Can I pollinate a plout or aprium with a peach?
I was thinking about the true of 40 fruits, an art form really.
If he can graft Van Aken’s project uses more than 250 varieties of stone fruit, can’t we cross pollinate all these fruit as well. How many attempts do you think it would take to come up with something unique?
The easiest to hybridize is a peach, as the pollen parent, with an Almond, as the seed parent.
The question really is can you produce something good? I like to have a goal in mind, then work on how to achieve it. I still experiment just to practice technique. Chance of discovering something good let alone special are slim. I’m starting simple and just attempting to make an earlier ripening red fleshed peach. My only variable is ripening times. I crossed a mid season with a late season in hopes of a late mid season. Both parents are red fleshed.
How do you save pollen?
What I do is remove flowers just before or just after opening. I cut the stamens off and let them dry. The pollen is wet almost and is so much easier to work with when dry.
how long can pollen last?
If you dont use it in the current season, as long as it is dry, you can freeze it. It should last a few years. Dry again before use. Condensation happens sometimes.
I have had poor luck with fresh pollen, un-dried. It tends to be gummy, hard to use a brush. It’s even easier to see when dry. I use spice jars to dry and label what pollen is in it. Once pollen is dry I don’t clean it up as other flower parts are mixed with the pollen. I just use as is.