How long will a male produce pollen

[Slimpikens]

I'm attempting to pollinate some female autos with a Male auto and the Male matured faster and is dropping pollen, but the females still have a few weeks to develop until they're ready to accept. I really don't want to collect pollen as I'd rather let it happen naturally, but as this is the first Male I have grown, I'm wondering about its life cycle. Will it keep producing and dropping pollen for its entire life, or does it only do this for a short period? Thanks for the help!

 

[Proph]

There is no difference between collecting/applying pollen, and letting it happen naturally. Males mature/show sex faster than females. That part is normal. The male plant will keep producing pollen and pollen sacs until it dies or until you chop it. If you are in a tent with fans ect.. and you're just going to keep letting the male spew pollen until the females are ready, then you will have a mess to sterilize. That pollen will be all over the tent walls, in and on the fans/blades.. On the lights.. Everywhere. That's the main reason people collect pollen and apply it themselves.. They can collect a little bit of pollen to apply, and then kill off the male plant to avoid any cross contamination. Way less mess and stress.

But it will definitely keep producing pollen and those pollen sacs will continue to mature and drop pollen until end of life. That's a male plants only job.

 

[Slimpikens]

Thanks so much for that! Despite all my searching I couldn't find any detailed info on the life cycle of a Male autoflower past the initial pollen formation and dropping. Now that I know this, I guess that is because it never stops! It's been going for 3 weeks and I'm am seeing first hand what you mean by a mess! I've been collecting pollen throughout and tried refrigeration, freezer, dark drawer, mixing flour, silica beads, multi layer freezer bags, and no matter what I try, the pollen clumps, which I'm assuming is moisture, and Im just wanting to ensure I get the job done right this time around. Being that this is the only strain of pollen I'll be dealing with for quite a while, I'm ok with a thorough clean, but truthfully I think the pollen is starting to take its toll on my sinuses, even though I use a mask and goggles. After this first go around, I'll test some of my stored pollen to see if its viable as this is getting a bit ridiculous and I can certainly see the benefit of just collecting what's needed and then culling the male. Thanks again for the knowledge!

 

[Arthur]

Your answer to clumpy damp pollen. Collect on piece of paper, set paper in a box with silica beads to dry. I tried rice, couldn't seem to get the rH low enough.

 

[Slimpikens]

Awesome, I have been using tiny little half gram packages! I noticed even the paper silica packages started feeling damp so I even tried loose beads to no avail. I tried test tubes, glass jars, foil, but never paper and with that quantity of beads. It was quite frustrating because everything I read made it sound so simple where people were storing for a year plus, and I haven't been able to even get it to last over a week. Where do you store that setup afterwards?

 

[Slimpikens]

There is no difference between collecting/applying pollen, and letting it happen naturally. Males mature/show sex faster than females. That part is normal. The male plant will keep producing pollen and pollen sacs until it dies or until you chop it. If you are in a tent with fans ect.. and you're just going to keep letting the male spew pollen until the females are ready, then you will have a mess to sterilize. That pollen will be all over the tent walls, in and on the fans/blades.. On the lights.. Everywhere. That's the main reason people collect pollen and apply it themselves.. They can collect a little bit of pollen to apply, and then kill off the male plant to avoid any cross contamination. Way less mess and stress.

But it will definitely keep producing pollen and those pollen sacs will continue to mature and drop pollen until end of life. That's a male plants only job.

One more quick question if you don't mind. Sorry, I posted a diagnosis problem without solution so I'm ecstatic I'm actually getting some help with this one! I guess since I'm accepting the mess this time around I'm curious what effect this amount of pollen will have on my equipment. You mentioned fan blades and I started worrying about how much my carbon filters can handle, and if it shortens their life. I have a 6 inch for my tent which I imagine is sucking up quite a bit, and then a 4 inch in the small room to collect any from my collection which is also working overtime as I still see it settling on shelves, and then a household unit for any that escapes the small room. I'd hate to have to replace all these from the excess pollen. Do you think that would be a problem? Cheers!

 

[Arthur]

I've been here! A long time ago in a room far far away...

The pollen won't damage your equipment, (guessing it might shorten the life of your filters... although the prefilter may catch most of it) just getting it cleaned out so you can breed other strains without genetic pollutants, or run a seedless crop, is a... pain.

Pollen is nullified with h2o, so tent cleanup can be pretty quick. It's your components you don't want to hose down that become the issue. As well as a pollinating male in a home, if not isolated, will have it everywhere... clothes drapes... hair... I don't mind a pollinated girl in my flowering tent, but I won't pollinate in my flowering tent. Things are moved to a different area, deed done, and then sprayed with h2o to get any unused pollen off. Then back to the tent.


If my males are dropping, I won't visit them and then plants I don't want pollinated until a clothes change and a shower.

 

[Slimpikens]

Cheers for that! Ugh, I have a feeling it's already in the clothes as my eyes are just continually itchy and dry. It's going to be a real pain cleaning all this mess up, but from the tips I've gathered from your help and others, I'm thinking the next round will be a smoother process. And, I completely failed to think of the prefilter so that dedinitely provides some reassurance. At this point I'm more worried about missing some pollen during cleanup and accidentally cross pollinating my next round of plants. But, that won't be for at least 3 months so hopefully between the wipe down and time, any remaining pollen wouldn't still be viable. Greatly appreciate the insight mate!