Male Isolation Chamber

[SeaF0ur]

For this chamber I've chosen a watertight tote with a neoprene gasket.

I've used a standard HVAC filter rated for pollen that I flattened then doubled up.

I chose a real aluminum foil ducting tape to do the sealing around the edges.

I chose a pot to permanently live inside this chamber, which I cut down a bit except on one side to hold the watering tube.

you can see the water tube coming from outside the chamber.

I put filters on both the intake and the exhaust, sealed up tight.

I chose a switch. Fans are wired in parallel, not in series if multiples are used. the amperage must exceed the draw...
example, 1x 12v 200ma fan could be run off a 12v ac adapter of 200ma or higher.
2x 12v 200ma fans would require a 12v ac adapter of 400ma or higher.

Here's some shots from a successful pollen harvest... the chamber was in the sidelight and shadows of the girls...

Not a huge chamber, and it does not get full light like a female would, but I get plenty enough pollen for my needs.

Sea

 

[Tobor the 8th Man]

That is a great pollen chamber. It was probably more fun than watching tv too. That is enough pollen to make a lot of seeds. Much more than most people would guess.

You get extra credit for the sweet pollen jar.

 

[bigjay420]

I'm gonna get everything to make this before Thanksgiving. This was a GREAT post. Thanks!

 

[Billyboat]

Love it! Guess it's time for me to try some breeding!

 

[Medusa]

Now thats a nice stud you have there ..what was he? And 5 stars for the ingenuity on the male chamber ...using your head ...welcome to the farm M

 

[JamesWatt]

cool idea dude!

 

[SeaF0ur]

He's FloScout... a Flo male hit a GSC Forum cut... he was the one I kept... He's been used on Durban Poison, Orgnkds Banana OG, GSC Forum cut, Gorilla Glue 4, G13 x Pineapple Express, Fuckin Incredible and Goblin Girl so far... I ain't got to half yet, but have local growmies with more space than I helping out a bit... perks of a legal state. The Banana OG cross came out especially frosty... taking the Banana Cookies to F2 already...

 

[SeaF0ur]

I'm actually looking at seeds to pop right now... lookin at Glue Bubble, Phantom cookies x Phantom, Phantom x Hashplant, Pre98 Bubba x Bubba F2, Grape Plague, and the Floscout x GSC Forum cut... decisions decisions

 

[happy b]

Superb idea for an isolation chamber.i,v been trying to come up with ideas for one but the idea of actually keeping it under the same light as the females didnt even occur to me.i was thinking a seperate box with a seperate light in a different room just to be safe.does it keep the pollen isolated from your females completeley or hav a few grains ever managed to escape past the pollen filter?really well done.thanks for the great idea buddy.

 

[hyzerflip]

Fantastic idea, been working on a similar build myself. I was worried I wouldn't get a clean seal but cutting a hole and taping a filter to it so I had another idea for it; What if you used small 1/4" bulkheads instead, one for intake and one for exhaust? You could hook a small air pump (the type you'd aerate a rez with) up to the 'intake' and easily attach a filter to the 'exhaust' side.

Think something like that would work?

 

[SeaF0ur]

Superb idea for an isolation chamber.i,v been trying to come up with ideas for one but the idea of actually keeping it under the same light as the females didnt even occur to me.i was thinking a seperate box with a seperate light in a different room just to be safe.does it keep the pollen isolated from your females completeley or hav a few grains ever managed to escape past the pollen filter?really well done.thanks for the great idea buddy.

If so, its so few that I hadn't noticed... I do also pollinate in the same room as well. I place pollen in the corner of a plastic bag, fold that corner over a couple times, bag a branch, tie it around the stem, unfurl the pollen corner, and shake it like Michael J Fox... the particle size of pollen is quite large... One filter would probably be sufficient... I'm sure none escapes a doubled up filter. When I do find a singular random seed somewhere, I chalk it up to sloppiness while pollinating as it's always nearby a branch that I've done.

