Krista I have these worms that infest the buds, so I bag as soon as the branch appears that will terminate in a bloom. This keeps the moths or beetles from laying eggs in the bud.
Wayne Holland's describing hand pollination
My method:
I collect, then disseminate or store, as much pollen as possible, usually not picking the bloom. My experience with pollen and stigmas tells me that as the stigmas emerge the pollen matures to cover the stigmas. As days go on, the self pollen keeps coming as the stigmas opens up and mature. I typically collect pollen for several days on a given bud. As soon as the stigma no longer contains it's own pollen, that's my signal to move external pollen onto the stigmas.
I mark the stem of the receiving flower with some initials/name/code name that lets me know what pollen the flower was pollinated with. Time will tell if this is a system that will work. When I pick mature buds that contain seeds, I'll record the seed parent and pollen parent(s).
