Great post MT! Thanks!!
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I just signed up on here, but as you already heard from others, with this recipe there are some changes. 1st of all, when you cook any kind of starch, the heat breaks it down into the simplest form which for starch is sugars. Second, the honey adds many things that are beneficiary to the mix, however there is also a bacteria found in honey so you need to be careful and make sure to cook the honey and water properly to kill the bacteria. I would use the honey, cooked potato and agar but I would also add some crushed charcoal as carbon is the basic building block for all plants as well as some kind of orchid fertilizer with micro and macro nutrients for the orchids. I have not tried home made recipes for agar and seed sowing, but if you add banana, be careful as too much will inhibit germination because of complex carbs and nutrient and water uptake by protocorms. You should only add 5- 10 grams per liter of banana powder as this is more than enough to keep protocorms from browning out as they grow. I have read alot about orchids and I know that most people who make their own medium for sowing and replating only use 5 - 10 grams of banana and I would follow that advice. I added about 6 grams per liter in my premixed medium as it will keep protocorms growing beyond normal 1st replate. I hope this advice helps and if you have anymore questions I talk with someone in australia who has given me incredible advice for in vitro culture of orchids.
Great post MT! Thanks!!
Here are some media recipes from a friends Blog.. Tiamina is Thiamine (vitamin B1) For more info Olivia's website is ALL ORCHIDS - TODO ORQUIDEAS IN VITRO CULTURE It is in Spanish and English, so you need to click the English link or use a translator.
Tomato media
40 g banana
100.0 ml tomato with no seeds or skin
8 g de agar agar
20.0 g sugar
1.2 g Thiamine (vitamin B1)
1000 ml water
you can add 1 gr of orchid fertilizer if you want
BANANA FORMULA
· 100.0 g of banana
· 10.0 g of agar agar
· 15.0 g of sugar
· 1.2 g Tiamina (Vitamin B1, 4 tablets of 0.3g)
· 900 ml of distilled water
PINEAPPLE FORMULA
· 200 ml of pineapple juice
· 10.0 g of agar agar
· 15.0 g of sugar
· 1.2 g Tiamina
· 800 ml of distilled water
DYNAGRO FORMULA
· 3 cc DynaGro 7-9-5 or 10-5-5
· 12.0 g of agar agar
· 20.0 g of sugar
· 2.0 g of charcoal or activated coal
· 5 tomates without seeds
· 150.0 ml of coconut water
· 40.0 g of banana
· 800 ml of distilled water
FORMULA TOMATO AND CARROT
· 100.0 ml of carrot juice
· 100.0 ml of tomato juice
· 10.0 g of agar agar
· 15.0 g of sugar
· 1.2 g Tiamina
· 800 ml of distilled water
TOMATO AND BANANA FORMULA
· 40 g of banana
· 100.0 ml of tomato juice
10.0 g of agar agar
· 20.0 g of sugar
· 1.2 g of Tiamina
· 900 ml of distilled water
HAWAIIAN FORMULA
· 1.5g of fish emulsion
· 1.0g peptona
· 12.0 g of agar agar
· 20.0 g of sugar
· 1 liter of distilled water
FORMULA KNUDSON "C"
· 1.0 g of Calcium Nitrate
· 0.250 g of monopotassium Phosphate
· 0.250 g of Magnesium Sulfate
· 0.500 g of Ammonium Sulfate
· 0.025 g of Iron Sulfate
· 0.0075 g of Manganese Sulfate
· 20.0 g of sugar
· 10.0 g of agar agar
· 1000 ml of distilled water
FORMULA BURGEFF
· 1.0 g of Calcium Nitrate
· 0.250 g of Ammonium Sulfate
· 0.250 g of Magnesium Sulfate
· 0.020 g of Iron Sulfate
· 0.250 g of bipotásic Phosphate
· 0.250 g of monopotassium Phosphate
· 20.0 g of sugar or honey
· 12.0 g of agar agar
· 1 liter of distilled water
FORMULA THE GARDE
· 1.0 g of magnesium Sulfate
· 1.0 g of Calcium Nitrate
· 1.0 g of monopotassium Phosphate
· 1.0 g of Calcium Chlorate
· 0.500 g of Ammonium Nitrate
· 0.500 g of Ammonium Carbonate
· 0.050 g of Iron Phosphate
· 20.0 g of sugar
· 12.0 g of agar-agar
· 1 liter of distilled water
FORMULA JUVENAL MEYER
· 500 ml distilled water.
