Is it possible to buy pollen?

tstick

tstick

Well-Known Member
Do seed breeders save pollen from select male plants? It would be nice to be able to buy some pollen from a reputable breeder, instead of just chucking the pollen from whatever male turns up. Plus, most people don't have the facility to be able to grow and select male plants, anyway.

I would be interested in getting some pollen from a select Thai male plant to use to make seeds with my Chocolate Thai female plant.

Can pollen be stored for long-term and still be viable? Or does it degrade and "die" after a short period of time no matter what you do to preserve it?
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
I think quite a few people sell pollen on Strainly, but you still need to worry about the viroid, so be careful about who you buy from and make sure you trust them and their biocontrol procedures. Properly stored, it can remain viable a long time, easily a year or more. But typically it's best to use within 6 months, the fresher it is the more viable it will be.
 
thumper60

thumper60

Well-Known Member
tstick said:
Do seed breeders save pollen from select male plants? It would be nice to be able to buy some pollen from a reputable breeder, instead of just chucking the pollen from whatever male turns up. Plus, most people don't have the facility to be able to grow and select male plants, anyway.

I would be interested in getting some pollen from a select Thai male plant to use to make seeds with my Chocolate Thai female plant.

Can pollen be stored for long-term and still be viable? Or does it degrade and "die" after a short period of time no matter what you do to preserve it?
Click to expand...
It can last for yrs frozen, I have mailed it across the country a few times no problem.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
tstick said:
Do seed breeders save pollen from select male plants? It would be nice to be able to buy some pollen from a reputable breeder, instead of just chucking the pollen from whatever male turns up. Plus, most people don't have the facility to be able to grow and select male plants, anyway.

I would be interested in getting some pollen from a select Thai male plant to use to make seeds with my Chocolate Thai female plant.

Can pollen be stored for long-term and still be viable? Or does it degrade and "die" after a short period of time no matter what you do to preserve it?
Click to expand...
There are places that sell pollen. It's doubtful you'll find anyone with any real selection. Probably nobody selling Thai pollen. Storing pollen long term requires lab quality equipment. I've stored it in the freezer but it's been hit and miss for viability. I think the oldest pollen I've had any success with after being stored was around 6 months and I didn't get anywhere near the success I get with fresh pollen.

Why not just buy some Thai regular seeds and collect your own pollen from a male?

 
tstick

tstick

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
There are places that sell pollen. It's doubtful you'll find anyone with any real selection. Probably nobody selling Thai pollen. Storing pollen long term requires lab quality equipment. I've stored it in the freezer but it's been hit and miss for viability. I think the oldest pollen I've had any success with after being stored was around 6 months and I didn't get anywhere near the success I get with fresh pollen.

Why not just buy some Thai regular seeds and collect your own pollen from a male?

Click to expand...
The reason is because I can't sift through hundreds of male plants to find the great ones. Sure, I could grow a male and chuck the pollen, but then I have to deal with spending the time and money to grow it out. I'd rather save the already limited space I have and just apply some pollen.

But yeah, I figured it would be difficult to store and keep it viable. Thanks for the reply!
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
tstick said:
The reason is because I can't sift through hundreds of male plants to find the great ones. Sure, I could grow a male and chuck the pollen, but then I have to deal with spending the time and money to grow it out. I'd rather save the already limited space I have and just apply some pollen.

But yeah, I figured it would be difficult to store and keep it viable. Thanks for the reply!
Click to expand...
I doubt anyone is going through hundreds of male plants. At least nobody that selling anything on strainly or instagram. Your chuck is going to be as good as anyone else's.
 
T

TheWholeTruth

Well-Known Member
I agree with xtsho. For selection you could always just grow out 20-30 plants miniature in solo cups within a small area and not much power. Yes it would be much easier just to buy pollen from a tried and tested male were someone has already gone to the trouble of finding the male that gives the best results. But if a breeder has gone to all that trouble, time and cost of finding something the proper way that is that good, I cant see them wanting to part with it so easily.
 
T

TheWholeTruth

Well-Known Member
What are you looking for tstick ? Chocolate thai pollen ? And if so do you have a certain type in mind, I mean obviously something that passes on the strong high but are you looking for it to produce plants that look a certain way too eg very sativa, that mutated leaves and almost blueish looking type chocolate thai plant ?
Or are you looking for pollen from a different thai, if so anything in mind ?
 
tstick

tstick

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
I doubt anyone is going through hundreds of male plants. At least nobody that selling anything on strainly or instagram. Your chuck is going to be as good as anyone else's.
Click to expand...
I'll probably end up chucking some pollen if I happen to sprout a male next run.
 
ChocoKush

ChocoKush

Well-Known Member
just becuase its a nice male they got if u can buy pollen from whoever does not mean it will pair well with whatever female you r hitting it to. I would just find ur own male and do everything urself even if it is just one male and on a small selection. You will be more proud knowing you did it all urself
 
Thundercat

Thundercat

Well-Known Member
Your pollen chuck has just as good of chances as any other growers pollen chucks. NONE of the growers out there are running hundreds of males to make a selection. I would bet there aren't many that selected from more then 10-15 for most projects. This is actually a conversation I've had a few times with a few people. The next issue is that I don't believe many "breeders" are actually thoroughly testing the lines they "breed". Knowing exactly what impact different males would have on the outcome is impossible without using all the males and then testing and selecting after you see the offspring. From what I've seen very little "selection" goes into males because the genetics which will get passed onto the female are kind of unknowns. Many different breeders will tell you that different things are the most important to look for in a Winner male. But the reality is that there is still a lot of guess work and unknowns to each cross they do. Most of the selection work gets put into female plants normally because the are the plants we typically grow for.

