Wondering if anyone else has tried this. I had to take my son to the dentist this morning but wanted to make a cross on a couple daylilies. I was in a hurry, plus the flowers pollen didn't look quite 'ready' (fluffy enough). The pollen thieves weren't out yet but would be soon. I remembered I had a used hairnet laying on my dresser so grabbed it and tossed it over the entire bloom (bloom hadn't quite finished opening all the way). Upon returning the bloom was open fully and still had all it's beautiful fluffy pollen intact. Cool, it worked. I've left it on all day now and still no 'raiders' have gotten to it. I work full time and my mornings are often rushed with no time to fuss with getting pollen and storing it in the house. The nets are very lightweight and a breeze like we have had today has not knocked it off. Maybe this could alleviate getting home from work and having ZERO pollen on any blooms (very disappointing for me). I have read in a couple of posts from fellow members about 'battling the pollen raiders' so thought this might be a solution for some of us that seem to have an abundance of pollen steelers around. Curious if anyone else has tried this and potential drawbacks if any have arisen.

Where did you find hair nets fine enough? I bought some and the mesh was too big.

I use them to cover Zinnia seedlings to protect them from slugs and snails. I buy the ones from saddlery/ridingwear shops as those are very fine mesh so that they can't be seen when dressage riders wear them. I would think that they sell something similar in the US and Canada for traditional riding style competitions.

The one I used this morning was one I had used at work when filling in for someone in the food department (I work in garden dept. of course), so will have to check to see which brand they are using. I did however purchase a pack of two from Wallmart today when we went to pick up my son's prescription there. They are brown instead of white, smaller, but went out and tested one on a bloom and I think those will work also as long as you pull it back in the center so it loosely covers the stamens. The pistil will stick through, no avoiding that, but will protect stamens from the dreaded bumbles and honeybees in my garden. I found them in the aisle where the hairbrushes and hair do dads are. I have been out there in the garden trying to do some dabbing and those darn bumbles will try and land and take it right out from under your hand. They start early too, just after sunup some days. Don't like the idea of having to swat at bees in competition. Hopefully the hairnets will help with that. I want to enjoy my new hobby and have fun experimenting. It's all thanks to everyone on this site for posting all those beautiful flower's and seedling blooms that inspire me and keep me motivated to keep trying. Thanks to all for that!

Good idea Nikki. I would think that you could also find something like that online also. You can find just about anything online these days.

Trina, that is an awesome idea! Like you, I work full time and many daylilies are not open when I leave for work in the morning.

We have disposable hair nets at work like the ones in the link below, which I think would be fine enough to keep pollinators from getting in. These are the 18" size, but they also come in 20" and 24". I will have to try this next year. My daylilies are done for this year.

https://www.uline.com/Product/...