· 500 ml of tomato juice
· 20 gr of sugar, honey, glucose or dextrose
· 14 gr of agar agar
· 2 gr of coal activated in powder
· 1 gr pay 30-10-10
COMERCIAL FORMULA
· M and S
· Phytamax
FORMULA FOR TERRESTRIAL ORCHIDS
· MgSo4 150mg
· Kh2Po4 150mg
· Ca3Po4 90mg
· FeSo4 18mg
· Tryptone 3,5-4,0g
· Nitsch Vit. 108mg
· MONTH 1g
· act. charcoal 1g
· Agar 5-6g
· sucrose 20g
· chunks of potato (10 for 50ml of way) of potato cut 5x5x5mm COMMERCIAL
Brett
Hi
Which one of this formulas are suitable for seed sowing phalaenopsis orchid and which one is suitable for reflasking?
NELSON BARBOSA MACHADO-NETO published this homemade media.
Methods and Materials
An experiment with starch as gelling agent was done. Media constituents were coconut water (100ml.l-1), 2g.l-1 of commercial fertilizer with 6:9:6 N:P:K concentrations, 20g .l-1 of sucrose, 100g.l-1 of banana pulp and four cherry tomatoes. Two kinds of starch were tested, maize and cassava, both cheap and easy to find. The starch concentrations were 70, 90 and 110g l-1. Seeds were disinfected, in a syringe, with calcium hypochlorite at 0.5% concentration, washed twice with sterile water and sowed (Figure 2). Two types of caps were used to cover the flasks, a metal or a polypropylene (Figure 1). After two months seedlings were replanted (Figure 3) in the same media with the aid of a forceps disinfected with 1% calcium hypochlorite.
Results
Media made with cassava starch did not reach the solid gel state, it was viscous even with 110g.l-1 , which did not allow sowing. Maize starch media remained hard and seedlings, when planted in it, grows well. In spite of that medium is not equilibrated in the composition (Table 1) it is suitable for sowing and growing orchids from seed, especially Cattleya and their relatives and Oncidium.
Both caps used, the metal or polypropylene, showed very good results. The metal cap, however, after successive sterilization processes, became oxidized and it could liberates some iron oxide to the media, which could be toxic for some species.
The results obtained was better when just a few seeds were sown, around 40-50 per flask, and this is facilitated by sowing with a syringe.
I would say the most important thing is to be meticulous. Failure is much more likely because of contamination than choosing which ingredients to add. Bruce had a good idea of using more than one flask in case contamination ruins one. Good luck.
Hi there, sorry for digging this thread, but I have some doubt in my home made media.
I had 5 different media prepared couple months ago, they are based on tomato juice and bananas, fertilizer, honey, table sugar, active carbon and agar or corn starch.
1.st media was with banana and starch (and all other ingrediants w/o agar) and I omit to adjust PH - no germination after 50 days (1 jar)
2.nd media was with the same but with agar PH about 6.5 - no germination after 50 days (2 jars)
3.rd media was the same but PH about 5 - no germination after 50 days (2 jars) only something swell on the top of media
4.th media was with tomato w/o bananas and agar, I also add some multivitamin in it and PH about 5, I have one jar with protocorms and the second w/o
5.th media was with tomato and also bananas, brown sugar instead of table sugar and PH also about 5, I have one jar with protocorms and the second w/o
Seed pod was raw, 110 days after pollination seeds wasn't ripe, but it is as it is, I seed them.
My questions are:
1- 5.th media was faster then 4.th, but why only in one jar seeds was germinated and in second didn't?
2- which PH level is the best for phalaenopsis and which for dendrobium nobile?
3- do you have some tested home made media, by you?
Thanks a lot.