Mold Watch

[Djarum Black]

Ok, update you shall have

SO far so good! There are green specks in the first 3 jars. They are clearly visible now to the naked eye without much trouble but still very small. 4 of the other jars still have no signs of life.
I am thinking either they are slow starters or it is also possible that when I cleaned the seeds I did not remove all the bleach solution. Time will tell! I have not given up hope on those jars yet as I heard it takes some seeds sometimes 1 year to germinate.
Overall, there was NO contamination of any of the jars! WOOT!

On a new positive note I flasked again on April 6th.
I did 14 more jars using the same method changing only the type of jar (I am trying basic baby food jars now) and minus the syringes with needles. I'm testing basics in my methods to see what minimal supplies I can get away with.

I sowed:

5 jars of Zygopetalum Mackayi X Self
3 jars of Schomburgkia Undulata
3 jars Laelia Anceps v. alba
3 jars Shomburgkia weberbaueriana x Self

So far only 1 jar got contamination. One of the Schomburgkia Undulata. It looked like white fur growing on top of the medium. I double-checked and I am fairly sure this was caused by there being particles of something that looked like rust from the top inside of the lid. It fell into the medium after the jar had been sown and closed. In the future I think it will be better to use the jars themselves but replace the caps with something else. They seem to be prone to rust and problems from sitting in the bleach overnight. Also, there is a weird plastic film on the inside of the baby food jar cap that soaks off into the bleach. I had to really clean them good after the soaking to make sure the particles were not hiding in the crevices.

But for this batch that still leaves 13 jars that are clear of nasties! WOOT!

I also went and purchased some commercial medium between the last flasking and now. So I am going to test growth rate times for the same seeds (from the new list above) against the cornstarch medium.
I should have that done within the next 4 days.(Hopefully) I'm writing a term paper at the moment (not related) so I've been bogged down with research and stressed for time lol.

I will post pictures of the jars and some stuff tonight sometime!

[Pippin]

Thank you for the update.

I'm glad to hear that you have only one flask infected and the others are looking good. I hope to see some pictures soon.

What kind of medium do you intend to use for replate?

[Djarum Black]

Hiya Pippin,

Not really sure yet I'm thinking of testing 3 different types. I bought 2 replate types from a commercial seller and then the cornstarch medium. I may try all 3 just to see which I like best. Although I was playing with the commercial replate mediums just to test consistency and one of them smelled TERRIBLE lol. I may have to avoid that medium even if it does work faster.
Worst part was I was testing sterilization methods with it in my microwave. (It took 2 days of spraying with various cleaning chemicals to get the smell out) yuck!

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Djarum Black

and one of them smelled TERRIBLE lol.

Plants don't even imagine how lucky they are without noses.

[Pippin]

Hi DJ,

Now, that is really valuable information. I do want to use commercial media and I want to use the microwave. It looks like I have the potential to get in big (BIG) trouble with my DW(I really want to avoid this. LOL).

Can you be specific about the medium with the foul odor (make, product #, etc...). I want to use the stuff from Phyto Tech Labs.

[Djarum Black]

Hi Pippin,

Two of the mediums I got came from Phyto Tech. There numbers are P727 and P781. If your going to use them in the microwave I'd suggest buying your wife a gas mask lol

[gerneveyn]

When you prepared the media, did you check the pH? Or did you just follow the recipe or instructions?

[Djarum Black]

Hi Gerneveyn,

I've been checking the pH scale against the information I obtained at the manufactures website. They have downloadable PDF files. I just print them out as needed. I have a swimming pool here at my house so I got used to needing to check chemicals. Every little bit helps

[Djarum Black]

Ok, I found one good commercial medium that I really like. It even smells good! The whole time I was mixing it up I had to fight the urge to eat it. LOL

P.785 from Phytotech is both a sowing and replate medium. Everything is in it already, so it does not require a gelling agent addition. It also contains banana though, which puts it at a higher risk for contamination. So extra careful home prep is needed.

It smells like applesauce

[ipv6ready]

What happened to the flask ... would love an update