@dr. Tissue culture
I'd love to know how you get the plant to root and harden off. Seems that is where most people have issues.
Do you really think its the way to go vs. Moms and cuttings for a small grower?
Hey Voidling...We have a 3 step process that we use here in our lab with a combination of different mediums...Yes, you are absolutely correct when you say that the rooting and hardening off use to be the issue, not anymore though...Bill Carrington was one of the first to pioneer the success of it, after the article comes out in Skunk Magazine this May we will be doing MANY instructional videos as well for those like yourself that have many questions...As for your question on tissue culture vs. cuttings? check this out...
Tissue Culturing
Tissue culturing is the only way to remove unwanted contaminants within the plant and the only way to preserve the plants genetics.
Tissue culture: It’s not changing of genetic material or organism- rather multiplying the genetic material. Almost all commercially available foods and most breeds of domesticated animals are the result of people’s interference. In the field of molecular biology they have helped to further improve and fine tune genetic manipulations. Most genetically engineered medicines are accepted with out question. In the future will require more food grown in smaller spaces with less water and less light all while breeding out molds, bacteria, yeast, viruses and more.
Cloning vs. Tissue Culturing
With Cloning
- A shortage of mother’s,
- With mothers it is hard to keep them for long periods of time.
- You can only clone so often
- Lack of Room
- One mother one hybrid,
- Meaning every mother plant is that one hybrid strain.
- Maybe no virus free mothers,
Seeds are known to carry virus through their RNA, which means the mother has a virus, which means your clones will have a virus and anything that you breed with will have a virus. Viruses will appear to look like a nutrient deficiency.
- Mothers take more light,
- The bigger your plant gets the more photosynthesis it requires. Photosynthesis equals gas exchange
- They are not cost effective,
Because of the space they take up, they use more electricity, water, and nutrients. And it is just not overall efficient because you are working outside of the plants natural biological clock.
- Cuttings can have a poor survival rate,
- Due to genetic drift and working outside of plants natural biological clock.
With Tissue Culturing
- There is no damage to the genetic material,
- You can hold consistency through tissue culture for 20+ years. You are always working inside its biological clock.
- We are multiplying the genetic material,
- Instead of wounding the plant we are multiplying its cell structure and holding it in a juvenile state with no fragmented cells.
- Thousands of plants can be cultured at one time,
- If you start off with 25 plantlets and do not add any more, within 8 months you can have up to 12,000 plantlets.
- Through tissue culturing it helps breed bacteria, fungi, viruses, and yeasts,
- Diseases hang on to mutated and fragmented cells. Through Tissue Culture those cells are removed.
- You can have thousands of different strands with very little space,
On one 2ft x 4ft x 6ft rack you could have up to 1,200 plantlets.
- You use less light,
- You do not need more than 3000 lux per 100’s of plants
- You use less water,
- One liter can make up to 70 plantlets a home.
- You use less nutrients,
You only use grams of all 16 elements of nutrients per liter instead of 100’s of milliliters.
So by tissue culturing you will have a plant that will hold it genetic structure better, have a better yield, have a better growth, and have a better resistance to disease. So to sum it up you will have a Better Plant Over All.
...You want proof? Stick around for the May issue of Skunk Magazine and we'll be on the front page, then you'll see pics of what a 12,000 sq. foot lab looks like that will rival ANY tissue culture lab in North America....
