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[ONandONandON]

just had one areole on each of mine.
but a bigger piece would grow faster.

i can't remember exactly, but it was pretty bad..
it was something like 40-50% became contamed,
and 30-40% no contams, but dead from sterilizing.
then i threw away some that might have survived.
so i'm left with three jars that are growing good.

they have root and pups, so i'm planning to
transfer to sterile sandy soil sometime soon.

[woolmer]

Yea mine is terrible. I've got 70% contam so far from like 10 jars.

What was the condition of the plants before you took cuts?

I cut some pieces from the base of a T. Pachanoi that has been in the process of rooting for 3 months. This is likely my issue because there is already some very slight rot going on in the base. It has etiolated terribly so I might just cut the tip and give it a go as it's fresh and hopefully somewhat cleaner growth. I haven't got much stock to experiment with so I'm just going with this for now.

The guy on FB with lots of Cacti TC experience is almost always using seed. Seems the better route to go as sterilization is simpler/easier.

Please post some pics once you get those in the soil! 

[ONandONandON]

it's been about 2 years since the last updated, and the experiment started about 4 years ago..

Oddly, one cacti pup was growing strait down into the agar, and living happily in a pool of liquid..

[ONandONandON]

ive been waiting to build a clean room first, but i decided enough waiting,
i removed the plant from the jar, (in unsanitized open-air)
with some slight pressure it popped into three pieces...

one piece has two heads and roots,
the other piece was the one growing down in the agar
the third piece is the original xplant, it's turned grey, i assume it's mostly dead.

i put the original piece back in the bottle, even though it was surley contamed..
..and a few days later, it has some slime mold, pennacillin, and a fungi growing.

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[ONandONandON]

Finally, the two pieces were planted in sandy soil cups in open air, they are looking good so far.

[ONandONandON]

and some other pictures..
first two pics: ficus religiosa 4 year old callus from leaf tip
second two: white tissue growing from microscopic cells
last two pics: cactus eye xplant, that grew a root and a small pup,
note: pup was green, but left in the dark for couple of weeks, it turned white.

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[modern]

Nice update… I never got really far with my experiments since stillair box was too much work for me.

Do you let them sit in natural light or have shop lights?  Do you know why your callous is black?

[ONandONandON]

thanks, it's under LED shoplights for now, they'll move outside later.. the ficus callus is actually brown, i don't know,
i think brown is the typical callus color, occasionally it grows a layer of translucent cells, which eventually turn brown.
yeah creating clean environment and sterile workspace seems to be the most difficult and the most important part.

[Shamichael]

… I never got really far with my experiments since stillair box was too much work for me.

I am planning on building an enclosed cabinet for a 3d printer with a built in HEPA filter and I came across this and thought you may be interested. It's about the easiest and cheapest flow hood I've seen.


I also came across these:
https://sciplus.com/squirrel-cage-blower-motor-assemblies-120vac/
The trick would be how to funnel the air correctly using them.