OK so you just spent 30-40 days growing a plant and it turns out to be male, do you bin it . If you have a spare cupboard, PC case or another small space, why not harvest and store the pollen.
Why spend the time ? Why not ! If your interested in crossing strains, or maybe just getting some extra seeds in the future here's how I did it.
Things needed :
Cup
Aluminum Foil
Small Paint Brush
10 gram drams or some Vials
1 gram Indicating Moisture Absorbing Packets
Here's a pic of my stuff
When I first noticed my male plant I immediately pulled it away from my female plants. I had a PC case ( any small space will do ) so I installed a 26 watt soft white 2700K (red) CFL and placed it there on 12\12.
Male Plant at 12\12
After about 15-25 days of the plant being on 12\12 cut the branches off and place them in a cup full of water.
As you can see I cover the cup in aluminum foil and poke the branches through. This way when the pollen sacks open or fall, it will stay on the foil and will be easy to collect.
Everyday I milk the male branches for pollen. I pull out each branch separately using a small paint brush I agitate the pollen sacks till the pollen falls onto the foil (or plate your choice). I also collect any pollen that has fallen onto the foil on the cup. I do this everyday until there is no more pollen sacks left.
This is how much pollen I collected today
Now I place the pollen into a small homemade envelope. ( there are plenty of videos on the net if you don't know how to make one ) Mark it with the name of the strain and date collected then place it in the 10g plastic dram along with a 1g packet of indicating moisture absorbing packet.
I also mark the outside of the dram to.
Put it in the refrigerator for about two days before you place it in the freezer. The moisture packs should do it's job a suck out all the moisture from the pollen. This pollen can now be stored in your freezer for 3-6 years until it's ready for your next breeding project.
Hope this helps some people out
Cheers
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