The summer plantings grow, thrive, and some are always closer, others are struggling, in any case it is time to ripicchiettature, most boring part in the cultivation of orchids in vitro invevitabilmente needed me.
This time, just to add a little 'snip the activity, I gave some experimenting, and observing what happens in the flasks, I have some thoughts and considerations reported here. Experiments
1. I tried to replant in both
Repl both
Germination Medium Medium arrived a few days ago dall'Orchid Seed Bank Project. It will be interesting to compare the effectiveness of both products on the development of seedlings.
2. Some saplings have been planted on the substrate within jars for analysis for urine. These, being sterile, they should ensure freedom from contamination. In addition have the advantage of being plastic are much lighter and easier to handle. Only problem might be the plastic they are made of satin, which is slightly the risk of not passing enough light.
3. Three maps Phalenopsis 1 / 2 with good root development have been planted in the pot that I had prepared a few weeks ago with bark and moss. The substrate, half-wet with a solution of balanced fertilizer for orchids, was then passed in an autoclave. I also had a similar marker in the lid with a stopper for test tubes, trying to give the opportunity to trade gases with the outside. The hole was obviously filled with sterile gauze tablet which is also passed in an autoclave with the rest. Doing the transplant in sterile hood all the atmosphere and the plants should, in theory, still be free from contamination. Of course only time will make it or not because of the accuracy of the experiment that may fail to independent variables by the idea of \u200b\u200bgeneral fund. As always, we will not fail to post updates.
Considerezioni
1. The land Murashige & Skoog, it is clear, transparent and allows for consideration of possible variations placed on it. In particular, there have been many cultures in the darkening, sometimes quite pronounced surface of the medium, sometimes to a depth of several millimeters from the surface. In most cases this was done for the jars in which the greater was the mortality of protocormi from browning. So far it is understandable. The dying protocormi decompose releasing substances that are then absorbed by the substrate. In other cases, however, there was also the darkening around the substrate apparently healthy plants. It would appear that in their development and metabolic activity of the plants release waste products that are then absorbed by the substrate. It sounds normal, especially as other substrates such as Phytamax contain powdered activated carbon that has as its purpose the absorption of these substances. What is strange is that darkening occurred only in some cultures, not all. In particular, in flasks Phalaenopsis 1 / 4 that had such one of the best developments, there was no browning, and even protocormi who have not developed, although they dry out, they kept a light tan. This leads one to think that in reality the protocormi degeneration and the formation of waste products, possibly toxic, by those plants that survive instead is due to some special factors. One of these could be the lack of gas exchange of the plant, some choking, so to speak. Many of the jars, which was greater the pollution were small, and many of the plants that had a dark halo around all plants were in the previous ripicchiettaggi thinking I was stuck slightly into the substrate to give them greater stability. Effectiveness, in the cultivation of mature phalaenopsis is increasingly great importance to the fact that the roots should be well ventilated. I do not see why the same principle should not also apply to small plants in vitro and therefore should be supported only on a culture medium and not stuck in it. And this brings us to the next experiments, considerations.
2. In some of the pots where there was pollution or excessive mortality of protocormi, the thickness of the nutrient medium was considerable. Thinking it would be a sin throw them as they were, with all the hassle of preparation and sterilization, which had cost me, I decided to recycle them. To do this, I first removed with tweezers and the protocormi healthier plants by putting them aside, then with a spatula that I had brought into the sterile hood protocormi I removed all dead or dying and I scoured the substrate eliminating a good inch. I remove the grooves created in the gel "texturing", to use a word derived from the Anglo-Saxon, alas, increasingly in vogue among trendy gourmet. However, the purpose of this was the creation of slots in which to arrange the plants so they are able to maintain erected with a degree of stability but does not stick to the culture medium.
3. In reality, the deaths of protocormi and development of harmful substances from some plants may be due to excessive salinity and concentration of the nutrient medium, factors that orchids in general are quite sensitive. And this is a problem that I had already put in preparing flasks. The autoclave (pressure cooker) inevitably causes evaporation of the liquid substrate, because, to avoid the outbreak of the flasks is important to leave the caps slightly nuts. This of course, leads to increased levels of concentration in the soil. In fact, taking this into account, I always add a little 'more water recommended for the dilution of the medium, but the operation is still done by eye without a reliable and precise calculation.
It finally arrived. It 's true, with the latest arrivals from America I had promised myself to cut the compulsive shopping on the Internet. It 'also true that she had been taken in just one round of manic buying some time ago. The problem is that it took him a lifetime and a half to get from the "far" in London, nearly two days. 
