Tissue cultured plants.

[Mark12345]

I hope someone can help, I've had a real hit and miss survival rate with tissue cultured plants. I'm planting them as I see in the online videos, but I seem to find that I still lose. around 50% of them, sometimes one or two will grow out of maybe ten pieces. I am injecting co2, and adding ferts, and my lights are on for 8 hours. Any advice would be appreciated, because I like the different plants you can get.
I'm guessing it's something I'm doing wrong, because if there's a wrong way to do something then I will find it.
Thanks

 

[Cornelius]

I think that is at least some of the problem . A couple of times I've looked at the pots in "Pets @ Home" etc and they have been piled on top of one another in a stack, like tins of tuna.

Certainly true. IV do need good light if they are displayed in a store. If they are piled up, the quality deteriorates quickly.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Choosing easy propagation over value in the tank is not inevitable, it's a choice. You can absolutely have both. My background is in plant breeding and I cannot emphasize how much the hobby would benefit from just a little bit of proper cultivar development. There's so much low hanging fruit... but it takes time and money to do.

I agree. We've had this conversation with @Mick.Dk (from Tropica) in the past <"Low Tech Plants">

As for clones, most of the plants we grow are so easy to propagate vegetatively I suspect a big chunk are clonal anyway. And on the flip side, I'm very happy to see so much buce in culture so hopefully the incentive to wild collect is dampened.

I also agree with that.

cheers Darrel

 

[ElleDee]

Hi all,

Amazing how some words trigger you. <"Hyperhydritic">, that reminds me of my <"short lived career in Horticulture">, not only did I struggle <"with growing media">, I also had some, equally traumatic, project work with <"tissue cultured Roses">.........

cheers Darrel

I have not been using my master's since COVID hit while I had an infant. I still identify as a horticulture professional, but that's getting less true as time goes on. I'm a plant nerd forever though.

Hi all,

I agree. We've had this conversation with @Mick.Dk (from Tropica) in the past <"Low Tech Plants">

cheers Darrel

Tropica is about the only existing firm with the brand cache to potentially be able to recoup the cost of a breeder. (I've thought about this a lot already.) Part of the issue is once you invested in developing a new product, anyone else can freely produce it unless you invest in legal protections ($$$), so you need to have a strong brand so people will buy the plants from you anyway. Tropica is already doing that in a way that no one else is, at least in the US. I don't know who their main competitors are on the other side of the pond.

 

[Andy Pierce]

Tropica is already doing that in a way that no one else is, at least in the US. I don't know who their main competitors are on the other side of the pond.

Dennerle comes to mind. They have brought a few cultivars forward like Anubias nana 'Pangolino'.

 

[Cornelius]

I don't know who their main competitors are on the other side of the pond.

Most agriculture nurseries have a collaboration with an general IV laboratory. And that lab grows IV for the entire horticultural sector.
These are actually flowers, houseplants, vegetable plants and the plants that we are using in our tanks. I know fore sure that Dennerle, aquaflora and Stoffels have their own IV laboratory for aquatic plants

 

[whitecloud]

My success' have generally been crypts, annubias and bucephalandra although that's not 100%, I generally try to stick with easy or medium plants.
I planted hygropila lancea about a week ago, and there is nothing left just a mush at the bottom of my tank. The media was a cloudy colour when I planted it, but there have been occasions when the media has looked more like water. I plant the same day as I purchased. I didn't pay close enough attention to the roots and shoots to comment, but will in the future.

I grew my lancea TC in a plastic bin for a month with old stratum. It exploded and now I have some growing low tech, some high tech, and a pot as house plant that's always throwing purple blooms. I think planting right after purchase and throwing straight into a high energy aquarium could be a problem with a lot of tc's. My protocol is to bring them home and get them under a very gentle grow light, in the pots the came in. Absolutely don't open them, as they can quickly become contaminated with mold spores. After a week or more of that, I float them in my oldest low tech tank for a while. Ideally, not too many snails.