Re: Iris seeds germinating

 

Hi Ken.
I have been on the home tissue culture group for a couple of years now.
It seems so sloppy compared to the way I was taught.  But people are getting good results.
Yes, more than one person has commented on sweep and mop your floor, it helps.  People with carpet say cover your whole floor with a sheet of plastic.  Most of us use a "clean box", a box or plastic storage tub, with a hole cut in the side to work through, and a window covered with clear plastic wrap/  Spray the inside of the box with diluted chlorine household bleach just before using it, and it does wonders for reducing conamination.
And people write in about using very dilute Treflan, a pre-emergant weed killer, instead of colchicine for chromosome doubling.  And other weed-killers are strong plant hormones which can be greatly diluted and used.  But a lot of tissue culture needs no hormones at all.
Just be very careful with everything.  Some chemicals, like colchicine but many others as well, are very dangerous.
Read all MSDA sheets (materials safety data sheets) and follow all warnings.  and if the MSDS says the chemical is safe, still be very careful.  Any household cleaner could be dagerous when used wrong (for example, can release chlorine gas when mixed with another cleaner).   
Dust can be a problem even when the chemical isn't particularly dangerous.  And dust masks don't keep chemicals out in all cases.
Walter Pickett
From: Kenneth Walker <kenww@astound.net>
To: iris-species@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, January 4, 2013 10:37 PM
Subject: Re: [iris-species] Iris seeds germinating
 
Hi Walter, Thanks for the pointer to the "home tissue culture group"! I've done some embryo culture with Aril species and Arilbreds with pointers from Jim & Barbara Whitely and hope to do some more experimentation. I reduced contamination problems, in part, by mopping the kitchen (laboratory) floor with a weak bleach solution and running a hepa air filter. I'm looking forward to learning more from the group. Ken Walker On 1/4/2013 11:36 AM, Walter Pickett wrote:
 
 
It has been a long time, much of a year if not more, since I ordered some old I. tectorum seeds from the SIGNA website.
Then things went bad, my mother turned 99 and is not mentally what she was a year ago, and other things occupied my time.
But about 3 months ago, I retired and started trying tissue cultuer culture, along with my older brother, and I finaly got to where I was willing to risk some iris seeds. 
I. tectorum is one that the seed list never runs out of, and it is something I have been interested in chromosome doubling and crossing with TBs.  So I. tectorum was what I decided to start with.
I sterilized some seeds about a month ago and put them on sterile tissue culture medium, MS medium gelled with agar.  I used my oldest seeds, 25 of them, 5 to a jar.  Yesterday I saw that 6, from 3 different jars are germinated.  There has been no contamination in any of the jars.  This is a big deal to me, as getting good sterilization, without killing the seeds or plant material I've been using, has been my problem.
In reading through the back issues of the Signa and ASI publications, I have found that several people used to do sterile seed work, both to double chromosomes and to just get germination with difficult crosses.  It isn't so common any more.
Anyone who does want to do this sort of thing should check out the home tissue culture group.  It is amazing how this has progressed since I last tried embryo culture about 1978.  Or I supose yuo could wait until I publish my results, but that means waiting a while, maybe another year.  But things are finally moving along here.
I am about to start germinating my precious oncyclus seeds, and start trying to double chromosomes of I. tectorum.
Walter Pickett

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