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breeding cross pollinating black spoon method

chad s

chad s

Hello everyone,
I won't rehash the entire procedure, there are a ton of great tutorials out there. Generally pollen is collected and transferred with a small paint brush, a q-tip, or even just with your fingers. The question for me was always did I get the pollen where I need to or just kill a flower. The solution for me was to gently tap the pollen onto a black spoon. The contrast really helps me being colorblind. Now that you can see the pollen you simply drag the pollen across the stamen. You will be able to see a line through the pollen. If you cross three you can be assured at least one will take, but usually two or three. Might as well because if a bug should get your baby you might have to do it all again next year. Little jewelry tags work great for marking. Just number them and keep a log. Happy creating! If anyone has any other modifications we would love to know

Chad
 
Will have to try this this year. Thanks for the tip. I used my Ipod screen last year to collect pollen. Was easy to tap the pollen onto the screen and see it. I like the spoon since it would be a smaller area and has a bowl to kinda collect and keep the pollen in place.
 
Thanks for the tip, wish I would have read this earlier today.   I took my first stab at crossing a few tonight and found using a qtip difficult.  Being color blind as hell also, couldn't see anything on it.  Then got the qtip stuck on the stamen and pulled it off.  Might give this a try tomorrow.
 
I have been using the black spoon method since I began... Its really brilliant.. You can see the little tracks in the pollen when you drag the stamen through the pollen.. Plus it lets you see how many flowers you can pollinate before you start running out and need to refill...
 
Just a tip.. If you do what I do and pull a flower and tap the pollen onto the spoon ( I don't mind sacrificing a flower for pollen ) try and tap it onto the Front tip of the spoon, it gets hard trying to navigate a spoon in its deepst part onto stamens, but when you do it towards the front tip its very easy to navigate it around stamens..
 
I been using tiny vials like they mail canna seeds in to store pollen, just tap pollen in from a bunch of flowers then do the paint brush method with a dark colored brush. Qtips sucked. I ordered them from http://www.brugmansia.us/forums/index.php?/store/category/14-bgi-hybridizing-and-propagating-/
 

 

 
The butterly tags work real nice for labeling flowers as well. I use a spread sheet and letter/numbering system to keep track of crosses, pollen samples. Found them in the jewelry making section of Michaels craft store. 
 

 
Pollen spread sheet
 
Cross spreadsheet - needs updating on dropbox.. will do after post
 
D3, the vials are an awesome idea. A couple of planned crosses for this year won't happen because I lost the plants. Last year's pollen would have solved that. Great website, and thanks for the spreadsheets!
KrakenPeppers said:
I have been using the black spoon method since I began... Its really brilliant.. You can see the little tracks in the pollen when you drag the stamen through the pollen.. Plus it lets you see how many flowers you can pollinate before you start running out and need to refill...
 
Just a tip.. If you do what I do and pull a flower and tap the pollen onto the spoon ( I don't mind sacrificing a flower for pollen ) try and tap it onto the Front tip of the spoon, it gets hard trying to navigate a spoon in its deepst part onto stamens, but when you do it towards the front tip its very easy to navigate it around stamens..
Click to expand...
Right on Kraken,
If it gets too spread out a second spoon helps square it up. Just have to be certain it's clean.

Seeing the tracks through the pollen is great isn't it? What's your success rate? I get around 75%
 
chad s said:
D3, the vials are an awesome idea. A couple of planned crosses for this year won't happen because I lost the plants. Last year's pollen would have solved that. Great website, and thanks for the spreadsheets!
Right on Kraken,
If it gets too spread out a second spoon helps square it up. Just have to be certain it's clean.

Seeing the tracks through the pollen is great isn't it? What's your success rate? I get around 75%
Click to expand...
 
I still had issues with the heat cooking my flowers however I just made a partial shade area that has increased my success rate substantially.. So now I'd be up with you on the success rate..  
 
Yup, that can screw things up. The crossing candidates are easy to work with and shade in 5 gallon buckets
 
Here's what I'll be using this season to follow up on my active crosses.. I have already populated the lists with peppers and plan on adding a photo section for each pepper and adding more detailed information as I start filling it..
 
I made it in Access..
 

Kraken Pepper Pheno Cross App...
 
I have a question:
 
If I cross two peppers now will I then get the new hybrid instantly or will I get a pepper that looks like the normal one which I then have to grow out the next season for it to become a new hybrid  
 
If you cross peppers and are successful the mother plant will produce a pod that looks like it's supposed to (mother plant is GENGIS KHAN you'll get a GENGIS KHAN pod.The seeds are the hybrids.When you grow these crossed seeds you'll have f1 GENGIS KHAN x (other pepper)
 
mpicante said:
If you cross peppers and are successful the mother plant will produce a pod that looks like it's supposed to (mother plant is GENGIS KHAN you'll get a GENGIS KHAN pod.The seeds are the hybrids.When you grow these crossed seeds you'll have f1 GENGIS KHAN x (other pepper)
Click to expand...
+1

Exactly right
 
Bomparty said:
Thanks I have wondered for quite some time.
 
Now I have some crossing to do :party:
Click to expand...
You're very welcome friend.I usually use a small make-up brush-want to give this method a try.
 
Grasp the back of the flower gently between the thumb and middle finger. Hold the spoon about a quarter inch below it. With your index finger give the back of the flower a couple light taps. Imagine tapping the ash of a cigarette. Just be careful to not rip the flower off. You will see the pollen immediately if it has any to give
Don't worry about the neighbor's, given the Chile obsession if we walked around the garden with 5 gallon buckets on our heads they probably wouldn't even notice anymore
 
chad s said:
Grasp the back of the flower gently between the thumb and middle finger. Hold the spoon about a quarter inch below it. With your index finger give the back of the flower a couple light taps. Imagine tapping the ash of a cigarette. Just be careful to not rip the flower off. You will see the pollen immediately if it has any to give
Don't worry about the neighbor's, given the Chile obsession if we walked around the garden with 5 gallon buckets on our heads they probably wouldn't even notice anymore
Click to expand...
 
To add.... Look into the flower and you will see flowers that have pollen covered anthers... Some flowers will develop pollen as the flower opens.. others will give you pollen almost as the flower looks like its dying.. Depends on the variety..
 
If you don't care about sacrificing a flower (like me) look for a pollen covered flower, gently cut it off, tip it onto the tip of the spoon and give it a tap or three... If you chose a ripe / dry flower you will get a good dusting of pollen from your hard work..
 
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