I’m really interested in giving TC a try now that I live in a tiny apartment and don’t really have a whole lot of room. Who here is doing that already? Any advice? If no one has anything to share then I’ll just use this thread to document my journey into the subject, as I’m currently designing a setup and writing a shopping list. Kits are really expensive so it looks like I have to go the DIY route.
VERY interested in watching this journey!!
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Eye on this…
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I hope your tiny apartment is air tight and sterile like a lab. I wish you luck with your endeavors. Order your agar from Germany, its significantly cheaper. Ebay also has some kits for pretty cheap. Again, I wish you luck. I have seen very few people pull it off outside of a lab
-GH
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I recommend picking up a copy of plant from test tubes. It’s a good read on the how’s and what’s of it. You can use normal unflavored gelatin in place of agar. It’s not as firm as agar but will work in a pinch.
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Currently on hold but this thread may be helpful to get you started with creating the Agar, sterilization, etc:
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@Northern_Loki has a thread here about this that is WAY over my head lol
Tissue culture experimentation, a first pass trial?
I remember breeder Steve talking about getting this going back in the original OG days, and how seeds would become obsolete because he could send you copies of his prized cuts. I guess it wasn’t as easy as he expected…
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JINX lol 
And these words make it 20 chars…
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I think it could be simplified a bit since it appears complicated. That thread is the result of thinking about too much being a first attempt. Hence, am still thinking about it 
To get started you probably only really need to get some pre-formulated Agar (Agar with nutrients), temperature proof vessels, a pressure cooker, and be really clean. The Agar from that thread is still in good condition (sterile).
If it’s simply for micro-propagation, I think you’d only need one Agar formulation and small cuttings I believe.
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Haven’t done this myself. I imagine flow hoods or glove boxes would help but still tricky w/o a lab. Edging into mycology realms of tricky, I expect.
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Yes, to be clear here, I’m aware of sterile practices and I’ve been doing kitchen chemistry since I was a teenager, involving things like positive pressure environments and glove boxes and stuff.
I’m thinking primarily about micropropagation, which is less demanding than going the callus route, but the nerd in me is going to want to experiment, so I’ll probably be looking at more of a lab-style setup, but contained to a storage tub or something like that, for when it’s not being used.
…Also, I’m wanting to be able to use canning jars, and repurposed kitchen items like that, wherever possible. For instance, I’m fairly certain I could get by using a 3-piece vegetable steamer for sterilization, rather than having to buy a pressure cooker. Those are common substitutes in home mycology labs. There are other things like that I expect to be able to do. I’m just now reading up on it for the first time. I never really had a reason, and always thought of it as more of a pathway to propagating large quantities of plants, rather than thinking of it as a way to replace mother plants at the micro level.
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hope your apartment is sterile like a lab hurr durr durr
implying a sterile environment can’t be made out of well basically ANYTHING that can be sealed airtight
This is the most ridiculous shit being pushed about TC.
OP, don’t listen to those telling you you can’t do something because THEY can’t do something. Think outside the box if you want it bad enough. A fish tank on its side with a plexiglass lid and a 4” hole saw and elbow gloves will work just fine. There is validity to the fact you need a bullet proof sterile technique, but last time I checked, a sterile lab is ONLY sterile if the technique is flawlessly adhered to.
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“always thought of it as more of a pathway to propagating large quantities of plants, rather than thinking of it as a way to replace mother plants at the micro level”
Can you elaborate on this a bit? I’m not sure I get what you mean.
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In other words, it always seemed like something you would do at the commercial level in order to get massive quantities of plants. I hadn’t really thought about it as a way of being able to keep lots of mothers in a tiny space.
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Gotcha…I always thought of it as a great way to preserve genetics. I believe that tissue cultures can be refrigerated and stored for pretty long periods of time which would be awesome.
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I have a plant propagation textbook from when I was in college and it has a lot of info on tissue culture. Maybe I need to figure out a way to photograph those chapters and turn them into a PDF or something to make it available to folks who want the info
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Yeah, great point. Mushroom growers have improvised home versions of mini sterile labs forever.
Doesn’t all that sound more difficult than maintaining a dozen bonsai mother plants?
No one’s saying you can’t, but the effort/reward ratio seems off.
A good source of info on making the media , thos is one of the stuff i have in my mind too but i haven’t started it because i will do with a strain that is worth and second better invest in good equipment if want good results and not lose the time , to really have viable clones by real tissue culture will take no less than 90 days https://teach.genetics.utah.edu/content/microbiology/plates/
Hemp propagation kit kind of pre prepared already
https://phytotechlab.com/catalog/product/view/id/3098/s/hemp-multiplication-kit/category/418/