Out of Curiosity

[WoWElf]

Hello Everyone. While at work something came to my mind. I work in a Microbiology lab and sometimes there's a little of left over Tryptic Soy Agar (~200 mL) after the work job, which will get thrown away in the end. Can that media agar be used to propagate orchids? Usually the pH is 7 and the is a commonly used media for the growth of bacteria and fungus. Thanks and Bye.

[jerrymeola]

It is worth a try. Making a home made flow hood (or maybe you have one) is fairly easy and trying to grow seeds can be fun.

It is only a question of what your time is worth to you.

[WoWElf]

Thanks Jerry. How long does it take to make the seed germinate and where can I get one seed to experiment with? Does the agar have to settle first before implanting the seed or can the media be a little liquidy? Do you think using those home air filters will do to make a semi-clean environment? And then afterwards, where would you place th bottle? I know its a lot of questions, but curiosity has got the cat. thanks again and bye

[PhalNewbie89]

I know there was someone on here who had some pods he was willing to give away I think his name was something like chrisb19. The pods went to a very pretty orchid

[kid a]

I have a restrepia muscifera seed pod not sure if it actually matured though as it just fell off and never split or anything. But if you'd like it you can send me you address as a PM and I can mail it to you, the pod is really tiny and I'm not sure if there is even good seed in it or not but it's free if you want to give it a try I also have a green pod on restrepia trichoglossa as well. Not sure if it's mature enough though as I just bought the plants yesterday lol.

[WoWElf]

Hello Everyone. I was able to start my little experiment today. I received two seeds from kid a (thank you soooo much). I inserted the seeds aseptically. And here's some pics of it. It my not be too clear. I just one a few questions. Where should I keep the bottles? In the sun/dark? Thanks and Bye again.

[patticake]

I would use fluorescent lighting. I haven't flasked as yet, but sun can burn them. Artificial light can be controlled. Good luck!!

[Andrew]

Sorry, I missed this thread when it first came up. I hate being a killjoy but I suspect the nutrients in tryptic soy media will be too complex to be useful for flasking orchids. The bulk of the nutrients in bacterial media are supplied as amino acids and short peptides (eg tryptone, soytone, etc). By contrast orchid media contain macro- and micronutrients in quite simple ionic states. You may find the nutrients locked up in your bacterial media will not be sufficiently available to get the seed to germinate and/or grow.

[WoWElf]

Well, thanks Andrew. It's just an experiment. But at least I have a little practice in inserting the seeds. Maybe Ill get some Orchid media one day.