Quote:
Originally Posted by littlefrog
An inexpensive pressure cooker is better in my opinion... Spores are tricky things. They don't have a lot of water in them, and the microwave is basically heating water and not much else. Microwaves might work, but I know a pressure cooker does. They aren't expensive.
Allow your flasks to cool in place. Do not move them until they are mostly cool. If you start moving things around hot: A) you risk burning the tar out of yourself, and that is no fun, B) as air inside the flask cools, it sucks in non-sterile air from the outside, and C) ... well, there is no C...
I've done a whole lot of tissue culture (cancer cells) and contamination is almost always due to poor initial sterilization (the autoclave isn't working) or poor technique. Usually the latter. Technique gets better with practice. You won't be perfect the first few dozen times, keep at it, you'll get there.
See if you can find some of the AOS Orchid Bulletin (I think it was still the bulletin) where Calcium hypochlorite was suggested as a sterilizing agent. It seems to work better and is less toxic to the seed.
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littlefrog, you're absolutely right about poor initial sterilization and the technique! I totally agree with you. Yeah, as you said, I've seen myself doing better day by day with more practices. Thanks very much.
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