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Post by lloyd on Feb 15, 2007 23:01:13 GMT -5
Maybe I'll buy a small amount of the high grade agar at Phytotech and see if it makes a difference. Thanks.
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Post by sdeering on Feb 15, 2007 23:07:54 GMT -5
I was just looking on there sight. Looks like 100g for about 50 for the cheepest. If you wanted to split some I could go halfers. One thing I may try is liquid culture. No gel needed. Stephen
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Post by lloyd on Feb 20, 2007 10:58:31 GMT -5
I just got an order from the chemical supply firm I mentioned in Quebec. It was for potassium citrate, about a third the price of Phytotech. Supposedly when you mix it with citric acid it reduces phenolic bleeding. Of course someone at Canada Post had to rip it open and check for drugs. Luckily only a bit was lost.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 20, 2007 16:36:58 GMT -5
Just put all my Rareexoticseeds into tissue culture. I'm dubious that I'll get anything but anyway it's pretty low maintenance sitting under the lights. Some of the seeds were so small I could hardly pick them up with my best forceps.
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Post by tom on Feb 20, 2007 17:33:01 GMT -5
For tiny seeds, as sundews and Pings, I get better result by trying with my scalpel tip as a spathula, or flame your scalpel util red-hot and cool it on the surface media. you should 'harvest' by the same time some melted agar which will help you to 'gather' some seeds, and place the whole thing onto your media.
You could also 'suspend' them into a water solution, but you would need a pipette or a very nice syringe to do this.
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Post by lloyd on Feb 20, 2007 18:05:29 GMT -5
I disinfected them in a 4% PPM solution so they were floating around. It would have been better to use a little loupe or pipette. Next time, I'll know better.
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Post by lloyd on May 22, 2007 11:57:43 GMT -5
Lots of supplies and equipment but not amazing results so far. S. purpurea are going crazy from seed. D. madagascarensis small but cute on the agar. The infamous "mixed sarr seeds" with mixed results, initial ? internal contamination with mould (now cleared) and some stunting. Darlingtonia seeds growing not too bad but slow. S. oreophila germinating well. Lots of other seeds sitting there, sadly, doing nothing.
My latest is my own mix with 1/2 MS with vit's., IAA, BAP, potassium citrate/citric acid, activated charcoal, agar, sucrose, pH 5.8, 0.1 PPM, distilled water. I put a ceph leaf in a few weeks ago and it has to sit in the dark. So far no growth but no contamination or phenolic bleeding either.
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Post by lloyd on Jun 6, 2007 8:43:31 GMT -5
I noticed in my S. purp and darlingtonia jars there is what looks like a monoculture of a green algae on the side of the glass. It doesn't show signs of taking everything over and doesn't seem pathogenic. It came after I transferred the seedlings which was done at different days. Could it be a growth of free plant cells released by tissue damage on handling? Or some internal commensural organism released in the same way? It hasn't shown up in the other 2 dozen or so jars so it seems related to these two species.
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Post by sdeering on Jun 6, 2007 13:08:08 GMT -5
It is most likely green mould.
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Post by lloyd on Jun 6, 2007 13:42:19 GMT -5
I had mould before. In my limited experience, mould grows on the surface of the agar and has a powdery, wrinkled pastel-green appearance and takes over everything. This is a bright chlorophyll green and it's between the agar and the glass and shows no sign of aggressive spread. Mould shouldn't have chlorophyll.
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Post by lloyd on Jun 15, 2007 21:46:52 GMT -5
Just put some VFT stalks in TC. Thanks Rug. Which cultivar were they again?
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Post by vraev on Jun 27, 2007 17:25:26 GMT -5
lloyd, hows the ceph TC coming along?
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Post by lloyd on Jun 27, 2007 17:28:00 GMT -5
I followed instructions and kept it in the dark for six weeks and the leaf looks dead. I'll try again soon when I get some more non-pitcher leaves. I'm at the bottom of a steep learning curve.
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Post by insectivore on Jun 27, 2007 22:02:12 GMT -5
Good Luck! Cya
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Post by lloyd on Jul 4, 2007 23:14:59 GMT -5
I was just looking in the TC bottles I gave up on and saw a very small Drosera derbyensis growing. It was from a batch of seeds from Triffid in England. I must have put it in TC 3 months ago. I'll post again as things develop.
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