I thought the lock and key was just an analogy. The key is to get the pollinium in the grove and up to the stigima.
How have you removed the pollinia? with a fiber?

With a cat's whisker. From my understanding, I thought that the pollinarium fit only one way into the stigmatic lock, which is where the lock and key analogy came from. I could be wrong. Little information is available, so it is hard for me to fully comprehend.

Aha! Found where the key is. Just looked online and found a huernia pollinarium key, put my pollinarium sample under my microscope, compared them, and found the key on mine. If anyone is interested, I have provided a link.

Here is a link that might be useful: link to flower parts

Pretty interesting. Keep us updated please.

Are you also planning on germinating and growing out any seeds that result?

I ask, cause I'm running a little experiment nowadays, keeping track of seed viability vs. time till planting. Only have 3 pods so far, but come next spring when they start pollinating again, I'll do a better job of capturing the seeds.

Renee

Sure am! I'd be happy to send along any extra seeds to you, if I get any! I am hoping that treubiana and kerrii bloom at the same time this year so I can try crossing them, as well as my mindorensis rainbow-have most of the colors and want to see if I can make more, lol. Also interested in seeing if I can cross some of my acanthostemma section hoya (sigillatis and tsangii, or sigillatis and leytensis...or whatever is blooming!)with each other. I have the pantyhose and twisty ties ready!

lol

yes it's fun watching the pods develop, and then the seedlings.

I've often wondered on how sensitive various different species are concerning germination rates and how old the seeds are, so that is why I started playing around.

To keep the number of seedlings down, I'm only planting 10 seeds from each pod.

Interesting, on my first limoniaca pod, 7 seeds germinated, the seeds were planted the same day it opened.

On the second limoniaca pod, 1 seed germinated, the seeds were 3 - 5 days old.

Too small of testing to determine anything, but I think over time, I'm hoping to find trends, although I'm never positive on which one the pollen parent is, so that is another variable.

I think even selfing a mindorensis might give you color variations as well. It would be something that would be interesting to test. Maybe I'll follow your directions and self my bigger mindorensis :) I've not gotten a pod on that one yet.

Good luck!

Renee

I think selfing mindorensis would produce many a color, as the plant itself has so many natural varieties.
I have always heard that seeds should be planted within 3-5 days of release, as they lose viability rapidly. Seems it would hold true, because in the wild, the seed pod splits open, and the seeds are taken by the wind (or if no wind, they just float to the ground) and within a few hours/days, they land and germinate. I wonder if the humidity of the jungle helps with germination while the seeds are still afloat. Perhaps they get that small amount of liquid, which weighs them down a bit, and then they fall to the ground and produce a baby plant.
There is so much we still have to learn about hoya species, pollination, types, sections, we are even still having trouble just agreeing on what is what and who owns which names and whether those names are valid. It can all be such an overwhelming hobby! But I love it!

Oh, I found out more info from looking at STEMMA journals. I finally figured out where to place the pollina! If you go to the website I linked, and click on STEMMA Volume 2, Issue 3, on page 15, it shows a hoya flower and all the parts. You want to insert the pollina key into the anther margins GENTLY and as far into the anther margins as you can, without hurting the flower. You know that black dot that shows where the pollina is? Keep that part of the pollina facing up when you insert it into the anther margins of the flower you are pollinating. It keeps the pollina key in alignment with the staminal lock. Apparently, really thin curved pieces of wire are excellent for applying pollina. Since the anther margins extend all the way from right behind the pollina of the flower and all the way to the external part of the corona, a curved wire with the pollina placed near the tip of the part of the wire you are inserting into the anther margins, makes it easy to just 'loop' the curved part through the entire anther margin, depositing the pollina into the staminal lock. Ugh, this is so hard to describe in words. I am so sorry if I made things even more confusing.

Here is a link that might be useful: STEMMA

Well, I wish the best of luck to you with your pollinating. I'm not sure I'm going to go that route, I get enough that get pollinated by nature.

Yes, definitely keep us updated, this is kind of exciting.

Renee