BCSS - Forum

Mafate79 wrote:Hello all, I suppose that, whichever the solution, it must be considered as a "one shot" solution? One should not reuse a hair or a brush that has already been used to pollinate a flower to pollinate another one to avoid hybridizations?

I've always assumed that immersing and washing brushes in alcohol after use would kill pollen, but am I right? It's an argument for using "disposable" single hairs or eg cotton buds though.

It depends what you use I suppose. Maybe dip it in meths or alcohol perhaps to be sure but I just pull my handbrush bristles tightly through a wet paper towel which seems to do the job to reuse them without contamination. I doubt Terry uses his hairs twice.

Mafate79 wrote:Hello all, I suppose that, whichever the solution, it must be considered as a "one shot" solution? One should not reuse a hair or a brush that has already been used to pollinate a flower to pollinate another one to avoid hybridizations?

There is a great photo showing all the individual brushes kept beside the individual plants in a large seed raising greenhouse. But I can't for the life of me find it now.

Maybe also of interest to some of you, at least those that can receive the public Belgian television channels; an episode on Myriam Bruneel-Desender. Maybe some of you will know her. She is as far as I know particular fond of Melocactus. The show will air coming Thursday on VRT 1 / Canvas at 20:40 CET (19:40 UK time).

Will be in Dutch, but you can also just look at the pretty pictures...

Dutch invitation by Myriam:

"Van openbaar nut" is een TV-programma van Steven Van Herreweghe op VRT 1 op donderdagavond
om 20u40 juist na "thuis".

Ik kreeg zopas een telefoon dat ik uitgenodigd ben voor het programma in verband met mijn boek: "Cactussen en Vetplanten, mijn hobby". Ik was al vroeger verwittigd om mee te doen aan het programma. Ik moet volgende week donderdag dus op 15/2 om 20u40 aanwezig zijn Dit wordt een uitzending voor de cactusliefhebbers.

Gelieve de tekst zoveel mogelijk door te geven, het is van belang dat er heel veel mensen kijken naar het programma. Ook op facebook laten weten aub! Cactusliefhebbers helpen mekaar. Alvast bedankt voor de medewerking,

Myriam

Hi,
I have been catching up with all the news from our forum, having been absent from these pages for some time. I think Terry did a wonderful job advertising our hobby with his genuine enthusiasm for all the plants that he cultivates. I am privileged to have him as a fellow club member at North Surrey, a fountain of knowledge. It is very difficult to persuade the BBC to advertise any particular club or society for fear of upsetting somebody along the way. But, we also have the honour of another club member who has previously been on Gardener's World. Namely, our Chair Jean Ellis. It was many moons ago, when the program visited the Mace's garden, where Jean was filmed making a succulent bowl garden. Those of you who know Jean, will be aware of her dogmatic approach to things and on this occasion she insisted, before filming, that they must mention the Society or no shoot. She got her way.