I’m a pollen collector. l collect pollen from my garden, but when I go to shows I try to collect pollen from some of the best show blooms. I store in gel capsules and keep in the freezer. Typical storage is in pill cases stuck in with the ice maker. The cases typically will be removed maybe 20 different days during pollenating season. They go through dozens of freeze thaw cycles. For years I would keep pollen for 3-4 years. Never sure of
its viability. The last two years I would record not only the pollen but the year it was collected. Finally, I have some interesting data that others may find useful. In 2022 season I used pollen from 2019, 2020, 2021, and newly collected pollen from 2022. The 2019 pollen was from some 2P-P flowers that have since been lost. Otherwise, I would have thrown away the 3-year-old pollen.
Out of ~ 430 crosses
3 yr old 2019 – 25% or 3 out of 12 crosses took and made seeds. Show that some 3 yr pollen is viable
2 yr old 2020 – 25% or 14/54 crosses took and made seeds
1 yr old 2021 – 40% or 46/114 crosses took and made seeds
Same yr 2022 – 39% or 99/253 crosses took and made seeds
Looks like Pollen loses viability after 2 years but if it’s the only pollen you’ve got of an interesting parent it can be saved up to 3 years. I try to keep 2-6 varieties of different pollen for each Div/color combination. Like I’m short 2P-P pollen but have more than enough varieties of 1W-Y. The photo shown is my White perianth pollen box. I have a second for Yellow Perianths and on another for Div 4’s and 11’s. What do others do with their pollen?