Re: Embryo culture (was: Re: spec-x with Chinenses series species?)

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Dennis,

Congratulations on your 1st eight test tubes!

Practice makes perfect (or at least makes better). Embryo
culture is not as easy as it looks, but the 4th and 5th
tries are likely to be smoother. Note, you won't know for
a while whether your sterile techniques were good enough
(I didn't say perfect, just enough for a good portion of
the embryos to avoid contamination).

Sleep on it and think of things you might try to make it
easier for you. What works well form one person might need
tweaking for another. Experimenting with large seeds with
large embryos that have a clear point of attachment is a
good way to practice even if you don't need the seedlings.
Some kinds of seeds are difficult. I'm not sure I'll try
extracting the embryo from I. speculatrix again; the
embryos were so tiny I rarely found them under a
microscope. However, I do plan to try some more embryo
culture with other iris.

Ken

On Thu, 21 May 2015 21:43:02 -0400
"Dennis Kramb dkramb@badbear.com [iris-species]"
<iris-species@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
> what a nerve racking experience that was... four hours
>to get just eight
> test tubes with embryos that i have serious doubts will
>reach maturity. I
> lost about 50% of the embryos I tried to rescue because
>my seed handling
> technique sucks. ugh... that was not enjoyable for me.
> not at all. my
> motivation to continue will depend on what happens to
>those embryos in the
> next few weeks.
>
> Dennis in Cincinnati