Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web ! - Newbie Guide To Seed Sowing V2 (Bleach)

Hello,

Once again with another tutorial. This is the process I took to sow my seed using the bleach method.

DAY 1 :goodluck:

Things you will need:

Sugar
Distilled Water
Measuring Cup
Measuring Spoon ( I used a 2.5ml or 1/2tsp sized one. The smaller the better)
Seeds
Medication Syringes
2 Small Bowls

Step 1: We labeled the syringes with a number and also wrote down the number to the type of seed that was going into the syringe. We also made our sugar water mix of 2 Table spoons or 30ml of sugar to 2 cups distilled water.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9960-001.jpg

Step 2: Open the seed packet and carefully dump them into the measuring spoon.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9961-002.jpg

Step 3: With 2 syringes, one for the seeds and one for the sugar water, we filled the spoon with sugar water and sucked up as much as we could into the numbered syringe. We did this step at least 4 times till there was no seeds left in the spoon.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9962-003.jpg

Step 4: After we got all the seeds into the syringes, we let them sit for at least 12 hours (shaking them every couple of hours)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9963-004.jpg

DAY 2 :goodluck:

Things you will need:

Bleach
Peroxide
Distilled Water
Glove Box
Syringes that you did yesterday with seeds and sugar water
Coffee Filters (cut into 2 ply little squares)
Measuring Cups
Plating Spoon (or something similar)
Flasks with media (rubber bands removed)
Small bowls

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9964-005.jpg

Step 1: We made a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts distilled water with one drop of dish soap. Filled a pump bottle and also a measuring cup with the bleach solution.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9978-019.jpg

Step 3: Boil all the tools (not the syringes with the seeds in them) for 10 min. We also boiled a pot of distilled water to sterilize it (thanks to EstebanJ for this tip). Sterilized the inside of the glove box with bleach and water. Basically sterilize EVERYTHING that is going into the glove box.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9965-006.jpg

Step 4: Using little squares of the coffee filters we pressed the sugar water out of the syringes and left only the seeds in them. (use your finger as a cap on top to push it through)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9966-007.jpg

Step 5: We did 2 sets of seeds at a time, so we did these next steps 3 times. Spray everything going into the glove box with the bleach solution, but be careful the distilled water and coffee filter squares can not get bleach on them. (the coffee filters going into the glove box were sanitized with peroxide)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9967-008.jpg

Step 6: Close the lid of the glove box and once again spray the inside of the box with the bleach solution and peroxide and let it sit for 10 min. (Try not to get bleach on the coffee filters or in the distilled water.)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9968-009.jpg

Step 7: Suck some of the bleach solution into the syringes and shake it around. We set a timer for 8 min and every couple of min we would shake the syringes. It is very important not to let the seeds sit in the bleach solution for more then 10 min, that is why the timer was set to 8 min giving us 2 min to plunge out the bleach solution and suck up the distilled water to rinse them.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9969-010.jpg
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9970-011.jpg
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9972-013.jpg

Step 8: We rinsed the seeds in the distilled water for 10 min, shaking them around every couple of min. (this part can go over 10 min). We also did the rinse cycle 2 times, so 20 min or more of rinsing.

Step 9: Remove the tin foil from the flasks (spray the foil and jar with peroxide and open the flask)

Step 10: This is a tricky part (getting the seeds out of the syringes) and we tried different methods to do this. We tried to make a little funnel with the coffee filters but couldn't see the seeds at the end. (yah, we lost 2 sets of seeds trying this :(( method) We found the best way to do this was exactly the same way we got the sugar water out and it would clump the seeds at the tip of the syringe.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9971-012.jpg

Then with one careful yet hard push on the syringe, we managed to get the seeds onto the replate spoon.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9973-014.jpg

We then positioned the spoon over the flasks and cleaned off the seeds with a drip or 2 of the distilled water right on top of the media. (sorry blurry picture)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9974-015.jpg

Step 11: Close the lid and put the foil back over the jar.

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9975-016.jpg

Step 12: We placed the jars by a lamp for 24 hours. This is just incase we got any peroxide into the distilled water. The light will cause the peroxide to break down into water. (Thanks to roby for this tip)

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9976-017.jpg

Well that's it, all you have to do now is put the flasks in an area with no direct sunlight and wait and hope there is no contamination. This next picture is of the flasks after 1 week and yippeee no contamination so far! :Dhttp://www.orchidboard.com/community...re9977-018.jpg