4 replies to this topic

[loligo1964]

Here was a pleasant surprise from the back of the shelf: a B52 culture that began as a late-season flower stalk back in August of 2011. It was grown in a simple media without any plant growth regulators whatsoever; and I almost forgot about it until I was cleaning up this morning.

To give an idea of some of the advantages of tissue culture -- there is a second photo of a plant (about the size of a quarter), also produced from a flower talk (still visible in the shot), and of a similar age . . .


Dionaea muscipula cv. "B52" 15 February 2012

[mobile]

Very good results

There's no doubt that TC has its advantages, but I think that the sterile conditions required puts a lot of people off trying it. The diffiullty and expense in obtaining the medium, hormones, growth regulators, etc, etc is also a negative.

[loligo1964]

mobile, on 16 February 2012 - 07:57 AM, said:

Very good results

There's no doubt that TC has its advantages, but I think that the sterile conditions required puts a lot of people off trying it. The diffiullty and expense in obtaining the medium, hormones, growth regulators, etc, etc is also a negative.

Tissue culture is much like any other endeavor: you can spend about as much or as little as you would like upon it. I know of people who have had early successes with the process for about US 70.00 with sterile conditions maintained through the use of primitive glove boxes constructed from plastic storage tubs. My own earliest efforts were back in college and the laboratory costs were about US 15.00 -- also without the use of a laminar flow hood. Plant growth regulators are not always required; and they were not used in the example of the B52; nor are they generally used for seed germination. A bare-bones effort, much as I did at one time, could be broken down as follows:

Standard MS media, sufficient to make 10 liters of media (or two hundred 50 ml vials): US 6.00
Agar                                                                                 8.00
Sugar (1.8 kilos)                                                                2.50
Vinegar and baking soda (to adjust pH)                                2.50
Distilled water 1.00
Jars (1 dozen)                                                                  12.00
pH meter (admittedly cheapo)                                           20.00
bleach                                                                              1.50
tub (to make glove box)                                                   10.00
Spray bottle                                                                      2.00
Latex gloves                                                                     6.00

Sterilization of the media was achieved through the use of a microwave oven; and there are plenty of online instructions and resources available.

There are also online "clubs" that offer members discounted materials for an annual membership that are worth investigating, such as http://hometissueculture.org -- which also allows access to more "unusual" materials. Considering the prices some growers are willing to pay for single dime-sized plants -- straight from the vial -- a simple intro into TC is not that costly . . .

Edited by loligo1964, 16 February 2012 - 20:28 PM.

[sativ]

Difficulcity of TC is proclaimed mostly by the people who haven't tried it yet ;)

My first trial was made without any microbal growth inhibitors, on medium with wrong composition, wrong pH, very bad sterylisation techique, and in simple cleanbox from plastic box......... The most suprising thing is... that it was succesful ;)

Greetings
Witek

[loligo1964]

Here are a couple of shots -- about five weeks out -- from the "flasking" of a late January Dionaea flower stalk, clearly illustrating the "callus stage" of micro-propagation (TC), basically a wad of undifferentiated tissue, only now beginning to resemble leaves. The central dark mass in the first photo is the remnant of the stalk itself. This was another culture that I had all but ignored -- and only noticed recently . . .

Dionaea muscipula cv. "B52"  2 March 2012