Thanks for your comment. What is more exciting is how big the plants from these seeds are right now! I think that many of them will bloom next year. I am happy that you enjoyed my video - I will make more.....
I know you have done a video on a low cost HEPA blow box that sadly didn't quite work out, but i would love to see an at home set up that would work if possible. I visited a carnivorous plant nursery that had an at home lab in the garage that use a negative presser chamber made out of a grow tent with a HEPA blower. with it being in a garage there wasnt as much air flow as there would be in a home if you tried the same thing(so im guessing a lot lower chance of contamination).
Thanks for your comment. That initial hood design will work - the concept is the same as standard horizontal air flow cabinets - the problem was the HEPA filter that was beat up pretty bad when it was shipped. That first unit did work but not as well as I had hoped it would. My goal was a unit that was as good as some of the good horizontal air flow cabinets that I have used. With those systems, I had zero contamination. Replacement of that HEPA filter with a new filter that was not damaged gave better results - That subtle change was helpful but I still have a couple more things to do, to make the unit work at the target level. I want to slow down the fan speed and include a baffle, which I expect will really improve the unit. I am currently working in a commercial cabinet that has vertical air flow which I really dislike. You have to be aware of air flow and current with HEPA filtered systems and the location of the filter and the direction of the air flow is really important. You can get low contamination with some of these garage systems - I am trying for zero contamination with my flow box, which is achievable. I will have a follow up video - just need to find the time to make the final improvements.
What a great educational video, orchidseed’s are coming indeed in many different colors. I have seen them from white till yellow , orange and all colors in between. Do you wrap de plates after the pouring to make them airtight?
Thanks for your positive comment. Yes, individual plates and flasks are all wrapped using cut pieces of Glad-wrap (you cut the roll using a PVC pipe cutter - one inch; 2.5 cm). If I have more than a few dishes, I put them back into the plastic sleeves that they were packed in originally, and seal the sleeve back up. I store all of my media in the fridge as some of the medium components are light sensitive and may degrade faster at room temp.
pouring plate to plate seems bold if you have any contamination in the first plate every plate would be a loss. i guess working in actual lab conditions can lend confidence to the technique.
As long as you know how to work in a hood, this will always work. You have to understand the flow of sterile air and know where to place your hands, fingers on the dishes and flasks. There is a lot of subtle technique that is difficult to show on the videos. When I train people in person, they are usually shaking at the end of our first session because I am correcting them so often because there are so many things to keep in mind. I make it look easy and talk when I work because I have been doing this for so long. Any contamination that I get is from the original explant and not from me. The hood in the video is not very good - my hoods in my old university lab are a lot better (and they are left on 24/7 in a small room that is closed off).
I have started using "Choice" brand polypropylene 16 and 32 ounce delicious containers from Webstaurantstore.com. 16 ounce (127RD16BULK); 32 ounce (127RD32BULK) and lids (127RDTFLBULK). The shipping seems to be a lot on them but they are still WAY cheaper than buying them from other suppliers. You have to make sure that your containers are polypropylene so that they can be sterilized. There are 500 per case so this is a good amount. You can buy similar containers from Gordon Food Service (GFS) stores - these work and you can buy smaller quantities but they will be much more expensive per piece. Glass bottles also work well for flasking.
Thank you for the videos. I am starting a horticulture degree at Colorado State University. I definitely want to learn about seed labs and flashing orchids. I live in Hawaii on the big island. Looking for a mentor when my program starts this fall.
Thanks for your comment - I am sorry but I do not know any of the faculty at Colorado State. Ft Collins does have the largest seed banking facility in the US but that is a USDA facility. I do know some of the folks at University of Hawaii at Manoa - there are some very good people there. I am sure that you will find a good advisor - just meet with everyone and trust yourself to find a good mentor. Good luck.
@@plantpropagator that’s great! 👍 I definitely will keep looking. This program is asynchronous online. They say it’s the same program taught by the same faculty. I’ll be remaining in Hawaii the entire time. I went to the local Kona orchid society last night. I will definitely continue to follow your channel.
@@OkikaHawaii If you are still in Hawaii, you should visit some of the labs at UH - Manoa. I do not know if there are any commercial flaskers there??...
Thanks - These Phalaenopsis seedlings have done very well - I used them to make the burlap Phals that I mounted onto my palm trees in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2yjQBsPYios.html It takes about 7-9 months after flasking, for the plants to be large enough to deflask - I have a LOT more coming. Thanks for watching and for your comment!
There has been an orchid ( Florida orchid) in the family since 1954. The orchid this year sent out 9 pods. Is there a place I can give the pods to… so there is an increased chance for these to survive and be able spread the orchids into oak trees etc in our state parks?
Thanks for your comment. Is this a butterfly orchid (Encyclia tampensis)? In Florida State Parks, you are only allowed to place orchids in trees, that are found native in that park (most parks have a list). If you introduce additional plants into the park, those native orchids have to be from naturally growing plants found within 25 miles of the specific state park. And you need permission from the state to do that, once you meet the other criteria. So, you can contact the park manager of your closest state park and find out whether they are interested. You can use those capsules to make zillions of plants that you can mount around your house and neighborhood, if there are no restrictions there. Sorry - I know that you are trying to do a good thing and there unfortunately may be restrictions on what you are allowed to do. You can follow up with me if you have any additional questions. Thanks for watching!
There are a few options - If you have an intact capsule, sterilize in 50% bleach solution, wash 4x with sterile water and aseptically remove the clean seeds. If you have a split capsule, you can sterilize the isolated seeds in 10% bleach for 15 minutes, followed by 4 rinses with sterile water. Others will tell you to use straight hydrogen peroxide for seeds and capsules but I do not have much experience with H2O2 - my limited approaches with hydrogen peroxide did not go well. Let me know if my answers are not clear. Thanks for watching!
Is this what you are looking for? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-valdUQqAJKM.html Please let me know if you want to hear about something else...
