Stinky's Adventures in Micropropagation...

[oldmac]

Hello thrive,

I mastered African Violets, but was never able to work out the needed medium/hormones for mj.

And StinkyAttic has just been gone for awhile now.

OM

oldmac Reviewed by oldmac on 12-21-2010. Stinky's Adventures in Micropropagation... Hey all, I just went out and finally got a digicam with flash so I can document my latest folly. I've decided to let my plants be guinea pigs for a go at tissue culture, which I'm just going to call TC from now in because I type really not so fast! :D Here's what I am trying to find out in these experiments: 1) What media/additive combination works best for shoot formation in Cannabis. 2) What media/additive combination works best for rooting. Rating: 5

[AZClones]

Hello thrive,
I mastered African Violets, but was never able to work out the needed medium/hormones for mj.

I do tissue culture for a living. Maybe I could lend a hand.

[Prodaytrader]

well shit...now I am interested too.

Am I to take it that tissue culturing in terms of cannabis would allow us to clone from a flowering plant? Or more likely store the sample for a length of time to later use? How's about some of you brainiacs dumb it down for us business majors. Is there a process/procedure we can do at home?

[AZClones]

well shit...now I am interested too.

Am I to take it that tissue culturing in terms of cannabis would allow us to clone from a flowering plant? Or more likely store the sample for a length of time to later use? How's about some of you brainiacs dumb it down for us business majors. Is there a process/procedure we can do at home?

The ability to clone flowering plants in order to produce "new" plants- that's tricky; I've never tried it, so the best analogy might be with bamboo, which dies once it's done flowering. Unfortunately, I've never worked with bamboo in tissue culture, so I'm not sure if it's a determinate plant in that context.

TC of cannabis offers clear utility with the propagation of large numbers of clonal propagules; most growers wouldn't need more than can be produced by cuttings, although at substantial cost to the parent clone.

As for the DIY thing- it's there, but it requires a sterile prep area (which can be as simple as an aquarium tipped on its side with a sheet of plastic over the front), equipment for sterilizing media (a pressure cooker), culture vessels (plastic or glass), a handful of tools, and chemicals. It's about 60% technique, 35% know-how, and 5% materials. However, few growers have reason to try tissue culture as existing propagation techniques are adequate for most purposes. It's more of a parlor trick than anything else; if it weren't, it would be much more widespread by now- like LEDs for indoor growth. Really- nobody is buying $1200 LED illuminators for growing carrots. It's all market-driven.

There might be some application in cloning high-percentage ruderalis plants, but that's theoretical.