Bananas.org - Macropropagation Story So Far

INEXPENSIVE BLENDED MACROPRPAGATION/TISSUE CULTURE FOR HOME GROWERS

I wanted a simple/low cost method that can be done at home without specialised equipment. The following is a blend of corm dividing and tissue culture. I will update as results come in. Stage 1 was just cutting (I wanted to test on a sacrificial plant before trying on more expensive/rare corms), stage 1 is necessary, but stage 2 is where the interesting stuff happens.

Stage 1 - I wanted to try a different cutting technique. Using a spare basjoo corm, I cut 6 or 8 pieces off the outer corm - in the shape of a hexagon or octagon (depending on size of corm). The cuts are made downwards, leaving just the parent corm just a little bit wider than the stem collar. The parent corm was air dried and dusted with cinnamon before replanting. The 6 pieces were also dusted with cinnamon and replanted. All planted in damp coconut coir and covered, with bottom heat. Parent has resprouted and 2 of the corm pieces have also sprouted, so this could be called a success. The remaining unsprouted 6 pieces are still white inside have been reserved for stage 2.

Notes for improvement (stage 1) - the pieces need to be trimmed to remove any thin/chiseled edges as these will just rot and place the main piece in jeopardy. Ideally you want the pieces to be with rounded edges.

Stage 2 - 4 Corms (Dw Namwa, Blue Namwa, Red Dacca, Boron). Each has been processed as follows:

Prepare Willow Water - (willow water is a good source of natural auxins; IBA & cytokinins). In short - hormones for roots and shoots. To prepare, collect a handful of young green willow tree stems. Split and tear them down the middle and then chop into 1 inch long pieces. Steep in hot water, then use a hand blender to really extract as much as possible auxins. Allow to cool. My water was a deep yellow/green colour. I didn't sieve out the bits, but you could I suppose.

Cleaning and prep - Each corm is quickly washed, loose dead material removed and roots removed. Then prepare a bowl of warm water with a squirt of bleach (mild bleach solution). A metal pan scourer is then used to remove all the dead brown material from the outside of corm - I didn't go mental trying to get 100% white as that will damage too much tissue, I would say about 90% white with the odd brown streak or dimple. This is to expose as much living tissue to hormones as possible. The bottom will usually have thicker deposits and these are removed gradually using a vegetable peeler (only on the bottom of corm). Any dimples of rot are removed with a small knife. The corm is then divided as in stage 1. Parent corm is air dried and dusted with cinnamon before replanting in damp coconut coir. The six/eight cuts are then have edges trimmed with a vegetable peeler, removing any thin/chiseled edges as these will just rot. essentially the 6/8 pieces have rounded edges, even thought eh pieces are flat-ish, no sharp edges.

Treatment of pieces - No lab grade stuff here, going old school. steep the pieces in willow water for 30 mins to 1 hour. I then air dried the pieces before dusting the cut edges (not the outer part of corm) with a mix of rooting hormone powder (cheap) and cinnamon.

Sprouting setup - The pieces are placed in one of those grass seed trays (from aliexpress - £2) as they have a bottom and a holed upper part. The bottom part is filled with wood chip and a dusting of coconut coir (both moist). The top part with moist coconut coir only. The pieces are placed flat on about 1cm coconut coir and buried to cover the whole piece with another 1 cm thick of coir. The pieces are pointing growing side up (outside corm up). The whole tray is bagged and placed on a USB heating mat (cheap £2 things off aliexpress), but they are NOT waterproof and will break if wet, hence trays and bags required. Temp is in the range of 26 - 30c. Ideally 27.5c (81.5f)

This is the setup so far, will advise in a few weeks if the 'treatment' has been successful. In particular the basjoo pieces will be very telling, as the 2 that had clearly existing eyes have already sprouted at stage 1 and were removed to pots, so it will be interesting to see if the willow water will promote further budding.

Thanks for reading. Chris :2738: