Anyone cloning via Tissue Culture? opinions welcome

[CannabisTHC]

I'm really surprised that the MJ Seed company's haven't been doing this for years or maybe they have been.
Hell Monsanto's been doing it I bet.

They were trying to get into it, I remember reading about 7 years ago that a lot of seed companies would start using this but it never caught on for whatever reason, maybe sterility or something else. I specifically remember an article about cannabis seed companies wanting to do this and shipping them in real small containers.

Definitely would like to try this at some point since I've been reading about it for years.

 

[zenoonez]

Genetic degradation/mutation is a bigger problem with micropropogation than with shoot propagation aka the cloning we use.

 

[bobblehead]

I bought a couple different kits a couple years ago and was playing with the idea.
Then there wasn't really much information about the concept and applying it to MJ. I ended up with an aquarium full of stuff and not alot of information available to work out a viable technique. (BTW ebay usually has kits for around $50-$60 US).

However in the last couple of months I have been getting newsletters from sites that I had joined then about advances in the area of micropropagation.

I will say that one of the very first things I learned was to use a large aquarium for a work station (WS). Sterilize everything before placing it in the WS and don't even think for a second that you can cheat, or shortcut sterilizing, because you will grow all kinds of scary shit.

One aspect of micropropagation that really is interesting is the idea of breeding 2 or more strains during in vitro. Using what they call "somatic hybridization", in theory it is possible to create genetic crosses without going through the conventional breeding process. The idea of "somatic hybridization" is that when cells are stripped of their cell walls and brought into close contact, they tend to fuse with each other. So if you use the cell tissue of let's say a WR and a LR2 then "in theory" you could run several test sets of different material combination's and choose the one that best suits your goals. Which could then be divided into hundreds or thousands of plants.

With a tissue culture, you would still have two unique strands of DNA, so think closer to grafting than breeding imo... Gene recombination is a bit more complex. I suppose I need to read more to be sure....

Yep, after further reading, the combination of two separate tissues would be similar to grafting, should the shoots grow together. Each tissue sample should produce it's own shoot, but I could see them growing into each other... Genetic recombination takes real breeding, or the use of enzymes in a lab to alter the DNA. This is just cell replication.

 

[ganjasuiteseat]

t

 

[bobman]

This stuff is very interesting. I believe at one point Breeder Steve at SOL thought this was going to be the future. I think Chimera had some hand in it as well. He would probably be a good authority on this. I think Breeder Steve got the idea from Chimera and and tried to set everything up to do this on a large scale. I think this may have led to a fall out between Steve and Chimera. I think Chimera made seeds for him and brought the idea to him. I think there is a thread on it somewhere in here. I maybe wrong but I think that is what I remember reading. Anyways there was some kind of problem and it all fell through. I would try to get Chimera over here or pm him.

 

[Pebbles]

So once a piece of leaf matter becomes a growth, is it made a cutting and an attempt to root it made? So theoretically, one leaf can be cut into many petri dishes, each offering a chance to be a cutting?

 

[Rouge]

Fascinating!!!

 

[ajc0k]

i did tons of tissue culture in high school biotech class, shit is sick!

 

[B. Friendly]

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Starts-...1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1295671068&sr=1-1
$249.95
anybody used an amazon kit?

 

[Lazyman]

I read a journal a couple years ago where a guy tried it with weed, he said it doesnt work very well as it works best on soft tissue, and pot is fairly woody. Thats about all I remember, but anyone who has tried it can give us an update!

 

[B. Friendly]

we talked about this at length but never tried in college, our prof's i am sure have tried. horticulture college is a smoke show.
for the price of a kit I am gonna try it.

 

[Voidling]

Here in the UK, if the cultures could not be legally classified at pot plants, I expect you could be done for "conspiracy to produce" or similar. The bastards will usually find a way to get you.

Just wondering if a traffic cop would have any idea what he was looking at. If there would be a believable story that it was something else. If there would be any way for them to test what it was and if they would. Also wonder if it could be mistaken for something much worse.