Fantastic idea, been working on a similar build myself. I was worried I wouldn't get a clean seal but cutting a hole and taping a filter to it so I had another idea for it; What if you used small 1/4" bulkheads instead, one for intake and one for exhaust? You could hook a small air pump (the type you'd aerate a rez with) up to the 'intake' and easily attach a filter to the 'exhaust' side.

Think something like that would work?

I do not think that'd work.. I kept it simple as I could. The rigidity of the metal foil tape makes it quite easy to work... plus I used the PC fan grates to hold things together even better with small washers and bolts that go through the filter layers as well as the foil tape. I'm just not sure about the volume of air movement from an air pump... not enough air movement and moisture and PM could potentially build up inside what may act as a humidity dome... and moisture is not good for pollen....

 

[happy b]

Even if the few random seeds you found did somehow escape the chamber its so few as makes no difference.i dont think a better diy isolation chamber could be made.i would gladly pay cash for one of those.could you put up a wee list of the exact materials used to make it easier to understand what was used(im not the most technicaly minded person).do you think it would be possible to scale it up to hold multiple males?thanks seafour.

 

[SeaF0ur]

Well, I used a watertight tote I found at the "container store"
A 120mm axial PC case fan and fan grills from a local PC shop
A 12v ?lets say 500Ma A/C Adapter I got off the wall at goodwill...
again, you match voltage and either match or exceed amperage required.
Metal foil tape I had from duct work.
A standard HVAC air handler filter rated for pollen (pollen particles are big... not a tall order)
A larger diameter pot I cut down shorter with a hole to hold the watering tube
And that aforementioned watering tube
Hot glue was used around the watering tube and any other holes such as the electrical lines.

The wires extend from the box a short distance and are wire-nutted to the clipped wires from the A/C Adapter. One of which I marked negative with a black marker... otherwise I tie a knot in one wire... Knot = Negative. Tie negatives both box and adapter if you must.
This allows me to unplug the unit, then remove wire nuts, which cuts the strings, and allows me to remove the entire box from the grow area before I actually open it.
If your wires are backwards, you fan will generally either not spin, or spin backwards
Most fan's pull is greater than their push which is why halfway through the build, you can see I moved the fan from inside pushing air out of the box to outside and pulling air out of the box. You might not think much of it, but it made a difference.

Oh, and you'd want to isolate males from each other or pollen will criss cross and instead of a cross, you'll have a gangbang.

 

[happy b]

Yeah all the fans i own are far more efficient at pulling air than pushing it.cheers buddy.you should post pics of some of your crosses on the pollen chuckers thread.

 

[SeaF0ur]

Sour Bubble finished up, I'm undecided... believe I may run my Blue Moon Rocks male next... I certainly like what I've seen from BOG thus far.... My collection...

That's how I do it...
Picking crap out of pollen is equally as unpleasant as trimming in my opinion...
Although I'm OCD about getting every petal out.

 

[hyzerflip]

Great work, seaf0ur!

I figure this is as good a place to ask as any - What's the best way to store pollen, and how long is it viable for? I'd really like to get my pollen chucking on again, but I've always used fresh pollen and disposed of the excess. Having a way to safely store pollen could really open up some interesting options for me...

 

[MrBelvedere]

Such a killer design bro, have you figured out a way to let it auto drip slowly with a water pump or something?. I've been trying to think of a way to do it so that it would be less hassle...

 

[SoiledMyself]

Cheers got me mind flowin :)

 

[caveman4.20]

Incredithread!!! Great idea, so I read through everything and wondered if it's possible to incorporate water like a swamp cooler for the filter , maybe the water will kill some unwanted pollen that gets through....just thinking outloud, Danks again for sharing

 

[SeaF0ur]

Hadn't had issue with pollen escaping... its particle size is quite large. As far as watering, I use an oversized pot that holds moisture a bit longer, plus since I do not need maximum density I can allow the leaves to slightly droop before watering although I dont let em get all limp if I can help it... good males are pretty forgiving... if it herms out it shouldn't be used... males should be heavily stress tested anyways.