Hello Elizabeth,

1)Does anyone have any tips on collecting and storing hellebore pollen?

Yes, collect filaments with anthers that have ripen pollen or pollen about to ripen. Place in a warm dry place and dry.

2)I hear Bruce is an expert on this,

No, I have not ever looked real serious about the issue. One would want to collect and dry pollen and use the pollen on an emasculated protected flower. I do not emasculate.

3)so I hope for one of Bruce's comprehensive responses,

If you are hybridizing most any plant you need to collect and protect the pollen, unless you beleive the father of the cross is unimportant.

4)but I'd like to hear from anyone who has used stored pollen successfully.

Yes, I would like to hear from others on this subject to.

5)Have you gotten good seed set using older pollen?

Yes, I made five crosses with stored pollen that had been stored for about 8 to 10 weeks. I did not emasculate or protect the flower. I pollinate using the easy method by taking advantage of the fact that hellebore are protogynous. The carpels swelled soon after hand pollination. All five crosses produced viable seed and I have germinated the seed.

Bruce

I found more information, try the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pollen Storage

More information on a good method for collecting and freezing.

Here is a link that might be useful: Freezing Pollen

Dear Bruce:

Thank you so much for your comprehensive "anther" and for finding the other information on pollen storage. I really appreciate it.

I'm especially glad to hear of your own success with the pollen that had been stored for 8-10 weeks. That's very encouraging.

Wow, a person could really turn their home into a laboratory by using some of these hybridizing techniques!

Thanks again.

Your mad scientist friend,
Elizabeth

Elizabeth,
I do not know if it was a success since I did not emasculate and protect. I will have to wait for the off spring to flower.

I do plan on collecting pollen from a H.x viridis that has a nice viridis type flower (green). I will carefully dry, freeze and store as the instructions on that Hemerolcallis page. I will store for 8 to 10 weeks and use the pollen to pollinate an emasculated, protected flower of H.x hybridus. If I have seed set and germination this should be a good starting point on hellebore pollen storage.

As stated well in the hybridizing forum there are two types of pollen, one has longevity with proper storage the other has a very short span of usefulness. I have not looked further into the plant families to see if the family Ranunculaceae has a number of species or hybrids that have pollen of known long term storage. I would suspect that if the family has many known plants of good storage quality that hellebore probably does too.

It would be good if others with the interest of hellebore pollen storage tried the technique and maybe next year we may have some 'anthers'!

Bruce

Dear Bruce,

I looked up some descriptions of the Ranunculaceae family in European floras. While I couldn't find anything specific on hellebore pollen, the descriptions indicated that the majority of the members of the family have binucleate pollen. If that's true of hellebores, that's good news for us if we want to store pollen.

I agree: we should have a pollen storage study group.

Good luck with your viridis x hybridus cross. I look forward to hearing about your results.

Best,
Elizabeth

Well, I had success with pollen that was stored by Bruce and then mailed, so maybe it was even older when I received it. Last year, I used cyclophyllus and orientalis on viridis, atrorubens, as well as some hybridus (Don't laugh, I also selfed some of the species...but I like variety...as I age and learn more about the results of various crosses, perhaps I will use more discretion) . The seeds have just started (visibly, above ground) germinating this week outdoors.
Since many of the species are typically before the hybridus here, it makes them easy mothers for crossing...and as I recall Bruce had collected his pollen indoors rather early.

I had no problems last year inside collecting pollen, drying the pollen and using the pollen 5 to 14 days old without freezing. It may not be necessary to freeze except for long term storage.

Freezing pollen can create problems with moisture. The problem lies in un-thawing. When removing from the freezer you have condensation. If you remove the pollen from a frozen container and then return the container to the freezer, more condensation. Moisture destroys the pollen. So I hesitate to freeze. I think gelatin capsules are ideal storage vessels, especially for shipping. Any container that protects without crushing the pollen. Though crushed pollen is probably ok, it just makes fertilizing easier by having fluffy pollen.

There is no personal experience I can contribute, but in the book "The Hellebore Queen" by G. Schmiemann I found Helen Ballard`s notes: "It is sometimes very convenient to store pollen, as it remains viable for some time. In my experiences at least a year....I find that empty gelatine capsules are very useful containers,specially when kept long" Sounds good and not really difficult and she had a lot of success with this method. Good luck Inge

Thanks Inge,
I have found the page, it is page 96 in my English version. On this page there is no mention of freezing or refrigerating. I wonder if the pollen was stored dried in capsules at room tempatures?

Bruce

Here it is Karin. The link below has more information,

Here is a link that might be useful: Pollen as an alternative to seed