I am far from an expert on the art of pollination... you bring up some interesting points to ponder, Lostmermaid...

I have never heard of doing consecutive pollinations on the same flower, but it is true that insects visit flowers more than once to gather nectar, and keep spreading pollen... so this does make sense... I would never just breed my dog once and expect a pregnancy to result, although it has happened! Usually, dogs are tied at least twice during the peak of heat to ensure a bellyful of pups.

I have noticed that if the first scape is successfully pollinated and has pods forming, sometimes the second scape will either not form pods, or the ones forming will abort or be weaker or smaller... I have not noticed lesser flowers formed on the second scape due to the first scape forming pods, though...

Since I haven't been able to find any decent vials to collect pollen and keep it in, I haven't bothered to save any... I probably should have, though... I know that by next season, I'll be kicking myself for not having saved any, but there's just been too much going on to make pollen collecting a priority! I think by next year, I'll have the proper tools and the proper information at my disposal, and then I will be completely serious about my "breeding project"!

This year, I tried a few crosses... was unsuccessful... and decided to self most of everything else that bloomed. I admit to getting sloppy in my record keeping, and decided that this year, my first, would be all for the sake of learning and experimenting. Next years' blooms and pollinations will be carefully logged, and I will try more crosses instead of self pollinations.

So far, I've had pretty good luck self-pollinating my flowers, and most of them have produced at least one or two pods, some way more than that! The season is not over for me, with several more flowers still to bloom, but I think that for a first year, I've been fairly successful!

I, too, am open to any suggestions or experience that anyone has to offer...

Good luck with your Novella/Picotee cross, Lostmermaid! If successful, I think the offspring will be highly interesting to see!

this is my system.

Neuter the flower by using scissors to cut just the open pollen casings(anther -- stamen). I do this by putting an envelope (I re-use the paper ones my bills come in- so I have plenty! :)) just below the pollen, covering the pistil to avoid dropping the pollen onto it. Record the flower name on the outside and place it in the door of the fridge.

I would then select a donor pollen, use tweezers to remove pollen from the envelope and apply it to the pod parent (like all the highly scientific tools and terms?)usually several days in a row.

As far as record keeping I cut plastic blinds (from the thrift store- 50 cents or so) into 2" lengths (easily done with scissors), punch a hole in them with a paper punch and label with a pencil (easily re-used by wetting and erasing with a regular pencil eraser). Pod parent first with pollen parent second (pod- "Novella X Picotee> -pollen). Use a twist tie to tie it just at the base of the flower close to the main stem. Rather unsightly for show but highly effective when pollinating all the flowers with different pollen. I could have 4 crosses on one scape all different donating parents and never lose track.

About 5-6 weeks later when the pod is ripe I then cut the pod off with the label and again store it in a paper envelope. I test germinate 10 by planting in seed starter mix and newspaper tubes under lights. Generally I get 80% germination. (hence all the babies). I trade, and sell the seeds. last year I had about 3000 seeds! A few too many for the spare room.

I have also successfully used the water germination method. Float the seeds in water. It is okay for them to touch but not overlap. I keep an eye on the water and add or change most of the water. You should start seeing results in about 10-14 days. What I don't like about this method is transplanting the seeds with such a fragile root into soil. I find it more finiky (that a word?) than just straight into soil.

When I plant them in the soil I stick the fat end of the seed, papery covering and all, into the soil standing it upright (vertically). Really good results and very strong seedling. The soil method takes much longer to see results. I believe up to 6 weeks for some, even in the same batch.
All depends on your patience level.

I found unsuccessful pollination occured when I applied pollen only once and then there is that diploid issue which I have not figured out yet. One of these days I will do research on it. I remember quite some time ago it was mentioned in some news group but I didn't know enough then to understand let alone ask an intelligent question. I do know it would explain why Papillo butterfly did not cross with anything that I tried.

Having mentioned Papillo butterfly. I bought two from RC last year and gave the one with the scape to my mother for Christmas. The second one came with some rot, I notified them (and was told on my next order they would fix the problem- and they did on the next order!) I did not get flowers of course on that one. This year I only got leaves again! I thought I read somewhere here that they can be difficult to get to rebloom. Any suggestions of how to get it to perform?

Regarding pollinating more than once. Well, I do try to dust with pollen, usually using a paintbrush, 2-3 times/days on each bloom, if I am able to. Especially if the weather is humid or rainy, since I want to be sure pollen hasn't blown off or washed away.

I have used this "scientific" method: Wearing bifocals so I can see what the heck I'm doing, I carefully cut a pollen thingy off the pollen donor flower... then I take it to the flower I'm pollinating and completely cover the female part with pollen directly from the pollen thingy... in a few of my flower photos you can see flowers missing one or two pollen thingies...

I apologize if I'm being too technical... tee-hee!

Anyway... since I grow and do everything else indoors, there is no chance of the pollen blowing away or being rained on, and I've been pretty successful pollinating only once, so far... although, now that you guys say you do it more than once, I'm going to start pollinating at least twice... perhaps this will bump my success rate even higher!

