Just thought I would start a thread here for anyone to post their favorite videos or tips on the hand crossing technique, for anyone who is starting out and making their first crosses.
There are dozens of videos that show the process of choosing a flower to emasculate, and quite a few different ways of doing it. This video is I think my personal favorite, closest to the way I do it myself, except that I use my fingernails instead of tweezers to clip the sepals and petals, then remove a strip of the anther cone first so the rest of it can be pulled away from the exposed stigma.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPOXEDS9yIoI've tried using tweezers but it seemed like I was inflicting more trauma on the bud than when I just use my handy sharp nails. There are some different and very cool techniques out there in the videos, more dexterous than I will likely try to be (but I can admire it!).
Something I learned from experienced breeders is that the stigma is usually not fully mature on the day you emasculate the flower. So although I apply pollen immediately, I also repeat that for two more days. When the stigma is mature and receptive it forms more of a knob on the end and becomes sticky, and you can see that it clears a line as you drag it through the pollen. Then you know you got it pollinated when it was ready.
Another tip which iirc came from Tom Wagner, is to collect pollen from several donor flowers. This way you have pollen at different stages of maturity in the mix, and increases the chance of getting the right stuff to your mature stigma. Personally I use one container for each variety pollen, and continue to collect fresh into that for my three day process, from multiple donor flowers on the plant. I have some small containers with shallow lids, so I turn them upsidedown, use the lid to collect and dispense pollen (which is shallow enough to dip your stigma into), and use the container bottom as the 'lid' to keep it closed in the cool basement where it waits for next day action.
Please share your favorite resources and tips, and tell us your personal favorite techniques.