That's novel--but I doubt it works the way you think.

That's so funny.... both of ya!

If I may, Della, your OCD must go crazy with your Spring Pink, if it has multiple stigma lobes, too.
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On rare occasions, I will mix pollen. But I try to use pollens where the results would be (hopefully) discernible to determine likely parentage. Ruth and Hugh Cocker used mixed pollen extensively in their crosses.
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I've also mixed pollen in attempt to get fertilization of a suitor that would be unlikely to work. Can't say it has ever worked, though. I have some seedlings coming, but I'm not holding my breath.

When I did this, rather than mixing the pollen first and then applying the combination, I first dabbed with one anther, then the other. In hind site, I wonder if I should have used the former method. It would seem more probable that the compatible pollen and the not-so-compatible pollen would work together better because each would be more distributed among the other. Yes?

Yes, and maybe, assuming one would act as a mentor, then you would want that one to act immediately. I always mix my pollen first with stubborn unknowns--once I've established first that they are, in fact, stubborn. A case in point is a nice, quite non complex seedling I have with all the good qualities except the flowers are a rather anemic, somewhat transparent orange. Last summer I pollenated five flowers with five different pollens and got nothing but chaff. This next summer, I'll do five more, but each of those will contain a repeat of two separate known constants used last year with 4 different other pollens each mixed in. Hopefully, I'll get one or two in the mix to act as a mentor. And, if that doesn't work, I'll more than likely cull it.

I have an interesting tidbit from some of my discussions with the great breeder Johan Mak. He believes that when doing an wide interspecific cross that the offspring will express about 70 percent or more of the pod parents genes.

I'd be interested in what directions the 30% from the pollen parent express themselves.

Very good question!

Roosterlorn said:That's novel--but I doubt it works the way you think.

What!? Pollen tubes no go straight down their very own sectors of style and into their very own nice ovary compartment?

Drat.

I really let loose this morning and used 5... FIVE! pollens mixed together and dabbed all over. The mismatched numbers gave me some consternation, but I did it. But then, 5 is the next odd number after three... so that gives me some comfort. And while 6 could accommodate three neatly in sets of pairs... I've never really liked the number 6 unless it is composed of two sets of three, as in sepals and petals, rather than three sets of two... as in.... ugh, caterpillar boots. For caterpillar feet. On caterpillar legs. But butterflies are ok. Quite lovely really.

Oh dear... Spring Pink really bothers me with four parts, but five is good. I'd grow it just to look at five-part green ovaries, if I continue to grow it all, because the rest of the plant is rather drear.

Time for my medication.

Yes Della, determinately time for your meds....

A most excellent essay of OCD drivel, Della!

Ya know, Pard, she would be a stellar participant in another episode of Sherleft Holmes.....

Oh yeah! Hmmmm..... (tapping foot)

Sherleft Holmes?

Yes? (He says, answering to his name.)

Back on Dave's old site (davesgarden. com), we went a little whacko (to put it mildly).

We manufactured an impromptu story that kinda just grew out of unusual circumstances, and involved an animated Lilium speciosum var. gloriosoides. I was Sherleft Holmes, raydio was Watson, Pard was the evil villain. wallaby1 is JRBugs here on ATP. I suppose if you really wanted to waste 3+ hours of your life reading and trying to make sense out of our crazily twisted pros, you could. It's really not going to make much sense unless you were there, I don't think. There would be constant references to previous posts, so I don't think you could start anywhere in the middle of the thread. It will suffice to say that we (especially me, I venture) had great fun.

Oh! Bravo! I've a classified portfolio of role-playing escapades. Never had so much fun. But I musn't incriminate myself now.

Wow Della! The sexy gardener slips through her lilies...... Lol

I was beginning to worry about you, Della. Seems like you were missing a day or so here and I feared you had tripped into a wormhole or somesuch... Well, now you know the "real" crew here .

woaahhhh. ohhh.. haha. Frequently lost in a multiplicity of nefarious identities! Still haven't found the one Joe mentions! I'll keep looking.

dellac said:
The mismatched numbers gave me some consternation, but I did it. But then, 5 is the next odd number after three... so that gives me some comfort. And while 6 could accommodate three neatly in sets of pairs... I've never really liked the number 6 unless it is composed of two sets of three, as in sepals and petals, rather than three sets of two... as in.... ugh, caterpillar boots. For caterpillar feet. On caterpillar legs. But butterflies are ok. Quite lovely really.

