Pollen sacks.

[davidwood]

May seem a bit of an odd question but here goes. The pollen sacks on the HVH Hibiscus I have are quite big and hard, is it what you see that you use to pollinate or is the pollen to pollinate actually inside the sack you see. The reason I ask is that I notice on the garden hibs the pollen is much finer and just touching it will result on pollen sticking to your fingers.

I have read that you can use a cotton bud to brush over the pollen, well I have tried that and nothing sticks, so I have been pulling of the pollen sacks and sticking them on the pads with my fingers, is this right and ok.

[Charlie]

Hi David,

From your description, you are seeing pollen sacs that have not opened. Actual pollen is fluffy and sticks easily to almost anything that it touches. Some varieties quickly open pollen sacs early in the day while others are slow to open. Dealing with this is one of hybridizing's biggest challenges. Flowers will open early in the day and you are all set to make a cross that you've been wanting to make but the pollen sacs just won't open and spill out there lovely pollen.

I doubt that what you doing is transferring real pollen to the staminal pads. It sounds like you are rubbing the unopened pollen sacs onto the pads which will not result in success. You just have to wait for the real pollen and if it does not appear there's not much that can be done.

Some people who live in the tropics report that their best success occurs during the rainy season when temperatures are a bit lower and humidity is high and there is less direct sun. You could experiment by removing flowers from the plant and placing them in cooler and darker places to see if the pollen releases. Taking the flower off the plant does not affect pollen release but if you could find better conditions to place the flower in that might well allow for pollen release. Of course you cannot remove the flower that you want to make seeds from the plant but that does not apply to the pollen donor flower.

Good luck!
Charlie

[davidwood]

I think I understand, in fact I am sure I do, trouble is I have spent about 1 year placing the unopened sacks on the pads. Truth is I don't think I have ever seen an opened sack.
 Does the pollen sack open naturally if the weather is right or are there tricks to open it up.

[Charlie]

No tricks needed - just the right conditions.

Charlie