Today I embarked on the first phase of my orchid propagation trials. I started with p723 from Phytotech labs and prepared media in 4 types of vessels: Soda Bottles, Mason Jars, Recycled glass food jars, and polypropylene deli containers (will update with photos later.
For the soda bottles, I cleaned each with soap and water then used a 50% bleach solution for 10 mins to sterilize. Each bottle was then dumped and shook upside down. Caps were put on til the media was put in. These bottles were filled first while the media was just about at the boiling stage. The heat made the bottles without vents shrivel as they cooled so I put all into a bag sprayed with 50% bleach solution and caps were unscrewed to allow pressure to normalize. This may prove to be a big mistake. I probably could have left the vented ones alone, but I put those in the sterile bag as well.
The mason jars and recycled food jars were put into the pressure cooker with 1 additional polypropylene container as well. These were pressure cooked for 30 mins at 15lbs pressure.
The polypropylene containers were microwaved for 4.5 mins at 1.5 min bursts, then placed into a sterilized bag treated the same as the soda bottles. Each time more containers were added to the bag the bleach solution was sprayed again.
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