Flower Pollen
Pluck off the flower anther with a pair of forceps. Find a flower that’s just starting to open. Then, grab a clean pair of forceps or tweezers and find the anther on your flower—this is a fancy term for the rounded bulb attached to a thread on top of your flower. Pick off the all anthers from 1-2 flowers, so you have a really nice pollen sample. Always disinfect your tools with ethanol if you plan on switching to another plant. This way, you won’t contaminate your plants. The anthers are the part of the plant that produce pollen.
Fill a size 0 gelatin capsule halfway with anthers. Open up a small gelatin capsule. Using the forceps, transfer the anthers into the small capsules. Only fill up the capsules about halfway, so they aren’t overcrowded. You can find these online, or at your local pharmacy. Some pharmacies might require a prescription in order to pick them up. You can also use a clean, empty pill bottle if you don’t have gelatin capsules on hand.
Close and label the capsules with the date and flower name. Grab a string tag and write down the plant you harvested the plant from, as well as the day you harvested it. Attach the string to the closed capsule with epoxy, so you can remember how old the pollen is while it’s in storage. You can also write down the name and date on a strip of clear tape, which you can stick to the capsule.
Layer your capsules on top of desiccants and cotton pads in a jar. Fill the bottom of a clean, empty jar with a desiccant, like silica gel. To protect the capsules, place a few cotton pads on top of your desiccants. Then, arrange the capsules on top of the cotton. The desiccants will protect your pollen from any unwanted moisture.
Screw on the lid and let the pollen dry for several hours. Secure the lid on top of your pollen and place it in a room temperature area. With the desiccants, your pollen will be dried and ready to store within a few hours. If you aren’t in a rush, you can place your capsules in an open container and stick them in the refrigerator for 3 days. This will also dry out the pollen.
Freeze the pollen in a closed jar with a desiccant for a couple months. Fill a jar with a desiccant, which will keep the pollen fresh while it’s in storage. Place the capsules in this jar, and then seal the top of the lid tightly. Pollen does best when it’s stored at 0 °F (−18 °C). You’ll need an airtight jar with a really sturdy lid for this.
Store your pollen for 1-2 months. Your pollen will be good for at least 1-2 months in the freezer. When frozen at 0 °F (−18 °C), some pollen can last up to 3 years. You can thaw the pollen out in the oven at 300 °F (149 °C). Transfer the pollen to an oven-safe tray and stick it in the oven for a few hours—you want the pollen to stay dry while it warms up.
Cannabis Pollen
Slip on gloves and a protective mask. Cannabis pollen can be pretty messy, and you don’t want it sticking to your fingertips. As an extra precaution, slip on a face mask so you don’t breathe any of it in by mistake. Some people also wear goggles when handling cannabis pollen. It’s up to you, and whatever you’re comfortable with!
Shake your male cannabis plant over wax paper to remove the pollen sacs. Find a male cannabis plant in your garden—it’ll have less developed leaves than the female, and will have a lot of pollen sacs. Grab the top of your male plant and hold it over an open sheet of wax paper. Shake the plant a few times to loosen the pollen, so it lands on the paper. Cannabis plants are considered dioecious—this just means that the “male” plants create the pollen, which is then passed on to the flowers on the female plant.
Filter the pollen through a kitchen strainer to remove any small plant bits. Check the pollen after it’s gone through the strainer—all the other plant bits should be filtered out, leaving pure cannabis pollen. If you still see some plant pieces, pick them out with a pair of tweezers. Any type of strainer lying around your kitchen will work for this. Your main goal is to filter out the larger plant pieces from the rest of the pollen.
Dry out your pollen for 2 days on a sheet of parchment paper. Pour the filtered pollen onto a clean sheet of parchment paper. Spread it out with a paintbrush so the pollen is in a nice, thin layer. Give it around 2 days to dry before storing it. Location is important! Try to keep the room temperature between 65 and 75 °F (18 and 24 °C), and the humidity levels somewhere in between 30-60%.
Transfer the pollen to a bag. Set a clean, freezer-safe baggie directly next to your pollen. Prop up a funnel in the bag, and pour or funnel the pollen so it all lands in the bag. You can also use an airtight container.
Combine the pollen with all-purpose flour in a bag at a 4:1 ratio. Pour flour into your pollen bag—this will help your pollen stay nice and dry while it’s in the freezer. Add in the flour so it’s about a 4:1 ratio to the pollen. For instance, if you have 1 spoon’s worth of cannabis pollen, you’d add in 4 spoonfuls of all-purpose flour.
Store pollen in the freezer for at least 1 year. Seal and label your bag with the current date, and then slide it into your freezer. Cannabis pollen is pretty low-maintenance, and can stay fresh for at least 1 year. Thaw out the pollen at room temperature before you use it.
Bee Pollen
Attach a pollen trap to the front of your hive with thumbtacks. Pollen traps are large, rectangular devices that connect to the bottom of your bee hive. Secure the pollen trap in place with thumbtacks—this way, bees will be forced to climb through the trap, which scrapes off their pollen in the process.
Check that the pollen gate is facing down. Pollen traps have a plastic “grate” that can flip up or down along the front of the trap. Make sure that this grate is pulled down, so the bees are forced to climb through the openings. As the bees climb through the opening, their pollen will scrape off and fall into a pull-out tray long the bottom of the pollen trap.
Pull out the pollen tray after 1-2 hours. Give the bees a little bit of time to figure out the pollen trap, so they start climbing through the grate. After an hour or 2, pull out the pollen tray from the bottom of the trap, where all your pollen should be collected. Don’t leave the pollen gate down for more than a couple hours at a time. Make sure your bees can bring their hard-earned pollen back to the hive!
Label and refrigerate your bee pollen in a sealed jar for 1 year. Pour your collected pollen into a clean, opaque glass jar. Screw the lid on tight, and label the jar with the current date. Stick the jar in the refrigerator, and use it within a year or so! You can also store your pollen at room temperature, but it’ll only last for a few weeks.
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