Hi Karyn, I thought I read somewhere that the receiving flower should be fresh and the pollen donor flower should be a couple days old. I know this doesn't help much! Just had to add my 2 cents!LOL
Good questions!Hope someone answers them.

Theresa

Hi karyn, I seem to have better luck at night or early in the morning pollinating. This is when they are naturally more receptive in nature and release thier fragrance to entice thier pollinators etc. So I think they like to be pollinated at night or early morning when the moths are out.
I like to wait until the flower corolla is puffed up but the actual end of flower is not open yet. This way no other insects have gotten in yet and it seems to be just a receptive as if it was open all the way.
You can havest the anthers before they even release thier pollen. Just take them out with forcepts and set out on the counter or I put mine inside a cupboard and in a day or two the pollen will mature. Then you can either use it or let it dry a little more and freeze it. This makes sure that the pollen is not contaminated with other pollen etc. I seem to have the best luck with fresh pollen vs previously frozen.

You are right about some being more fertile or accepting pollen than others. Some varieties seem to accept some pollen and not others. I think this may have to do with thier natural immunity/incompatability issues. There is also some talk about some varieties that have super long stigmas like MEM, and questions about the distance that the pollen has to travel to the ovary coming into play. Many people have had trouble getting MEM to hold any pods although it has been used as a pollen donor with some success. Hybridizers have used all kinds of crazy ways to try to get unwilling partners to accept pollen lol.
~Lenette

When I tried to do Jim and Brenda's the other day the pollen anthers were stuck close around the anther on that bloom. I took the anthers out of each one and rubbed the pollen on the opposite stamen. I did it in the evening when I think the natural pollinators would have done it. The bud I lost from the shredded white that was so big was on the ground and I disected it yesterday and found a tiny brownish black caterpillar way inside the bud eating away. I guess now I know why some of the larger buds fell of Naughty Nick. Anyone know what kind burrows in the buds? That really ticked me off. Now I only have tiny buds left again. Gonna run out and try to pollinate my noid pink. She is loaded with new flowers, lol.

That is some good advice, I'll have to keep it in mind. I never thought about it that way, with waiting until night when the natural pollinators would be out. I think I have another seedpod forming on MM, I hit it with some inca sun pollen. I also tried to hit MEM with the pollen but it is too early to tell if it took or not.
Shawn

Good luck Karyn and Kristy. Hope you will have lots of pods and then little jim and Brenda babies lol

Oh Kristy I found the same cat inside the lemong Meringue today. Cause I was wondering why the blossom did not open another skirt. :-(

All my pollinating tryouts did not work. So I give up for this year. Whising everybody who is going for it...lots of luck!!!

Lucy

Nighttime pollination makes sense. Kylie I tried some of the vulc pollen this evening and I'm crossing my fingers. If anyone could see into my yard they'd probably think some weird cult thing was going on. I'm in a bathrobe with little vials of pollen, a hemostat and a flashlight. What an odd sight. lol

Lol, I was out in my housecoat this morning doing it and tried some different pollen this evening on one of my noid flowers. I think Lucy is talking about a blackish brown caterpillar we found inside the bud on shredded white that fell off. Anyone know what that might be. I sure don't want the last two to fall of because of getting eaten from the inside.

I always get those little green webworms in my buds. I hate it cuz they poo in there as well and it is all icky and gross! They make tiny pinholes and get in when they are little so you can't tell till too late lol. Look for pin sized holes in the buds. The brown ones are prob just some common moth there are some sphinx types moths that are brown cats but they have wierd eye things on them.

Raising the humidity around- (not on) the plant after pollinating seems to help a little too. So do cooler nights. I had success pollinating CG with Rubirosa last year so I know those two are compatible.

I have the green caterpillars burrowing into the buds and it is gross because they are full of frass by the time they drop. All my Snowbank buds dropped because of them. I have some more growing and the caterpillars seem to be almost over so maybe there's still a chance for flowers.
Karyn

Thanks, glad I'm not the only one with mutated cats in the buds, lol. I thought for sure I knocked it off when I was back there messing around so I didn't feel as guilty after I found the worm, lol. It was like peeling a nice fresh juicy piece of corn and then one hole side is missing and there is the dang worm munching away all your hard work, lol.

I don't know if it's the time of the year or the time of the day but the nighttime pollination is working very well. I've been getting pods on the majority of the blooms that I've pollinated at night. It's too bad that I didn't figure this out a few months ago.
Karyn

Congrats! You can also tie your buds shut after pollinating to make sure nothing else gets to them. I use jute and let it fall off naturally-it will eventually disinegrate. I used to use plastic ties but got sick of picking them up.

How can you tell if you are getting a seed pod? I used to pick off the dead flowers but now I'm afraid I'll pull off a future pod, lol. Should I let them fall naturally or is it still ok to remove them?

I usually use a twist tie and it's probably not necessary because I think I've only had a couple buds that have been naturally pollinated in 10 years. I used to know that I was getting a seed pod when the calxy remained green and didn't fall off but I have a few plants that have dropped the calyx but still formed a pod but the stem will not yellow on a flower that's been pollinated. I let the buds drop on their own. Once a bloom is spent it doesn't remain attached for very long if it hasn't been pollinated.
Karyn

Yep let them fall off by themselves. I think my Lemon Meringue is having a hysterical pregnancy LOL! It started to make a pod and I swear it looks like half of it fell off and the stem to the pod swelled up right under it and the stem got real tough and green (like when the pods are staying on)...I don't think its a real seedpod though...but she thinks she is PG anyway *shrugs*

Thanks, usually they fall off but my noid thats blooming its self to death keeps hanging on to a lot of them. There have been tons of bees on it but I am the only one in the neighborhood with brugs that I know of. I hand pollinated a few of them but I guess its possible they went from one of the ones in the front yard blooming to the backyard. Wish me luck, lol. Thats funny about your hysterically pg brug. I've heard it all now, lol.