Narnia

What is the best container in which to plant new banana tissue culture. I'll have about 30 arriving from the lab in a few weeks. It still winter here in Northern N.S.W. Should I then put inside at night? Thanks for reading this I'd be grateful for any suggestions from someone whos an old hand at this task. THANKS . Two Edged Sword. - "down in Oz"

MediaHound

I would use 3 or 5 gallon liners (or its equivalent over there in Oz ).

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john_ny

I guess it would depend on which stage plants you receive. Most plants, around here, are shipped in stage IV, in vivo. This is established in soil, or potting mix, in small pots (usually 72 cell trays). You would want to get these out of the cells and into someting larger, as Jarred mentioned, above. However, sometimes, especially when plants are shipped internationally, they may be stage III, in vitro. (still in the flask, or jar, in gel) In this case you would want to get them in some sterile potting mix, and keep them indoors for a couple of weeks, until they establish themselves, in the soil. You can use small pots or the cell trays for this.

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John

Narnia

THANKS John for the very helpful suggestions re the TC They will be as stage 3 invitro, in gell & flask. Is a cell tray the same thing that we call a seedling punnet? i.e. the plastic container in which seedlings are grown,oblong in shape [approx. 3"high? Two Edged Sword.

Narnia

Thanks Jarred. If they survive past the stage 3 from the flasks, I'llfollow your suggestion after getting 'em going in the way John has suggested for after the test tube stage. I did'nt think I'd be getting them at such an early stage of growth. Ah well...I'll give it a go Thanks for your help. Two Edged Sword

john_ny

Here is a picture of a cell tray.

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They come with various numbers of cells. The one pictured is 72 cells, the most common one used by the labs here for stage IV plants. The tray is 10½ x 21 inches (26 x 53 cm.), and each cell is about 1½ inches (4 cm.) across.

The plants are grown, in the tray, for a couple of weeks. This is done in a greenhouse, but it can be done on a windowsill. After a few weeks in the tray they can be moved to a shady spot, outdoors, and gradually acclimated to a sunnier locale.

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John

Gabe15

You should put them into a seedling cell flat as suggested or into other small containers, such as plastic cups with holes cut in the bottom. The soil should be well draining and fresh or sterilized.

The most important thing is that you need to keep them in very high humidity for the first week at least, preferably two weeks. Put them in a humidity chamber, or put what you pot them into in a plastic bag, or if your normal humidity is already fairly high, then you can get away with placing a clear plastic sheet or a cut plastic bag over the top of them. If you don't keep the humidity very high and keep the soil moist in these first two weeks then they will dry out and die very quickly. They don't need much light at this stage, so filtered, indirect sunlight will be fine. After this initial first couple weeks, you can take them out of the chamber or bags you have them in and keep them in the same type of lighting conditions, just with less humidity. Let them grow out a bit and slowly expose them to more light, and re-pot them into something larger when they seem sturdy. When they have about 20-30cm of pseudostem they can be fully hardened and ready for field planting. You need to keep exposing them to more light gradually, if you fail to do so and deprive them of increasingly intensifying light, they will become thin and weak, thus being more difficult to harden off later when you want to field plant.

Always keep the soil moist, but be careful not to over water in the first few weeks.

Always keep them at a warm, banana-friendly, temperature.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Narnia

Gabe, THANK YOU for the clearly set out , easy to understand answer to my question. You have a gift for explaining what you want to share.I'm much more confidant now about being able to nuture the the stage 3 tissue culture. God Bless you -Two Edged Sword

oakshadows

Update please. I am thinking of doing the same and trying to get as much infoi as possible before spending lots of money.
Thanks

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NSW Bananas

Hi Narnia (two edged sword)

Just wondering what lab you get tissue cultures from here in NSW as the only place I could find is bluesky bayard bananas.
And if somwhere else what varieties do they have?

Narnia

Nsw Narnies,
You can buy TC from DPI Research Station , Nambour Qld, DPI doesn't sell Plants in soil i.e. in pots they do sell TC . As far as I know they have the cheepest prices and will send plants to NSW.They have different varieties . The person to contact re obtaining TC from Nambour is
Sharon Hamil
Senior Research Officer
phone# 07 545 358 00

NSW Bananas

Yes Thanks Veronica

I am curently dealing with Sharon for getting some.

How long did it take to get them for you from Sharon?

Narnia

It took about 3-4 weeks for them to be ready. We had to get a permit from the DPI before we could get them. Because "Banana Belt" you probably don't need a permit.?. If you have a list of available varities would you foward it to me when convenient please?

NSW Bananas

Hi as far as a list of what is available good luck as they will not give a list of what they have its a mater of requesting it and then being told yes they have it or not.

NSW Bananas

My order from the DPI will not be ready until about September but this I think is mainly due to it being spring by then and better chance of tubestock tissue cultures surviving rather than get thim in winter.
And as far as Banana Belt goes no there is no permits required this far south or any limit on varieties or quantaties that can be grown.