When I first began pollinating, I tried a few crosses... I used sewing thread and blank peel and stick address labels as tags... I just folded a piece of label, sticky side together, over a loop of thread and made a tag that could be hung on the neck of the pollinated flower, and wrote the pertinent information on it. I was going to use those price tags you can get for garage sales with the strings already on them, but couldn't find any locally...

As far as pollen vials go... I've been saving empty vaccination vials from the kennel, and desiccant packs from electronic parts we get in... I keep too much fruit in my fridge to risk anything going bad because of it... I thought I'd place pollen in tiny paper squares, fold it up, stuff it in a vial with a little desiccant pack, and cork it... that way, it's protected well...

When it comes to planting the seeds... I have had no luck planting in vermiculite/cocopeat mix... not one seed germinated! In the same tray, I planted some Daylily seeds... they all germinated... no clue why the hippi seeds didn't... I recently floated my first seeds in a little clear plastic take-out container, using un-softened well water... I have germination!!! I can see one tiny root growing downward, so far! I'm so excited!!

I may actually have babies growing soon! I was elated when I spied that first little root! It's a Limona x Limona, and now I feel better about the seeds I sent to Xuan, and my other trades coming up! I wasn't sure they were viable... they did have that little thingy in the middle of the sheath, but it was not as I expected it to be... it wasn't a "bump", but was rather a flat little squiggle in the center... I hope you know what I mean... I'm no good with technical terminology! I mean the embryo! LOL!

Unlike Jodi, I have no luck germinating seeds by the float method. They all rot or water goes rancid too fast. I start all mine in MG seed starter soil with perlite. I think maybe our humidity causes the rancid water. Even with cut flowers, I must change the water often, even in the house. They get icky so fast. However, on this note, now that I have some fresh seeds, I may try the float method one more time...I'll let you know!

Cindee - what if you used bottled water? You could try a gallon of the water they sell for babies, or one of the other bottled types... I don't know if it would make a difference, but it might be worth a try...

On the other hand, if you have good luck with seed starter soil, why change anything, you know? I just haven't been able to get seeds to start in medium, but then I haven't tried many types of medium... perhaps an actual "seed starter" mix might work...

I do notice an icky film beginning to build in my flotation water, and I'm sure I remember reading that something can be put in the water to help keep it fresh, but I can't for the life of me recall what that might be... I may have to figure out a way to change water without disturbing the seeds... that should be fun... NOT! I suppose I'd better look for a small piece of screening or something to use as a sieve...

I'm going to be experimenting with different methods of seed starting to find the best method for my environment... I'll keep everyone informed with the results... I'm just really happy that I have tiny sprouts! :-)

Just had to jump in & say I have tried both metods for germinating. I have had success with both metods. If you will add a little Hydrogen peroxide to the water you use to germinate, it keeps it from getting bad. I have lots of babies but did not keep records, so have no idea what they are.

Thanks, Rene! How much peroxide would you add to, say, about a cup of water? I don't want to use too much, or too little, for that matter...

Thanks for the tip! I knew there was something, I just couldn't remember... peroxide makes perfect sense!

Cindee, when I sprout seeds for the birds I always add bleach to the first 24 hour water and this seems to prevent the seeds going bad.

Jodi, I use the grease screen (cooking) that you can pick up in a dollar store to prevent losing the sprouting seeds when rinsing.

I just started my first batch of hippeastrum seeds using the flotation method and didn't use the screen as the seeds looked too delicate. Instead when I saw what I thought might be mold growing I gently rinsed out as much of the water as I could (twice) and added one drop of bleach. Almost all the seeds germinated. They are now growing in a coir medium. I tried to copy what Hans did and put expanded clay pellets ( I used aliflor) on the bottom and the coir on top. This has made it easier from a watering standpoint. What has surprised me is how much water I need to replace! The seedlings are just starting to put up little green leaves. This is my first try at growing seedlings so I can't tell you what rate of success I will have. What I liked about the flotation method is that I could see the seeds were germinating,what concerned me was the fear of damaging the little root during transplanting, although I didn't notice any damaged. I also need to determine how deep to plant, since placing the seeds sideways was too difficult with the wet seeds and I just placed them with roots down.

Thanks for the tips, Jody! I'm not sure what I will plant these little guys in when the time comes, but I definitely want to get some of the little clay pellets, or something equal, to use for the bottom layer of medium... I figure I'll just pick up the tiny sprouts with tweezers, and gently place them, root side down, into the medium. I will not pack the medium tightly around them, but rather leave it a bit loose... perhaps sprinkling a little more medium over or around them to make sure there is soil to root contact. I may gently press the medium to achieve contact.

So far, all I have done is replace the evaporating water with fresh water... I have not rinsed them or moved them... I'm afraid to damage them at this early stage. Today, however, I must change the water... I'll be using un-softened water with a touch of peroxide for added oxygen... I have a small sieve that I can use to gently pour the seeds into to rinse them...

What surprises me is how long it's taking for germination! I floated this first batch of seeds almost 2 weeks ago, and they are still germinating, some sprouting sooner than others...

This is certainly a wonderful learning experience! I'm very hopeful of keeping these little guys alive long enough to see them bloom... it's very exciting to grow these, beginning with seed I pollinated!