FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Dionae:

Good luck with you Cephalotus TC. Here are some pics of my Cephalotus cultures.

Brad

Lucky dog. Did you start with seed or explants? Very beautiful lil cephs Brad.

Dionae wrote:Lucky dog. Did you start with seed or explants? Very beautiful lil cephs Brad.

Dionae:

I germinated seed in vitro a couple of years ago when I had abundant fresh seed. Cephalotus grow slower in vitro than the other CP I have done, but you don't have to worry about losses from disease. You just have to be patient. I just started de-flasking some last summerand so far I have not lost any newly de-flasked plants.

Brad

That gives me a lil hope. Knowing that you started those the exact same way I plan on starting mine. I just hope my seeds are viable...coin toss at this point.

Has anyone used cornstarch in the place of agar? If so, what were your results?

I have tried it once. It's opaque and it sticks to the jars pretty good as opposed to agar/carageenen which seems to flop out. That's all I remember, but I didn't do it again. It was suggested in the plants from test tubes book. It is cheap though. Again, for me the volume is small. 50 cent box of cornstarch would last years maybe. I really like to see roots et al. So I don't mind spending the 12 or 13 bucks for 14 or so liters of carageenen (Edit: prepared media that is). Which is probably going to be a year or two worth depending how involved I get as I am getting back into the hobby.

Neal

Thank you very much for the input Neal!

Dionae, did you have any luck with the ceph protocol you posted on the previous page? What does it mean by "shoot"; which part of the plant do you take an explant from?