POLLEN

Pollen

Products tried and proven through 33 years of use by satisfied orchardists. At Kiwi Pollen we pride ourselves in producing high quality pollen with high viability. All our pollen is tested by our trained Quality Manager. Pollen is sampled and grown in a sugar solution in a water bath to measure its germinability. Every batch of samples is run with a control sample to ensure the testing is robust.

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Sourcing our Pollen

We have perfected the procedure for collecting male kiwifruit flowers and extracting the pollen. We only collect flowers from high performance male vines grown in well-maintained orchards with good vine nutrition. Quality pollen germinates with strong pollen tubes and has good seed setting performance.
Pollen purity is assured because our staff collect flowers just before they open, minimising the chance of contamination by wind and insects.

A male variety may pollinate a female variety of equal or lower ploidy.  We provide a quality tested mix of Hayward type pollen, containing Chieftain, M36 and M42 (hexaploid 6x).

Quality Assurance

Freshly harvested pollen is dried to low moisture content and then frozen for maximum storage life. Our quality assurance procedures during storage involve:

  • Regular testing of pollen samples to ensure the high viability of our pollen is maintained. This is done by testing pollen tube growth in sugar solutions.
  • Monitoring storage temperatures to maintain pollen at less than -12°C temperatures.
  • Final testing for pollen germination before shipping around New Zealand by fast courier using polystyrene chilly bins with glycol cold packs to maintain consistent low temperatures.

Advice for Pollen Storage

Helpful tips for Optimal Storage of Pollen

Advice for Pollen Storage

for Orchard Use;

1. On delivery of your pollen order, unpack the product:
2. Store at -12°C , the temperature of a domestic freezer
3. Store in an air-tight food grade plastic container
4. Low humidity is preferable

At pollination time:

1. Thaw pollen slowly overnight in a domestic refrigerator (4-6°C) for a maximum of 24 hours
2. Let temperature rise to between 10°C and 20°C one hour before use.
3. Do not thaw pollen in direct sunlight

For further Technical Information contact us.

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