Pollen Collection for Crossing

[jmsieglaff]

I've been reading:
http://tgrc.ucdavis.edu/guidelines_e...g_tomatoes.pdf

I'm thinking I might make a cross or two this year, nothing planned, just if I'm eating something and something pops to my mind I may give it go.

Regarding the dissecting needle. I don't have one. Do I really need one? Or is there something you use to collect pollen to make a cross? Any other advice that deviates from the above guide?

[KarenO]

No fancy equipment is required. I use an electric toothbrush to collect pollen on a sunglasses lens... Learned on YouTube just to show that hand Pollinating tomatoes isn't rocket science
Watch some videos. I use a toothpick to remove the anther cone to emasculate an unopened bloom. The tricky part really is selecting the bloom to pollinate at just the right state of readiness before it opens and self pollinates. Luck and weather also are big factors
KarenO

[carolyn137]

Please also consider reading about pollen at:

http://www.kdcomm.net/~tomato/

This is the superb website of Keith Mueller who got his MS degree with Dr, Randy Gardner who has bred many wonderful varieties including the Mountain series.

Keith himself has bred some outstanding varieties such as Liz Birt and many others which are also shown at his site, with pictures, parentages, etc.

Start by clicking on Culture and then go down to How To make Crosses.

But at some point take some time to look around his whole site, especially his explanation of genetic segregation, using cartoon like colored eggs.

You'll also find there links that you won't find anywhere's else.

Hope that helps,

Carolyn

[jmsieglaff]

Thanks for the quick replies! Will do what both of you recommend. I've used Keith's website for learning about tomato genetics, so I look forward to reading his crossing section.

[jmsieglaff]

After watching these I think I've convinced myself I do not need special equipment and I can just do this leisurely with my hands out in the garden. I lean toward the electric toothbrush method for collecting pollen and rubbing the stigma around in the collected pollen. I would think removing anthers for a variety with an extruded stigma may be a little more difficult and require some loosening near the flower base so you wouldn't damage the stigma.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nMrcEC_Zvc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Riedng9WY

I've got some currant tomatoes growing this year so I don't have a shortage of blossoms to practice emasculating a few.

[joseph]

I'm a brute-force type of guy when pollinating tomato flowers... I tear the mother's anther cone apart with my bare hands. If the style gets damaged then I move on to the next flower. Then I go get a pollen donor... I tear the anther cones open until I find a flower that is shedding pollen, and swipe it against the stigma. Then if I got that far, I tear off all the other flowers/fruits on that flower cluster and put a flag on the stem of the cluster.

I'm not much for trying to keep track of tools, or for dragging them with me into the garden. There are usually enough flags laying around the garden on other crops that I can use half of a flag that was used on something else.

[ChrisK]

To tease apart the cone I use a pair of stainless steel needle point tweezers for small anther cones like cherry toms and micro-dwarfs. Their styles are hair thin and it takes a steady hand. Larger ones can be removed with fingers pretty easily. I collect pollen with an electric toothbrush and black plastic spoon. I'd say I have about 95% success rate.

Be forewarned, crossing toms becomes addictive!

[joseph]

Crossing is the easy part... My problem comes in growing enough F2s to find the traits I want among the offspring.

[jmsieglaff]

Originally Posted by ChrisK

Be forewarned, crossing toms becomes addictive!

I am afraid of that.

Originally Posted by joseph

Crossing is the easy part... My problem comes in growing enough F2s to find the traits I want among the offspring.

I will no doubt have this issue, especially since I'm pretty much maxed out at about 20 tomato plants and I don't want to dedicate all my tomatoes to growing an F2. If my F2 growout in one year doesn't yield something interesting I'll probably just grow out more F2 the following year.

Although I could see myself crossing with some dwarf tomatoes--which will make the F2 growouts easier since you can detect dwarf vs non-dwarf very early on.

[bower]

My thumb and index finger nails are fairly long, and turned out to be handy for prying apart the anther cones. My nails are sharp enough to clip off the petals and sepals too. I always clip them because I don't always destroy other flowers or fruit in the cluster, so there's no confusion as to which one is the cross. I like to get the first opening flower or two in a cluster, so there's no pollen shedding just above or near them.

I collect pollen by tapping the flowers against the glass inside the lid of some small containers I have for the purpose and use them upside down. The lid is shallow so it's easier to use for dragging the stigma through the pollen. The dragging is the harder part of the operation, for me, and it's when I'm most likely to break off the stigma. I try to repeat the cross pollination three times - as soon as the female is prepped, and for two days afterwards. You can see that the stigma matures, as a noticeable knob forms on the end, and when it's receptive, it is sticky and will make a line as it drags through the pollen. I keep the pollen in labelled containers, and add fresh pollen to it each day before repeating the cross.

[crmauch]

I don't like the toothbrush method to gather pollen. I have experienced a few times of great success, but many more times where I got no pollen at all.

I much prefer to gather fully opened flowers. Strip the flower down to the anther cone and let the cone dry overnight. then I tap (or scrape), pollen onto a sunglass lens (wire frame sunglasses from dollar store are a great source [although a black plastic spoon would be great too!]). And then I store the lens in a plastic container w/ a "dehydrator" from a pill bottle in the refrigerator until I'm ready to use it

(The Nightshade family of pollen tends to stay viable for a long time. Under proper conditions, it can last six months, although I generally only store it for up to a month or so.)

[crmauch]

Originally Posted by crmauch

[COLOR=black]I don't like the toothbrush method to gather pollen. I have experienced a few times of great success, but many more times where I got no pollen at all.

I realize I need to modify my statement here ... I'm being too absolutist here. The vibration/"toothbrush" method is fine, even great! ... if it works. The process I described is good for those times when the toothbrush method doesn't work, or needs supplemented.

[joseph]

crmauch: What's your pollen storage method?

[crmauch]

Originally Posted by joseph

crmauch: What's your pollen storage method?

The pollen's been placed on a dark lens. Some medicine bottles either have a pouch or a small canister that aids in keeping the moisture from the pills. I put one of these and the lens in a small plastic container (say 1 Cup to 1 1/2 C size) and close the container. I try not to have the lens bounce around or anything. I then store these containers in my refrigerator. You have to let the outer containers warm up slightly (depending on your weather and environment), when you're going to use them so that when you remove the lens you don't get condensation on the cold lens.

Does this help?

I was planning on documenting my method w/ pictures. I'll try to get it posted shortly.

[Fusion_power]

There are two very good methods of collecting pollen. One is with a Vegibee and the other as CrMauch describes by collecting anthers and letting them dry to the point pollen drops.

http://vegibee.com/