Shelf Life

[BikerDoc5968]

This question may have been asked and answered several times so please forgive me... If I harvest pollen from, let's say, a Paph or Catt or Phal, how long will it "keep" and under what conditions does one store pollen?

[Ray]

Kept dry and refrigerated, I have read that they are perfectly viable for at least 6 months, with only a slight decline over a year or more.

[Royal]

I've used Cattleya pollen approaching 6 months. Phal seed is notoriously short lived, but I don't know if this translates to Phal pollen. I don't breed Paphs so I can't help there.

I recently stopped refrigerating anything tropical and have not noticed any issues. I now store my seed and pollen on a cool, dark, dry shelf at room temp. The only items that I store cold are seed from temperate species.

[vmax3000]

Howard,
This guy might be able to answer your questions. His name is Aaron. He heads up the orchid seed bank project.

OSP