Homemade medium?

[orchid-man]

here's a link you may find useful

http://members.iinet.net.au/~barryg/Orchid_Seed.htm

1 or two of the oncids are quick but when mixed with other genera they become a minimum of 12 months for green seed and some actually never reach a stage of ripe(pod spliting)

[Korxi]

Great link! Thank you very much

[Tindomul1of9]

Tried using the homemade medium today.
I used a blender to chop the potatoes cuase I have no grater. Worked well. The smell of cooking potato and its skin is interesting. I ended up burning alot of the stuff at the bottom of the pot.
Also, either I didn't boil it enough, or 5 grams of Agar just isn't enough. Tomorrow I will attempt to boil off any extra water and add 5 more grams of agar unless someone thinks its a bad idea.

In anycase, here is some of what I did:
I cooked the potato and banana and honey water till it was boiling, then added the agar, then boiled it again. Finally I filled jars and sterilzed the stuff in an autoclave. But then I found out that the stuff wasnt hardening even in the fridge. So, tomorrow I will boil some more water off and add some more agar.

[Korxi]

Sounds great, except for the burning in the bottom and agar part

What I think you should do:

Turn down the heat when you are boiling, and stir the mix at all times (scraping the bottom) to avoid burning.. I don't know how burning it affects the medium but it might have a negative effect.

Regarding the agar two things:
From your description it seems that you forgot to boil the potato mash in only half of the water to start with (?) - Just to recap the recp: Boil the potatoes in half of the water for 5 mins (5 mins when boiling that is) !!and do remember to stir here!!. After these 5 mins you put in the honey water - bring to a boil again, and then add the agar.
In this way more of the water evaporates I guess, you could try or:

Simply add more agar - if it doesn't harden at all maybe twice the amount, if it's just soft jelly maybe you should use 6-7 grams instead.

Nice pics by the way!

Looking forward to your results,

Christian

[Tindomul1of9]

Oh I didnt forget, I did boil in half the water for 5 mins (more actually) at a very low flame.
By the way, the pH came out to around 6ish without adding any acid.
Also, I found out that you usually add 15 grams of agar per 1000mL of anything to make it solid. So I really think 5 grams is not enough.
In anycase, all the burnt stuff stayed stuck to the bottom of the pot and then the glass beaker(when I redid it). SO hopefully it will all be ok

[Korxi]

Sounds good, if all other recipes say 15 grams of agar I think you should just use that instead of 5.. Could you measure how much citric acid you use to get pH to the 5,5? I don't have a pH-meter and don't know how I can measure it precisely without

Christian

[Tindomul1of9]

THats just it, I never used citric acid.
As far as adding it, you really need some kind of indicator that will tell you when you reached the appropriate pH.
You add the acid drop by drop till you reached the appropriate pH.
Perhaps your local pet fish store will sell you a pH indicator kit. Or if you want to invest more money go to a biological supply company, the people who often supply universities. THey often have websites so Im sure you can find someone. I think VWR is international.

[Piper]

Litmus paper is cheap and is a reliable indicator.

McJulie

[Tindomul1of9]

Ok, I sewed the seeds,
I used Aarons method:
First I got some bottles with metal lids, poked a hole in each lid. Filled it with Silicone so that when I punture it with the syringe (that will be filled with seeds) the hole will close itself.
I sterilized the seeds using a drop of non anti-bacti soap, water and some sugar, left it over night. Sucked up any extra water, gave the seeds a bath in 3% Hydrogen Peroxide for 10 Mins, washed them with sterile water.


Then I made the media.
Then I sucked the seeds into a sterile syringe, and put them into the sterilized bottles through the silicone filled hole.
Now, lets hope no bad air was introduced with the syringe and water. Wish me luck guys!
In any event, the whole thing was a big learning experience!

[Korxi]

That sounds really great! I'm very much looking forward to germination (hopefully)!
From which plant are those seeds? And do you have an aproximate germination time?

I was planning on using that sugar water / peroxide / syringe method to - I'm glad it sounds so easy

Well I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Oh and by the way, how much agar did you use??

Christian