This brings me to an idea I had. Maybe I'm giving away a million dollar idea, and if one of you uses it maybe cut me in for 10% :).

I've been considering attempting to specifically breed males similar to how you breed fems. Using the correct catalyst you can reverse a male plant to create female flowers, from my understanding a couple of breeders already do this occasionally. My thought is that doing this would allow you to see some of the female genetic expression that the male might be carrying when used in a cross. It could then be crossed to a clone of itself, or another male plant that has qualities you want. I believe from the very small amount of research I've done on this idea that it would produce seeds that would be mostly males, similar to how fem seeds are. In the end I have theorized that perhaps after several generations you might be able to create a fairly stable male plant with predictable characteristics. This could then be used for stronger more controlled breeding between males and females to create even better regular plants by removing the mystery of the males genetics.
 
xtsho

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Thundercat said:
Your pollen chuck has just as good of chances as any other growers pollen chucks. NONE of the growers out there are running hundreds of males to make a selection. I would bet there aren't many that selected from more then 10-15 for most projects. This is actually a conversation I've had a few times with a few people. The next issue is that I don't believe many "breeders" are actually thoroughly testing the lines they "breed". Knowing exactly what impact different males would have on the outcome is impossible without using all the males and then testing and selecting after you see the offspring. From what I've seen very little "selection" goes into males because the genetics which will get passed onto the female are kind of unknowns. Many different breeders will tell you that different things are the most important to look for in a Winner male. But the reality is that there is still a lot of guess work and unknowns to each cross they do. Most of the selection work gets put into female plants normally because the are the plants we typically grow for.

This brings me to an idea I had. Maybe I'm giving away a million dollar idea, and if one of you uses it maybe cut me in for 10% :).

I've been considering attempting to specifically breed males similar to how you breed fems. Using the correct catalyst you can reverse a male plant to create female flowers, from my understanding a couple of breeders already do this occasionally. My thought is that doing this would allow you to see some of the female genetic expression that the male might be carrying when used in a cross. It could then be crossed to a clone of itself, or another male plant that has qualities you want. I believe from the very small amount of research I've done on this idea that it would produce seeds that would be mostly males, similar to how fem seeds are. In the end I have theorized that perhaps after several generations you might be able to create a fairly stable male plant with predictable characteristics. This could then be used for stronger more controlled breeding between males and females to create even better regular plants by removing the mystery of the males genetics.
Click to expand...
I think some people have this image of all these people selling seeds having large operations with rows and rows of plants. Some do but many are probably just growing in a couple tents in their basement.

You're right that some are not testing anything. There's no way they can. Some are coming out with new crosses so fast that there's no way there was enough time to test anything.

I've thought about experimenting with male plants the way you have described. It just a matter of using a chemical and spraying the plant. I might one day. I use chemicals to reverse females in order to make feminized seeds quite often. For now I'm busy with other things but it's on the list of things to do. If only just because it's something I haven't done. I have revegged a male and collected pollen from it twice. I might start revegging males much more often. Keep it in veg long enough to see the results of any pollination you've already used it for and if I like the results just flip it back to flower. The problem with that is males can be trickier to reveg and many that try have not had success. You can also always save pollen and I have but the results have not been consistent regardless of the method I've used. I've had some pollen be as fertile as it was when it was first collected and some that was all blanks or produced extremely poor pollination. I haven't been able to determine any variables that are different with my process so that leads me to believe that not all pollen is created equal. Some just doesn't store well with the equipment and materials I'm using.
 
H

Homegrown5257

Well-Known Member
tstick said:
Do seed breeders save pollen from select male plants? It would be nice to be able to buy some pollen from a reputable breeder, instead of just chucking the pollen from whatever male turns up. Plus, most people don't have the facility to be able to grow and select male plants, anyway.

I would be interested in getting some pollen from a select Thai male plant to use to make seeds with my Chocolate Thai female plant.

Can pollen be stored for long-term and still be viable? Or does it degrade and "die" after a short period of time no matter what you do to preserve it?
Click to expand...
I’ve bought pollen from akbb in the past. Worked great, I dusted a ssdd female with his tk/nl/haze pollen and came away with a really potent cross that makes big ol buds
 
Rob Roy

Rob Roy

Well-Known Member
xtsho said:
I doubt anyone is going through hundreds of male plants. At least nobody that selling anything on strainly or instagram. Your chuck is going to be as good as anyone else's.
Click to expand...
This makes alot of sense.

If you take away the shiny marketing presentations, a home grower with experience is just as likely to find a decent male as a pollen chucker who's pretending they are "breeders" so they can sell lots of untested seeds. No disrespect meant to those who do actual breeding intended.

A small tent in a space away from the flowering area can hold lots of males. You don't need to have males in large containers, a one gallon pot is plenty to get males big enough to assess their structure, smell and grow characteristics. You can even flower males under fluorescent lights cheaply and they won't care, you'll still get PLENTY of pollen.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top