Kostas
05-02-2011, 10:13 AM
Hello!
On Friday,i received an order of TC rooted plantlets which arrived individually packed in sealed cultu bags. First thing i did was mix a 60:40 mix of commercial peat based soil and perlite. in sufficient quantity and pour boiling water on it. After that,i put a lid on the container with the soil to retain heat and moisture and left it cool. The reason of treating with boiling water was to lower the microbial content of the soil and mainly of the perlite as i had it exposed to the elements before.
After the soil cooled,the great transplant began!:woohoonaner: After cleaning and preparing a table in one of the cleaner(more plant pathogen free) rooms i had available for the transplanting process and a thorough hand wash,i began carefully taking the rooted plantlets out of the cultu bags and the culture medium and after removing it as best as i could from the roots and washing the plantlet under the tap,i was setting it in a clean soak bowl. Then,i was getting the pot ready,filling it with soil up to where the lowest roots would be,sprinkling mycorrhizae and then planting the rooted plantlet on top. After that, i watered and settled the soil well,leave it to drain till i plant the next plantlet and then cover the now potted plant with a freezer bag for lack of a proper box. I treated and planted each rooted plantlet individually to minimize contamination and yesterday that i checked them twice in the day,they grew some within 6h after placing most of them in a PP box to allow for better visibility and airflow than with the individual bags :woohoonaner:
Here are some photos of them in the PP box! Please excuse the awful quality of the photos,they are taken with my phone,under fluorescent lighting which my phone's camera doesnt seem to like,and the box was full of condensation due to the high humidity. I didnt want to disturb them again.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/2876492c.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/6fe54de4.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/f9b60af7.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/d6f56f60.jpg
Some of the plantlets,upon arrival,they had yellowing and blackening leafs. To avoid contamination if this was due to a pathogen,i chose to leave those with individual freezer bags. Here they are!
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/391beb95.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/39178e3d.jpg
A question i have about those is why the leafs of certain plantlets were yellowing and blackening while still in the culture medium and with only a day in transit. Was this due to contamination by a pathogen(bacteria?)or something else? Those yellowing leafs are now blackened and dead till the petiole while the leaf base and petiole seem to remain healthy. The newest leaf that wasnt yellowing is nice and green. Whatever and if it was,even these plantlets are showing active growth with only 1 or 2 functional leafs. They seem to be regaining vigor already!
That was how i did it and i really hope things go well and they all survive! I was in a rush to read the most i could before planting them so i am sure there may be better protocols to stick to when transplanting rooted plantlets from the culture medium to soil. What i was trying to achieve is provide a low contaminant growing medium and area for the plantlets to adjust from the sterility of their culture medium to the outdoor environment slowly. I added mycorrhizae as well which will help their root systems adjust faster and better. I plant to keep them enclosed in the box for 1-2weeks and then creating a little gap between the lid and the container and slowly increasing it till humidity drops to the levels of the room i grow them in(60-80% depending on how often the door opens,which i try keeping to a minimum) within a period of another 4 weeks,depending on how their leafs respond to the change.
I checked them today again and they certainly are growing nicely and fast! I am amazed with how well they are growing already,just a couple of days after the transplant! I really look forward to see them grow big!!!!!!:woohoonaner:
If you see anything wrong in what i did,please let me know as well as what and how i can treat them better from now on till they are fully hardened. I would really appreciate your help in helping these plantlets succeed in life!
Thank you very much in advance!
I hope you liked it! :)
On Friday,i received an order of TC rooted plantlets which arrived individually packed in sealed cultu bags. First thing i did was mix a 60:40 mix of commercial peat based soil and perlite. in sufficient quantity and pour boiling water on it. After that,i put a lid on the container with the soil to retain heat and moisture and left it cool. The reason of treating with boiling water was to lower the microbial content of the soil and mainly of the perlite as i had it exposed to the elements before.
After the soil cooled,the great transplant began!:woohoonaner: After cleaning and preparing a table in one of the cleaner(more plant pathogen free) rooms i had available for the transplanting process and a thorough hand wash,i began carefully taking the rooted plantlets out of the cultu bags and the culture medium and after removing it as best as i could from the roots and washing the plantlet under the tap,i was setting it in a clean soak bowl. Then,i was getting the pot ready,filling it with soil up to where the lowest roots would be,sprinkling mycorrhizae and then planting the rooted plantlet on top. After that, i watered and settled the soil well,leave it to drain till i plant the next plantlet and then cover the now potted plant with a freezer bag for lack of a proper box. I treated and planted each rooted plantlet individually to minimize contamination and yesterday that i checked them twice in the day,they grew some within 6h after placing most of them in a PP box to allow for better visibility and airflow than with the individual bags :woohoonaner:
Here are some photos of them in the PP box! Please excuse the awful quality of the photos,they are taken with my phone,under fluorescent lighting which my phone's camera doesnt seem to like,and the box was full of condensation due to the high humidity. I didnt want to disturb them again.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/2876492c.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/6fe54de4.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/f9b60af7.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/d6f56f60.jpg
Some of the plantlets,upon arrival,they had yellowing and blackening leafs. To avoid contamination if this was due to a pathogen,i chose to leave those with individual freezer bags. Here they are!
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/391beb95.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t244/Kostas_G/Bananas/39178e3d.jpg
A question i have about those is why the leafs of certain plantlets were yellowing and blackening while still in the culture medium and with only a day in transit. Was this due to contamination by a pathogen(bacteria?)or something else? Those yellowing leafs are now blackened and dead till the petiole while the leaf base and petiole seem to remain healthy. The newest leaf that wasnt yellowing is nice and green. Whatever and if it was,even these plantlets are showing active growth with only 1 or 2 functional leafs. They seem to be regaining vigor already!
That was how i did it and i really hope things go well and they all survive! I was in a rush to read the most i could before planting them so i am sure there may be better protocols to stick to when transplanting rooted plantlets from the culture medium to soil. What i was trying to achieve is provide a low contaminant growing medium and area for the plantlets to adjust from the sterility of their culture medium to the outdoor environment slowly. I added mycorrhizae as well which will help their root systems adjust faster and better. I plant to keep them enclosed in the box for 1-2weeks and then creating a little gap between the lid and the container and slowly increasing it till humidity drops to the levels of the room i grow them in(60-80% depending on how often the door opens,which i try keeping to a minimum) within a period of another 4 weeks,depending on how their leafs respond to the change.
I checked them today again and they certainly are growing nicely and fast! I am amazed with how well they are growing already,just a couple of days after the transplant! I really look forward to see them grow big!!!!!!:woohoonaner:
If you see anything wrong in what i did,please let me know as well as what and how i can treat them better from now on till they are fully hardened. I would really appreciate your help in helping these plantlets succeed in life!
Thank you very much in advance!
I hope you liked it! :)