One aspect of micropropagation that really is interesting is the idea of breeding 2 or more strains during in vitro. Using what they call "somatic hybridization", in theory it is possible to create genetic crosses without going through the conventional breeding process. The idea of "somatic hybridization" is that when cells are stripped of their cell walls and brought into close contact, they tend to fuse with each other. So if you use the cell tissue of let's say a WR and a LR2 then "in theory" you could run several test sets of different material combination's and choose the one that best suits your goals. Which could then be divided into hundreds or thousands of plants.

Thanks for the heads up on necessity of sterilization. Is the somatic hybridization in a home setup or in a big lab only?

Propagation utilizing tissue culture is a huge global business but since MJ is considered a class 1 drug only those with the proper and legal authorization could be doing it I believe. The Chinese have been using hemp for a thousand years and see no problem with it. Here is another site that you can take a look at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hometissueculture/ Lots of people doing tissue culture for flowers, tree's, veggie's etc. and most likely its still being done in the United States at certain universities like where Government Mule was developed.

I found that group the other night. I really hate yahoo groups, hard to follow information. One of the guys on there has some really informative youtube videos with different plants. Even does tissue culture from a pinapple he bought at the grocery store.

I read a journal a couple years ago where a guy tried it with weed, he said it doesnt work very well as it works best on soft tissue, and pot is fairly woody. Thats about all I remember, but anyone who has tried it can give us an update!

I saw some one using a kit/mix designed for woody basil on mmj. Not sure if it's just a name or if woody basil is actually semi woody like mmj.

 

[Stress_test]

So once a piece of leaf matter becomes a growth, is it made a cutting and an attempt to root it made? So theoretically, one leaf can be cut into many petri dishes, each offering a chance to be a cutting?

Right on.. But 1 petri dish can become 1000 petri dishes and then rooted to become thousands of "truly identical" genetic clones.

It's a great idea I saw it being done in the 70's at Cal Poly, always thought it'd work great for Herb I wouldn't be surprised if big MJ seed company's aren't doing it all ready.

I'm surprised you said that... Us small timers are the ones doing all the work and always have.

 

[jump /injack]

Every plant is different when it comes to what they like for growth and if there was a formulation for what cannabis preferred as a growth medium in vitro [in vitro= inside a glass test tube] it hadn't been published until lately in China. This is the equivalent of a "Lucas" formulation for in vitro cannabis. http://www.pakbs.org/pjbot/PDFs/41(2)/PJB41(2)603.pdf

Copy it down before it disappears off of the internet.

 

[emilyC]

would be totally awesome to tissue culture all the strains that pass through one's hands for later retrieval, instead of keeping dozens of mothers all the time to preserve the genetics..

 

[dunkydunk]

I saw some ads in the trade magazines a couple years ago advertising at home tissue culture kits starting around the $200-$300 mark. I haven't seen those ads in a while, so I figured their business plan didn't work out. I can't remember the name of the company.

 

[softyellowlight]

I saw some one using a kit/mix designed for woody basil on mmj. Not sure if it's just a name or if woody basil is actually semi woody like mmj.

Yes, I'm not sure about if you top the basil to keep it immature, but I let my basil flower out and the stem is even a bit more brown and "woody" than I've seen weed stems get.

 

[dunkydunk]

Aha! Here's an article:

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2008/10/plant-tissue-culture-for-gardeners-as-well-as-geeks/

And here is the company:

http://www.planttc.com/

 

[B. Friendly]

Aha! Here's an article:

http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2008/10/plant-tissue-culture-for-gardeners-as-well-as-geeks/

And here is the company:

http://www.planttc.com/

find a tissue culture set on amazon.com $250

anybody used a setup and had success????? what kind if so?????

 

[Randybobandy]

I have a friend with a degree in micro propagation. I have done it and it works on cannabis well but its just not practical unless you are trying to ship "miniature clones". Regular cloning takes far less time and with far less hassle and supplies. You have to disinfect everything in a pressure cooker, play with a hole bunch of hormones...It's a whole production. I remember DJ Short talking about his tissue culture ideas on overgrow. He postulated sending micro propagated phenotypes out instead of seeds. A killer idea really. Instead of buying beans and looking for phenotypes, a specific one could be ordered. Kinda what Emily was saying.