Some Progress...

It's musical season. Because I have been getting home at 9:30 every day and have had very little time to do some reading. I've talked with a few biologists, though, and have been collecting materials and refined the procedure. For this project I need a very specific kind of fertilizer to feed the tissue. They come in ratios of Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium. I need 10-10-10 fertilizer. The only kind I found of this at Lowe's were sticks of slow-release fertilizer, which I learned have all kinds of other things that won't help my project. I found the proper fertilizer and ordered it on Amazon. Ya, it was a really boring weekend.

So Sunday night I decided to break out some power tools. I got my dad's tin snips (basically these super powerful pliers that shred plastic tubs like scissors through paper) and went to work making my sterile area. 10 minutes later (not counting the five it took to convince my dog that a fallen piece of plastic was not a potato chip) I had this...

This is just my work area. I'll have to spray it down with bleach every time I decide to use it, and clean everything that goes inside. These two square feet will be the most important place in this whole process.

The plant I'm going to multiply is looking AWESOME. I'm really excited to start the cloning.

I ordered some agar online. Once I get it and the fertilizer, I can start mixing the nutrient gel. This weekend I'll also have bought my Walmart pressure cooker. The Biology department at my school is lending me some long tweezers. I'll finally have all the materials for my base formula. Then comes the experimenting.

In the horticultural world, a common way to make more plants is by taking a cutting, planting it in soil, and making it grow roots. There is a root hormone I bought at Sears for a few bucks that is supposed to help with this process. It's readily available, cheap, and incredibly dangerous. So I bought a filter mask, too. Basically, I intend to make another mixture with this root hormone, which I will hopefully be able to attempt a transfer from the original flask to a new gel that will help the clones root and get ready for real soil. I have no idea how much I will need of the hormone, but I probably shouldn't use a ton.

Another thing I found in my search for cheap tissue culture is corn starch. Agar is normally used to make the nutrient liquid gel, which allows for the samples to rest on top and bury when it begins growth. Cornstarch is a nonnewtonian fluid that can create a viscous liquid. Though it would make a cloudy gel that would make it difficult to identify contamination, it would be a very cheap alternative. Cornstarch goes for about $5 a pound, the same price for 20oz of agar. I have agar ordered, but I will also be trying cornstarch. Here is some clear cornstarch I may try later.

This weekend I intend to make the nutrient liquid and finish collecting materials. Until next week...