Wow...I am so jealous of all your stuff! If I had access to a lab like that.....oh my! I have a horticulture degree (agh! unfortunately have not been able to get a job in my field. Would have loved to be a lab person doing what you are doing with plants) and worked in a lab in college doing grunt work like autoclaving, mixing media, tissue culturing etc. I liked it.

Wow....the artic tundra! Well, good job! I can't offer help......but I do remember an experiment that a co-worker of mine did with orchids. He mixed up some regular agar media and put charcoal in it and then of course went through the sterilization process and then tissue cultured some orchids into the flasks. Then, he set the flasks gently on a shaker. I assume he did this to promote flow/circulation. You could try the same and see what it does for you. Now, he only put them on the shaker after they were well established. Who knows.....maybe it did not turn out for him. I don't remember. But I do know the charcoal agar worked well.

Good luck and don't sneeze in the hood!

Bluefirepegasus