# In Vitro Gel



## hotweldfire

Does anyone know what the gel tropica etc use in their in vitro cups is? Is it something like this?

http://www.globalgrow.com/index.php?mai ... cts_id=301


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## SO19Firearms

It'll be an agar gel, mixed with ferts, vitamins and growth enhancers.

Plant Tissue Culture - Wiki


EDIT: Just found my old links - These guys sell the gear to have a go yourself.


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## hotweldfire

Thanks. Looks a bit more complicated than I'd hoped. May give it a go.


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## SO19Firearms

If you've got some spare cash there's no better way to propagate plants faster than hydroponics or to make it even easier - Aeroponics.
If you don't fancy making your own an off the shelf Aeroponics unit is crying out to propagate stuff like HC. From just a few plants you'll see day on day growth - A lot faster than just growing emmersed.

Aeroponic props - eBay

Also a sound way of keeping bulk bought plants in shape...but I didn't tell you that


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## dw1305

Hi all,


> If you've got some spare cash there's no better way to propagate plants faster than hydroponics or to make it even easier - Aeroponics.


I'd agree with that, aeroponics or "fill and drain" systems are great for bulking plants up really quickly and very popular with grow your own "Tomato" growers.

cheers Darrel


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## Sentral

Interesting, you can get hydro units called 'oxypot' which are simple and cheap, also something like this would be ideal http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 8965682298


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## SO19Firearms

Sentral said:
			
		

> Interesting, you can get hydro units called 'oxypot' which are simple and cheap, also something like this would be ideal http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewit ... 8965682298



Just be aware that those piezo foggers are good in clean water but tend to fail fairly fast in nutrient solutions. Possibly better off with an air stone at the surface or a system with a sprinkler



			
				dw1305 said:
			
		

> I'd agree with that, aeroponics or "fill and drain" systems are great for bulking plants up really quickly and very popular with grow your own "Tomato" growers.
> 
> cheers Darrel



lovl 
Ahhhh, the "recreational" grower!


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## Sentral

I did wonder how well they would last. Are there any better affordable systems that you know of? 

On another note I knew someone who nearly burnt his house down growing 'tomatoes'


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## SO19Firearms

Sentral said:
			
		

> I did wonder how well they would last. Are there any better affordable systems that you know of?



In the system you posted I'd prolly just put an airstone near the surface of the res - That will fire aerated water up toward the roots. But really if you have the cash I'd spend it on one of those in the eBay link - or at least get a look at one and buy the bits - You can get the mini sprinklers from online Hydro stores. TGM might be able to get them too.
Those systems use a power head to send the nutes through mini sprinklers that fire at the roots. They can become fouled by roots and sometimes the nutes, but that's just a maintenance thing.
I own the 105 pot propagator and a 16 site unit for larger plants that had strawberries in last year.


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## dw1305

Hi all,
I've never tried "aeroponics", as we don't do any hydroponics work now and it is a more recent technique. We just  used "fill and drain" with a maxijet/microjet pump/powerhead on a mechanical timer. Every hour it pumped the water (often fairly disgusting leachate) from a reservoir onto the Teku net pots (filled with hydroleca) in square section guttering, and the solution then drained back into the reservoir under gravity.

This works pretty well and the pumps are very robust.

There is a lot of hydroponics information on the Fluidsensor web site <http://blog.fluidsensoronline.com/blog/page/6/>, but the "state of the art" stuff will all be on the home "Tomato" growers forums, as they have both the money and the incentive to develop systems that give your the most "bang/THC for your buck". 

cheers Darrel


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## SO19Firearms

The point of flood and drain and aero are the same ultimately - The aim being to get oxygen to the roots. F&D pulls air into the root zone as it drains away, where as the aero actively sprays oxygen rich water at the root zone while the roots hang in the air (eventually).
There are benefits and down sides to both. Pump failure is pretty catastrophic in aero, but manageable in hydro if you catch it in time. With net pots in a hydroleca bed it's really hard to manage a tidy ship and keep it compact....100 pots of HC floating around becomes a nightmare! With aero you can pack them in tight, move them about with no headaches. Those propagators have a lid too which is handy for humidity, but you have to start DIY for most hydro units.
I've actively grown with 2 F&D and 2 aero and I'd go with aero for simplicity....but maintain your pumps lol


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## Bartash

i have found a a place i think looks interesting and i think i will buy some to try when i get paid.

http://www.nugel.co.uk/gel2root-rooting-gel


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## SO19Firearms

Bartash said:
			
		

> i have found a a place i think looks interesting and i think i will buy some to try when i get paid.
> 
> http://www.nugel.co.uk/gel2root-rooting-gel



Cool looking stuff  8) 
Different to the in-vitro tho as it'll be just rooting hormones - In-vitro has hormones to produce both top and bottom action from whatever cells (Piece of root or leaf etc)


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## Bartash

I emailed them asking about the use with aquatic plants and this was the reply:

Carl
Our gels have been used with aquatics in the past.
The advantage is that the active, IBA, is present at very low levels. Less
than one hundred thousandth of 1% so the risk is very low.
Nutrients and micro nutrients are present in acceptable amounts.

Available on our website, use the coupon code MAGAZINE for 10% off the RRP.


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## SO19Firearms

I think you'd have to ask yourself if it's worth rooting a cutting really. It does look cool an all, but it's prolly cheaper to buy some hormone rooting powder from the Garden centre and stick it in a plug. Or do what the hydro guys do and pay 10x more for a Gel version with a cool sounding name.
It's not exactly like In-vitro where you might propagate 100's of plants from a 100 pieces of the same leaf


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## dw1305

Hi all,
These rooting gels aren't new, they were the "next big thing" back in the 1980's for home gardeners ("Fisons Clearcut"), but they never really took off. There is nothing wrong with them, in fact we used a wall-paper paste based gel for a time commercially, before we decided that it was actually less good for most things. Some of the problems for terrestrial plants with both "gel cuttings" and _in vitro_ micro-propagation  were weaning difficulties into peat based composts. The real secret to success with rooting cuttings was a very rigorous approach to cleanliness, drenching the cutting material with the fungicide Benlate (now banned) and ensuring that the cutting material went straight from plant into the propagator as rapidly as possible. Once fogging became commercially viable, every-one went to fogging and direct sticking, often with bark composts (which may be naturally anti-microbial) and controlled release fertilisers. 

I'm not sure what people are using commercially these days. 

The IBA (auxin rooting hormone) is a bit of a "red herring" really, they don't really do anything in these sorts of products. For difficult to root plants like hard wood cuttings of _Magnolia_ spp. commercially you might use stronger auxin based dip treatments.

cheers Darrel


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