The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

Use this forum to discuss matters relating to Agave, Beschorneria, Furcraea, Hesperaloe, Hesperoyucca, Manfreda, Polianthes, Yucca and related species. This is where one posts unknown plant photos for ID help.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#26

Post by agavegreg »

Aaaaargh, hit send to quickly. That would be parrasana
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#27

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Greg, have you seen seed set on A. parrasana around here? I've seen a couple bloom at Bach's with no seed, and mine seems to be heading that way as well...
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#28

Post by agavegreg »

Melt in the Sun wrote:Greg, have you seen seed set on A. parrasana around here? I've seen a couple bloom at Bach's with no seed, and mine seems to be heading that way as well...
In addition to yours, I have only seen those couple at Bach's, even tried to pollinate one of them, and another one near my place, and none of those three had set any seed. So if yours doesn't set seed, we're 0 for 4. Now, if we were baseball players, we could still sign a multi-million dollar contract. D))
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#29

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Well, I have 'Bloodspot' pollen, but not as much as I expected. Seems that the anthers are mostly shriveling before the pollen matures...? I'm not certain any of it is viable.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#30

Post by mcvansoest »

No pollen on the weberi - flowers are having a hard time breaking open due to their burnt/dried out tips, but on those that do open I have so far not seen any pollen.
Ron, gave me a branch with flowers from A. phillipsiana that has plenty of pollen. I have put some on the open weberi flowers to see if it while lead to anything, but I am not optimistic.
I can send some of the pollen your way. Let me know if you are interested.

I am freezing the rest.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#31

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Flowers on bloodspot are done. I dusted every stigma I could with pollen from A. parrasana, so time will tell. I also collected a few anthers that seem to have matured, but there doesn't appear to be much pollen. I'll send it out if someone is interested...
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#32

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Nothing growing on 'Bloodspot' either. There's always next year.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#33

Post by Jkwinston »

Melt in the Sun wrote:Nothing growing on 'Bloodspot' either. There's always next year.

This winter I had an Agave Sp blooming, and in order to protect it, I kept it under cover thinking that would slow it down. It did not, and in February the flowers arrived with lots of pollen. I have since moved it back into my crowded greenhouse. Because it came from a genuine bulbil which I collected in the south of France, I expected bulbils, and now I can see that is not going to happen. I suppose it is the luck of the draw. Jkw
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#34

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Leave that stalk for a while longer and you might be surprised! I had a couple bulbils form on my 'Bloodspot' stalk long after I thought everything was toast.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#35

Post by Agavemonger »

Yeah, bulbils take a while to develop, so extreme patience is a must. Looks like you will have seed to germinate in the meantime! ::wink::

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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#36

Post by Jkwinston »

Melt in the Sun wrote:Leave that stalk for a while longer and you might be surprised! I had a couple bulbils form on my 'Bloodspot' stalk long after I thought everything was toast.

Really? Thanks for the hope Melt. I always prefer bulbils as they are easier to grow, and especially as in this instance because the plant is in a 12 inch pot. JKw
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#37

Post by Jkwinston »

Agavemonger wrote:Yeah, bulbils take a while to develop, so extreme patience is a must. Looks like you will have seed to germinate in the meantime! ::wink::

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Looking forward with lots of expectations. What happened to the image? Jkw
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#38

Post by Gee.S »

Just a general heads-up for the pollen crowd. We can collect pollen from AZ Agaves along the following rough time-table, if any are interested:

May: A. deserti v. simplex, A. mckelveyana
June: A. parryi, A. verdensis, A. yavapaiensis
July: A. chrysantha, A. delamateri
August: A. palmeri, A. phillipsiana
Agave
"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#39

Post by Melt in the Sun »

I have 'Sharkskin' pollen...those flower clusters are bigger than they look from 15' down! 'Celsii Nova' is already pollinated, chrysantha, palmeri (?), and striata are almost ready.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#40

Post by Gee.S »

^ Those are some long filaments!

I pulled an A. wercklei cluster down last week, only to have measurements steer me away from A. wercklei and toward A. hurteri. So I currently have A. hurteri pollen. BTW, this is what the plant looked like when younger. Quite different from the other A. hurteri clone we both have. But I must say, now that I'm looking at these photos side-by-side, I do see substantial similarity. They are also extremely similar in terms of hardiness and sun-tolerance, which is to say better on both counts than other large Hiemiflorae Agaves. BTW, I don't believe the other A. hurteri will get nearly as large as the one that bloomed.
A. hurteri, type B
A. hurteri, type B
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A. hurteri, Type B
A. hurteri, type A
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Agave
"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#41

Post by Xanthoria »

I have 3 agaves flowering right now: gypsophylla, lopantha and scabra. Located in San Francisco.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#42

Post by agavedave »

Any chance of pictures when the lophantha blooms?

thanks
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#43

Post by Jkwinston »

Melt in the Sun wrote:Leave that stalk for a while longer and you might be surprised! I had a couple bulbils form on my 'Bloodspot' stalk long after I thought everything was toast.
Hey guys, you are certainly correct. The bulbils have arrived. I am glad you told me, or I would have certainly abandoned stalk by now. Jkw
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#44

Post by Azuleja »

That's awesome, bulbils rock!
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#45

Post by Azuleja »

This is somewhat related, and I might do a separate thread eventually, but did you know you can use a tuning fork to release pollen easily from anthers for collection, drying and storage? I tried it yesterday and it really does work. Apparently bees do something similar. The high frequency vibrations shake it right off.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#46

Post by Steph115 »

^ that's very cool. I never would have thought of that. Do most of ya'll go at it with a paint brush or some other method?
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#47

Post by Gee.S »

I usually cut flowers off and pollinate directly without an implement.
Agave
"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#48

Post by MJP »

Steph115 wrote:^ that's very cool. I never would have thought of that. Do most of ya'll go at it with a paint brush or some other method?
1) Anthers (un-dehisced or dehiscing) can be collected and lain on a sheet of paper.
2) When the anther shrivels/dries, remove the filaments from the pollen accumulated on the paper.
3) Collect the pollen in a small container - some people use tiny waxed seed envelopes, I use small plastic containers. The seed envelopes work well when you want to freeze the pollen for next season (minimizes exposure to drying air).
4) Use a small artist's paint brush to transfer pollen to a receptive stigma of an agave flower. The stigma of an agave flower becomes receptive only after that particular flower's anther's have dehisced, and usually the day after the anthers dehisce. You will notice that the tips of the stigma glisten with moisture exuded by the stigma. This excretion facilitates the sticking of the pollen.

On paniculate agaves, I pollinate an entire cluster (each branch off the main stalk has several flower clusters) and record the cross by tying a tag to that flower cluster. It may take several days to pollinate the whole cluster, as not all flowers open on the same day.

On spicate agaves, I pollinate vertical sections of the spike, delimiting the sections by tying a tag at the bottom and another tag at the top. In this way several crosses can be made and kept track of.

If you freeze pollen for use next season, it is best used immediately after thawing. I have had success with 2-year old frozen pollen using this method. I have also had pollen fail to be effective after just one winter in the freezer. All you can do is try.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#49

Post by Melt in the Sun »

MJP - is this deep freezer pollen, or just a normal self-defrosting freezer? Or something even more exotic? I've never bothered to keep anything, because I remember reading years ago that a normal kitchen freezer was worthless for this purpose.
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Re: The All New Official "I Have Pollen" Thread

#50

Post by Xanthoria »

I have one Agave lophantha aka Agave univittata flowering now if anyone interested?

agavedave sorry I missed your previous post requesting pics. Still wanted?

Also a variegated A. angustifolia spike emerging now.
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