My first attempt at seeding

[myxodex]

I pollinated two henryanum crosses last year. I have last night tried to sow the seed from these using the green-pod method but I think I left the pods too long. I should add at this stage that I did this in our kitchen using an upturned clear plastic basin as a "hood". Although I have some years of experience with aseptic technique, I suspect that I may have failed and will see contaminants growing in the flasks over the next few weeks. I have a number of questions at this stage.
(1) The seed in the pods was a brown colour and dry enough to "pour". It is possible that the pods may have not been completely sealed and thus the seed will not be sterile. Can I still use the excess dry seed by sterilising it with bleach, and if so how long can I keep it for this purpose ?
(2) Is it necessary to initially keep the flasks out of the light for a period after sowing or is it OK to give them a 16h light cycle right from the outset?
(3) In the event that contaminants don't grow, how long will it be before I see signs of germination ?

Cheers,
Tim

 

[charlie c]

Tim,

I don't have any experience with flasking Paph seeds - yet. Only Phals and Catts at this point. But here's a link:

http://www.biolo.aichi-edu.ac.jp/NIOC2003poster/15-18.PDF

to an interesting article for propagation that does not require autoclaving. It only requires spraying either chlorine or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) disinfectants on the surface of the medium.

Tried this technique 31 Oct 07, using H2O2, and to this point have no contamination in the three trial flasks.

Here are two other links:

http://plant-tc.coafes.umn.edu/listserv/listsrvh.htm
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hometissueculture/links

to Tissue Culture groups that can give you good info. I believe they both have search features. I know the umn.edu site does.

Good luck.

charlie c

 

[Rick]

Tim
I haven't done any flasking myself, but have seen several different protocols.

I send my seed to Troy Meyers usually after the capsule has split. I know he goes through a sterilization process, but I think it varies from the usual hypochlorite (bleach) methods, and I don't know what it consists of.

He does run paph seed in the dark initially.

Germination normally takes between one to two months, but can be longer.

He also has several "rescue" techniques to salvage out contaminated flasks, but I don't know what these methods are either.

 

[myxodex]

Both crosses have produced protocorms and no contaminants yet !!

 

[NYEric]

good luck!