What is the best method to store pollen for future use?

TIA

I store pollen in small plastic tubes.

I prefer that to vax paper as the pollen does not get smeared.

I'll bite seeing as I'll have a use for this info too.

Fridge or freezer?

How long would you say the pollen stays "alive".

Cheers
Stephan

Fridge
I don't know what the record is Stephan, but I'm pretty sure you can get over a year out of well stored pollen. Uri mentioned small plastic tubes for storage. We ran this thread a while back and someone else came up with pill capsules.

I thought that was a great idea compared to wax paper or tin foil, and have been using them ever since. My wife makes some herbal remedies, and always has those little capsules around. You can get them from some of the better health food or herbal stores.

I store in the fridge. The longest I have tried with success is 1.5 years. I have used capsules before. However, these zip-lock storage bags from U-Line are tremendous. They are inexpensive. They come in rolls of 100s. They have an area (as you can see) to write in pen on them. They are easy to store.
Hope this helps.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/Greenpaph/35596071.jpg

I would have thought storing pollen in a sealed tube, or zip lock type bag would have caused the pollen to go moldy. Comments?

Yes it happens every now and then, and more often when the pollen are harvested after a couple of weeks

I would have thought storing pollen in a sealed tube, or zip lock type bag would have caused the pollen to go moldy. Comments?

I have not lost one to mold in 3 years! With the capsules I lost a number of them to mold, because the humidity gets into the capsule.

I haven't done enough with the capsules yet to say yeah or ney. However I used to store in paper towels or wax paper, and they got so desicated after 3 months they were unusable.

I have not had the opportunity to store paph pollen but germination was still good when I store nepenthes seeds in the butter compartment after 6 months. How long can the paph pollen be stored in the fridge?