Sowing Orchid Seeds In Plastic Container Question
 

Have you ever tried to use the deli containers to sow orchid seeds in or use the deli containers to replate in? If so how did you go about doing it. Did you get contamination using these containers?

I have seeds that will need replated soon and wish to use plastic instead of glass as I have MS and it would be safer for me using something I can't get hurt on if I drop it breaks .

I don't believe you can actually sterilize the plastic.
Joann

I've received flasks of seedlings in plastic deli containers, so yes they can work.

Containers equivalent to deli containers are used routinely by plant tissue culture labs and some working with orchid seed, but they mostly buy them from scientific supply companies that have sterilized them by gas or radiation, and packaged them in ways to maintain sterility. Trying to sterilize them effectively at home would be challenging.

What looks like 'plastic deli containers' is actually autoclavable plastic, and those containers are bought from lab supply companies, usually pre-sterilized. So I wouldn't use deli containers. If you want to use plastic, these containers can easily be ordered from tissue culture supply companies. For instance, in France I can order from a website that has supplies for home growers, and can get those (sterile) containers as well as the media and other tools.

I have seen plastic containers with Dendrobium seedlings, growing on agar in plastic containers. The containers were flasked by someone at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. I think that the containers must have been autoclaved or otherwise sterilized, so these containers must have been made of plastic that could tolerate that kind of heat.

I use medical sample cups. They're of plastic, come in different sizes and can be autoclaved without melting.

Look, I'm from the middle of nowhere on the African savanna and these cups are readily available in Walmart type of shops here so I can't imagine they'll be difficult to come by in the USA.

I also prefer to work with plastic to glass, for various reasons. These have been a really good alternative to baby food jars and small jam jars.

Like others have pointed out, I suspect that what looks like deli containers are actually medical supplies or at least containers that are made to survive a sterilization process of some kind. I've also received seedlings in plastic containers that...look...like deli boxes, but I know for a fact that they were in a pressure cooker so obviously it's not the normal cheap stuff at the take-away, even though the material appears very similar.

Silje, just about all pharmacies in the United States have those sterile sample cups.

Great idea - thanks for the suggestion!

Thank you everyone for letting me know what you are using and I will check out the other plastics that are available to use.

I have some plastic autoclavable containers that http://www.orchidboard.com/community...orchidsarefun/ gave me. I can send you them because I'm not using them if you would like them. You could ask him for more information on where he purchased them and how they held up during the sterilization process.