Pass the scalpel please Igor

[catjac1975]

I have always wondered how they discovered the chemicals that would double the chromosomes of daylilies. Or why they thought they even could do that! Hah!

 

[Smart Red]

JackB, and you thought THEY were eager to get at your other olive tree.
When THEY hear you are harboring a mutant fruit tree -- you t'aint seen nothing yet. Watch out for the men in big cars and black suits. You may not get the warning my friend did. When THEY came for him, THEY stopped for directions, the neighbor kid saw THEIR shoulder holsters and took a short-cut to give warning.

 

[jackb]

The photo was sent to the Tissue Culture expert who has been giving me advice and she replied that it appears callus is forming on the tissue and simply asked what hormones I used.

What is callus? According to my book: "Callus is a mass of undifferentiated cells. The callus mass can contain embryoids capable of developing into whole plants or it can contain shoot or root primordia. (the earliest developmental stage of an organ or cell)"

"Callus can develop cells with an abnormal number of chromosomes. For example, some plants differentiating from a callus culture may be tetraploid, (or double the normal number of chromosomes in vegetative cells)

Who knows? I may get more than one plant from this seed, a lot more. Only time will tell.....

jackb

 

[Smart Red]

I love it! More multiple births?

 

[Jared77]

What kind of lighting are you using? With the colored solution do you have to use extra intense lighting to get light through the solution for photosynthesis to occur?

This is amazing stuff

 

[jackb]

Actually you do not need special lighting, standard daylight fluorescent would work OK. The plants get the energy for photosynthesis more from the sugar in the media than from the light. As a trial I am using a 150 watt LED 11 band grow light, but it is really not necessary.

jackb

 

[Jared77]

I figured light would be the limiting factor with all the hormones & sugar available.

Good to know.

 

[jackb]

The recommended light level for most plants in tissue culture is 300 - 400 foot candles of fluorescent light for sixteen hours. That is not a lot of light. I am using 400- 500 fc with my light. The plants adapt to absorb nutrients through their skin, as they have no roots.

 

[jackb]

At one point in this thread Marshall asked if this method could be used on endangered plants. The answer of course is yes, and the photo below shows how it is used. The plant is a California redwood, and the large upright piece in the back is the original section I received. All of the small green buds are potential redwood trees. Using a scalpel they are removed and placed into their own vessels. If I want them to root I leave out the multiplication hormone, if I want them to produce more shoots/plants I add the multiplication hormone. From the single upright piece I have now four more vessels like this one with buds forming. All of these new trees from only a tiny section removed from the parent plant without damaging the plant. That said, I still have no idea of what I am ever going to do with all of these redwood trees here in New York.
Jackb

 

[thistlebloom]

Well, you'll probably need to ship them to Marshall!