18jan96 1900Z <plntip2>
SUBJECT: Pollen-Processing Tip
 
To be read only by the hobbyist.
 
How do U "clean, strain or sort pollen " if U collect only a small
amount a year? "I hand sort it, one pellet at a time." Wow!
 
Answer: My sympathies w/ U. That's how I did it 17 years ago.
 
I engage in cleaning every step of the way starting when I empty the traps
daily or every other day, depending upon the flow.
 
Here R the details.
When the pollen drawer w/ its screened bottom is removed, it is shaken on
location to remove pollen dust. Larger debris is picked out by hand &
discarded then and there. (The larger amount of pollen in the tray, the
lesser
amount of debris and vice-versa!) If the collection is very small, it
tends be
very dirty (flower and bee body parts, wax and propolis bits, cell cappings,
and chewings, etc.). Best to discard rather than fool with it.
 
Pollen collection is dumped onto the lid of a five-pound plastic p-nut butter
container, about six-inches in diameter (it has raised sides) and blown over
to remove the light stuff. Missed large debris is picked out again and
discarded.
 
The lid is dumped into the p-btr container (more than one container is
on hand to receive the pollen of different degrees of contamination.
For example, a very clean batch gets its own container).
Am usually not carrying more than three such containers, but most
often two, seldom one only.
 
After the pollen is dried and frozen in the one-gallon plastic food bags
(the subject of my last Pollen Tip), the bags are set out on a table
covered with newspaper. Their exterior condensation dries off after a couple
of hours in a warm room.
 
Next, the contents of each bag is dumped separately into a wooden device made
out of 3/4" lumber: it measures about 15" square, with 3-inch sides and has
aluminum window screen bottom (15-mesh?). The device is shaken vigorously
side to side, outside over a picnic table: any obvious debris is picked out
again. The pollen is then dumped into a quart mason jar from the tipped
corner
of the shaker, while the pollen dust, resting on the newspapers on the picnic
table, is saved for personal consumption.
 
The "cleaned" pollen is stored in quart mason, or similar, jars until needed
to fill the one-pound bottles, holding 7 oz, to replenish the sales stand.
 
There is one last cleaning step. The dry pollen dumped a little bit at a time
onto a dinner plate (eight? inches in diameter) where any remaining
debris is
picked out with stainless steel tweezers--at this stage of the game, there
shud be very little detritus left. The surface of the plate is blown over
again to remove any remaining light stuff. The plate is dumped into a one-
gallon plastic bag (fits perfectly) and the bag itself is unloaded into the
larger holding jars which in turn are unloaded into the one-pound glass
queenline sales jars as necessary.
 
BTW, mouth-blowing may be replaced by a small fan strategically placed
between falling pollen and a large box embedded with a clean sheet,
below, to remove any light stuff.
 
I repeat: this is for an operation that collects less than 50#
a year and seldom over a pound a day.
 
Hope this helps. Bonne chance!
 
Jack the B-man Ellicott City MD usa - [log in to unmask]
 
PS For more details and pictures, see John Iannuzzi, "Pollen Trapping
for `Beeginners': Processing & Sales - For those who have thought about
collecting pollen but need pointers on management & methods, trap purchase,
processing & sales--here are the basics" (American Bee Journal, Part III, Sep
92, pp. 599-602).