Hey all.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I've got a slightly odd question regarding pollination and can't find a categorical answer anywhere. I've got a handful of successful grows under my belt so am not entirely a newbie, but wouldn't call myself an expert either. Here's the issue:

Among the stuff I've grown is the automatic strain called 'Masterlow'. This is essentially a cross between Lowryder and Master Kush and is a pretty decent smoke as automatics go. Unfortunately, I'm down to my last 8 seeds and was interested in partially pollinating one plant in order to generate some more. I've got a 6-seed grow just starting. The plan is to take one of the males (if I get one), separate it, and use its pollen to pollinate a few of the buds on one of the females (if I get one). I'm regarding this more as a 'seeding' grow than a 'weeding' one, but if I get more than one female then there'll be extra weed, too.

This is the first time I've set out to generate seed. I'm not looking to start a new strain or do any exotic crossing, just to generate a new batch of Masterlow seed to use in future.

There are many varied techniques for selectively pollinating a few buds on a plant, but many of the articles and FAQs suggest using water a little while after pollination (misting) to prevent stray pollen from affecting other plants in your grow area. Which (finally ...) brings me to my question:

Is water used in this way because it can denature the pollen (as I've read in some places) or is it used in order to de-aerial-ize the pollen (like rain washing dust out of the air) so that it can't propagate to other plants?

The reason I ask is because something occurred to me that I haven't read anywhere (so I presume I'm going wrong somewhere). Various people suggest using cotton buds (q-tips) and small brushes to gently apply the pollen to the desired flowers / buds. Here's my idea, though:

If water is used because it de-aerializes pollen (rather than denaturing it), why can't you add the pollen to a small amount of water (in a clean film container / test tube etc.) and then gently "paint" the pollen-water solution directly on to the flowers? This (if feasible) would seem to be a pretty good way of preventing contamination (pollination) of other plants in the grow room, but I haven't seen anyone else suggest it so feel like I may have missed something.

Is there anything inherently wrong with doing this or is it doable? Cheers for any help / advice.

Sorry, no advice, but good question..... anyone?
I did a search but couldn't find anything specific...

hi
id say both
,iv seen it said when collecting pollen,
that all green matter (male pods) should be removed because the moisture in it can kill off the pollen

Cheers dorko420 and bart for having a go.

I imagine (just guessing here) that water can't possibly be good for pollen in the short to long term. H₂O is essentially a solvent and so I imagine it will be destructive in the general case. But the very short term is maybe a different issue which requires some research. It sort-of stands to reason that pollen must have evolved at least a very minimal moisture resistance in order to pollinate damp flowers and deal with moisture in the plant; it may not be particularly resilient, but it may be enough.

I got 2 females out of the six seeds mentioned above. These are currently in the grow cupboard under 250 watts and doing very nicely. 3 of the 4 males were destroyed. the healthiest-looking and earliest-flowering male was kept. He has been separated and is now growing well in the greenhouse. They're all currently at 20 days from seed or thereabouts.

The male is developing balls nicely. I estimate he'll be ready to deliver in about 3-7 days. My current plan is to grow the male to harvest some pollen. I'm going to take one of the females and pollinate her in the standard way, keep her separate for a day or two, then mist her down as recommended. I'm going to take the other female and try the 'water painting' technique on some of her buds, again in a separate area and again misting down after a couple of days. The females will then be reunited in the grow room to finish off.

This isn't as ruthlessly scientific as I'd like to be but it does at least minimize the likelihood of cross contamination. If 'water painting' doesn't work, then the worst that can happen is that the one female doesn't get pollinated. If it does, it's at least one data point to work from. Whatever happens, I'll report back here with the results.

All the best.

My first post!

Mr clean, you will be surprised by the results. Mix the pollen with DISTILLED water, try a ratio of 3:1 water to pollen, an eye dropper or syringe will allow you drop a precise amount onto the bud you want to pollenate....job done

surely adding water directly to the growing buds increases the chance of budrot......

there are 2 ways i have pollinated plants
number 1 is putting some pollen in a paper bag and put the bud you want pollinated inside for a day or so shaking it now and then
and number 2 is the paintbrush method.... i dont worry about the pollen moving off the bud because the resin is sticky for that exact reason-to hold onto the pollen