pollen storage

[peteMc]

got a question about pollenia; do you store it in anything special besides the fridge? i have another spike developing on the platyceras, will harvest again and would like to store it for one of the tigrinas when it blooms.

i've got some glassine to wrap it in (a pH neutral/moisture and acid resistent museum print storage paper) should it also be ziplocked? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated...

thanks in advance
peteMc

[Jmoney]

I use glassine to store them, and stick them in the fridge in a small box with one of those silicone packets you find everywhere. I can't recall ever using pollen I've stored, so I don't know much about viability.

[Sue]

I put my little packets into a business card organizer thingy, in the fridge.

Claims about viability differ radically, from 3 months to 2 years. I'd suspect that with Stanhopea, since the flowers are so ephemeral, you might anticipate a shorter shelf life.

[peteMc]

thank you both. i'll store it and see what happens, it's not as if a single pollenia will cramp my fridge

peteMc