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Kutztown, PA

Does anyone have any experience with freezing pumpkin plant pollen for later use or for shipping? Is it done? How long is the pollen viable?

1/10/2022 2:27:04 PM

Grittyville, WA

Lincoln Mettler tried cryogenics on it, liquid nitrogen I think. I dont know if it actually worked. My current understanding of it is that a normal freezer will kill it. Great question. If you need to extend the life of some blossoms by just 24 hours that might be possible by refrigerating the closed males. I think this has been done successfully. Longer periods would dessicate the flower and pollen unless you had a special high humidity setup like florists use.

1/10/2022 5:53:16 PM

Colorado

My Understanding is that freezing pollen doesnt work.Lincoln Mettler tried it many years ago.Kept pollen in a semen tank.

1/11/2022 2:05:39 AM

Muddy Waters

It doesnt make logical sense freezing should kill it.try cloning the plant instead

1/11/2022 7:23:31 AM

Wallingford,CT

I tried several time to flash freeze fresh pollen in liquid nitrogen and then store at -70 C. didn't work

1/11/2022 7:29:34 AM

Kutztown, PA

I'm going to keep looking into this. If desiccation renders pollen non viable then it makes sense that freezing wont work. I say that because any moisture in the cells would cause them to burst. (Theoretically). Yet it seems like somebody smarter than me may have worked it out by now. The next questions are how long will it last in the fridge and how long will it last sitting on the kitchen counter?

1/11/2022 8:30:29 AM

Grittyville, WA

The idea behind the liquid nitrogen is the cells freeze so fast that ice crystals do not form. My guess is some kinds of pollen can survive some desiccation and be viable longer but cucurbita pollen is a less durable and its also a very large pollen grain, probably because it has to grow a relatively long distance to get into the ovary.
Id research the flower storage used by florists. They can keep flowers dormant for weeks prior to selling them.

1/11/2022 2:21:43 PM

Kutztown, PA

Thanks Gritty - I didn't know about the fast freeze/ice crystals.

1/11/2022 2:28:53 PM

Western NY

I tried years ago. None of the frozen pollen would get a set.

1/11/2022 5:59:32 PM