Tissue Culture

Is anyone here doing TC?
Larry

I think I remember someone doing something with tissue culture, but can't remember who. It may have been on the daylily or lily forum. You might try those two and see if you get any responses.

I read, I think in Hydroponics, that TC may be an advantage for industrial production, because it produces so many thousands of identical plants. Most gardeners want only a few of a lot of different plants, so other propagation techniques are more appropriate for them.

I think it may have been Pardalinum on the Lilies Forum. I seem to remember seeing pics of test tubes or something like that, in her kitchen.

I know HostaJim does TC and I have done a little in the kitchen without any good results but I'll try it again. I need the mass production of bananas in a small space for a friends nursery.

I've done a lot of tissue culture (mainly of rare pelargonium species) when I was doing my Ph.D. thesis. Its not easy to do at home, as you need at a minimum a clean working environment (laminar flow hoods are used in labs, there are home versions that people use for things like sowing orchid seeds on agar), something to heat and sterilize the agar media (labs use autoclaves, but microwave ovens can be used in a pinch--but watch out for the media boiling out of its flask--I've done that too), and a clean space to grow the tissue cultures. Usually a small room with shelving and flourescent lights is used, and it needs to be cooled if heat buildup from the lights is a problem. You will need culture vessels (baby food jars are ideal and reusable, but the plastic autoclavable caps need to be ordered from a company like Sigma, and you need parafilm ( a plastic stretch wrap) to seal the containers so they don't get mold or bacteria spores in them. Various growth media, often with hormones added in, can be ordered from companies like Sigma or Carolina Biological.
Contamination of cultures is the biggest problem, followed by getting them to grow decently (sometimes they "vitrify", meaning they look swollen and glassy and will not survive if taken out of culture). Then bringing young plants out of culture has its own challenges, b/c they dont have a cuticle (waxy layer to prevent them from drying out to death), so you should keep them in a humid enclosure (like zip locks under flourescent lights) and gradually harden them off so they have time to develop a cuticle (and roots if they are plantlets or shoots). They must be placed in sterilized potting medium when out of culture,as they are easily infected by soil fungi.
Plants vary greatly in how easy they are to propagate via tissue culture, and mutations are not uncommon as an artifact of the process (some may be even be improvements on the plant). In general plants that prop easily via conventional means, like gesneriads, begonias, and some carnivorous plants, are also easier to tissue culture.
Hope this info is of some use, there are more specific details in many books and online for particular plants.
Good luck!

I have a boyfriend that does it for a living--definitely not at his home. Predominantly antique/heirloom roses, contract, for that big, mail order nursery in the South (mostly). He gets really upset if I mention the name of the company but I think most folks know the name of it--lol. He doesn't like to talk shop much but he will help me with propagating if I'm really having trouble with something (nontissue-culture wise that is). I've picked up a lot of tricks from him--some rather surprising. Its not really cost effective for some things. Generally just what's "hot" at the time in gardening.
Debbie
=)