloom.
@tbg9b … the board member SoMtHomestead has the plumcot. He calls it SoMt everbearing plumcot.
We traded a month or so ago.
If it actually does that here… might be my best chance to get plumcot fruit. Frost almost always does mine in.
Good Luck !
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Good tips. I will save some pollen outside and inside the refrigerator.
Can’t say I’ve done this personally with hazelnuts but try cutting off a couple of small stems with catkins right when they start to release pollen.
Put it indoors and stick it in a glass of water to keep alive and leave a piece of tin foil on a flat surface under neath the catkins. Make sure there is some sunlight/light source but not too much. Over a couple days the catkins should hopefully release the pollen, agitate them lightly/occasionally to release more pollen. It should be visible on the sheet of tin foil, then use a card or something to scrape it up/concentrate it.
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I haven’t worked with hazel, but I like and agree with svr68s suggestion on letting the catkins shed. You might also be able to harvest just the catkins (if plentiful) and leave on the foil. Experiment.
I also agree with TNHunter on the stated times of pollen viability, but my experience is with Prunus and Vitis. Vials of dried Prunus pollen were usable (successfully obtained seed when used as a sole pollen source) two blooms after collection. I’ll describe how we collected and saved Prunus pollens:
- Collect whole flowers in the popcorn stage, the day before anthesis. Go around the tree and harvest a couple good handfuls. With that said, this technique has also worked when you only have a half-dozen flowers. Store the collected flowers in a small paper bag (labeled).
- Back inside, lay down a couple sheets of white paper for pollen collection. Obtain a large hand-held metal-screened sieve, and pour in the collected flowers.
- Gently rub and roll the flowers around in the sieve. Shortly, you will hear anthers dropping out of the sieve onto the paper. Continue rubbing and rolling the flowers, using a bit more pressure, until you believe you have gotten the anthers out that are able to be gotten out (the flowers will now be a mess).
- Collect the anthers on the paper and herd them into small paper boats. In the past, 100 W incandescent bulbs @ 16" overnight would give you dry pollen in the morning. Lacking incandescent bulbs, it might take longer. But it is important that all the anthers are dry. If you have large samples, sometimes you need to stir or shake the boats a bit in the morning and will find anthers that are still plump. Keep drying.
- Prepare another clean sheet of white paper and find/obtain a small nylon-screened sieve. Pour the dry anthers through the sieve onto the clean paper. Transfer the dry pollen on the paper to a vial of some sort,- it is ready to go.
Clean your sieves with 70% alcohol or something else appropriate before re-use.
Sorry I can’t help specifically with hazel!
I’ve attached a few photos
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