Time for my medication.

Oh dearest, della ~ please don't take your medication ever again.

I found something of interest on the daylily forum, about collecting, freezing and using Hemerocallis pollen:

EdBurton said:I pick anther, and take it pollen side to cotton in tube, I brush off as much pollen as I can get.
Usually it takes all 6 anthers to saturate the top layer of the cotton.
I have been successful using 4 year old pollen stored this way.

If I am using fresh pollen for the day, I keep the anthers after brushing off pollen to freeze as there is always some that doesn't rub off to the cotton.

The tubes are easy to use in the yard.
Select pollen to use for the day, remove from freezer, let sit for 10 - 15 minutes, take tubes out to garden and use on whatever is desired, then throw back in freezer.

Eventually the fluid from the stigma over time will make pollen in tube useless, but that is after making dozens of
attempts setting pods.
You will be able to maximize pollen as you get familiar using the pollen from tubes.

This is a picture of the centrifuge tubes stuffed with pollen, tubes are 1.5 mil, cheapest I could find on the web.
I take a piece of masking tape and wrap it around tube, I will write down the ID of pollen plant on tape.

From those with experience, could it be possible that lily pollen would still be viable after multiple freezings and thawings? I just assumed it would rapidly spoil after one defrosting, but that's based on chicken legs rather than any experience or knowledge of pollen viability.

EdBurton also related experience having success posting pollen during winter, while summer temperatures destroyed viability. Seems transferable to lily pollen too, for those that try. If frozen pollen can be sent during winter then refrozen by the recipient until summer, then makes swapping a more successful option for hybridists. Wanting to swap pollen between northern and southern hemispheres though, still has temperature drawbacks either way.

Which month has lowest temperatures in common for both Aust and North America?

I might be a bit slow - I just tried sending fresh pollen. Shipping frozen pollen has probably already been the norm for ages!

Della, I freeze pollen all the time---well, almost. It's necessary when you want to cross a late bloomer to an early one, which happens quite a bit around here. I save pollen for about 4 or 5 years then generally replace with new or something else as need be. I have used 4 year old pollen successfully and I suspect it might last longer, even. My freezer is NOT a frost free type and that might have a positive bearing, however. Using normal pollen preparation for drying, I store it in 12 ml glass test tubes topped with cotton in a common test tube rack and then kept frozen a around 0'F. When I select a pollen to be used, I remove a couple anthers and allow them to come to room temperature for an hour or so. I always work quickly when retrieving the test tube and placing it back in the freezer as moisture will condense very fast both inside and outside the tube--in other words, I never take a tube of pollen out to the garden and then return it to the freezer. That way the remaining pollen stays frozen as well. I have a couple pictures I'll edit in later.

Pollen can be shipped from one continent to another and from one hemisphere to another, almost anywhere successfully. About a fifteen day shipping time seems to be no problem as long as the samples are properly dried. The most common time to ship is right after harvest.

Photo added

dellac said:From those with experience, could it be possible that lily pollen would still be viable after multiple freezings and thawings? I just assumed it would rapidly spoil after one defrosting, but that's based on chicken legs rather than any experience or knowledge of pollen viability.

This might be one of those repeated mantras from respected lily hybridizers, at least it is for me. I haven't seen any actual evidence to support the claim, and perhaps only in the interest of conversation brevity, I've never heard said people recount example(s) supporting the theory. But keep in mind that Lilium and Hemerocallis are both in the same family (Liliaceae). Sorry, not real experience to report.

Not sure if chicken wings have meaning here, but they (and pollen) are both very high in proteins.

dellac said:Which month has lowest temperatures in common for both Aust and North America?

In Minnesota, our coldest week is traditionally the first or second week of January, but our coldest months are usually January and February.