# Pollen grains



## Moeuk (Feb 4, 2008)

I have put together a few shots of pollen grains and their sizes.
Hope you enjoy them.



























that's the first three.

Moeuk


----------



## Moeuk (Feb 4, 2008)

*Another 4*





































That's it for now, as the season carries on and different plants come into flower I will be making up more slides of pollen grains.
Hope you enjoyed them/

Moeuk


----------



## denny (Aug 2, 2006)

Moeuk,...nice photos! Thanks for posting them.

What kind of microscope and at what power do you use to get those Photos?


----------



## Moeuk (Feb 4, 2008)

Hi denny,
With these photographs I have used two different camera's for different pollen grains.
The microscope used is a compound microscope using a magnification of X400. 
the NK, Urens & Willow were taken using a digital microscopy camera of 5mp. used in place of an eye piece.
The others were taken through an eye piece using a digital camera with X2 magnification.
Then depending on what photo programme you use is where the 'tweeking' of photos takes place. I normally place the photo into Power Point presentation and add any written or diagrammatical text. Then save it as a Jpeg file in my Photos.

Hope this is of some help.

Best regards;
Moeuk.


----------



## denny (Aug 2, 2006)

Moeuk,

Thanks for the details. It's very interesting to see the distinct variations in form & color of the various pollens.

Is it possible to get good viewing results with samples of pollen taken from the bees (pellets), or do you have to actually shake pollen off the actual plant or tree to have them be identifiable ?

I'm curious , because I've thought of getting a compound microscope to be able to tell just which plants the bees are gathering their pollen from,...and also my wife would like to use it for viewing mushroom spores for identification. She's a great lover of wild mushrooms.


----------



## Moeuk (Feb 4, 2008)

*can do*

Hi denny,


> Is it possible to get good viewing results with samples of pollen taken from the bees (pellets), or do you have to actually shake pollen off the actual plant or tree to have them be identifiable ?


Pollen can be taken from the pellets the bees bring back to the hive, and also direct from the plant. Either way as long as its the same pollen, for example pollen from a 'dandelion' and you know the bees have been on dandelions then they will both be the same.
Many beekeepers with microscopes use pollen identification as shown in the pictures. Once you have produced the slide you would then compare it with the information about the pollen grains from a book of reference.
A good book from the States' is _Pollen & Spores second edition by Ronald O. Kapp's_ this book tells you how to make up pollen slides for use with a microscope, and covers nearly all types of pollen in the USA.

By the way I bought my microscope from USA as they are half the price that I would need to pay over hear.
It will be a good investment as then you can also check for bee diseases such as AFB EFB Nosema & Acarine, using a compound microscope.
Good luck whatever you decide.

Moeuk.


----------



## denny (Aug 2, 2006)

Many thanks for your detailed answers, Moeuk! 

Yes, you're right, it would be good to use as well for detecting diseases. You may have seen Randy Oliver's article on the "Nosema Twins",...here's a page from his website with details about using the microscope for detection...

http://www.scientificbeekeeping.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=49

Thanks again ,...now I'm going to look into getting a compound microscrope, and Kapp's pollen book you recommend, as well.


----------

