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The Kalamata olive seed planted on January 25, 2014 is looking more like the Loch Ness monster than any olive seedling I have ever seen. This photo was sent to the tissue culture expert who has been advising me, but I don't think she is sure as to what this is doing, or is going to do. As for me, I am going to let it grow, as I am very curious to see what it does.
When I planted the seed I did not know that I could have simply used a small amount of nutrient salts, sugar and agar, rather than adding all of the hormones I added. A new batch of Kalamata and Trilye seeds have been started in the traditional culture protocol for seeds, however, I would be willing to bet that it takes more than three weeks for germination to begin, if it ever begins,.
One advantage of starting seed this way is that you can visually check the progress of the seeds whenever you want.
On the subject of seeds; I am off on another tangent and have started seeds for several varieties of carnivorous plants. And, tomato and pepper seeds for the greenhouse have been started as well.
The Gardenia Veitchii clone is still multiplying, so I transferred it into fresh culture today to let it multiply for another month. At that point I intend to separate some individual buds and place them into culture with no multiplication hormones and let them root.
As another experiment, I have placed some tomato, pepper and olive seeds into test tubes containing sterilized coir and perlite. The medium was moistened with nutrients and a very small amount of sugar before being sterilized. The tomato and pepper seeds will be compared to seeds being started normally in horticubes.
The olive seeds placed into test tubes have been soaking in protocol containing hormones for a few weeks prior to being planted. All of the olive seeds have begun to swell, so hopefully they will begin to grow soon.
A Mergeron olive seed has been in vitro since the middle of January, and to date there is no algae or fungi growing on the media. It is in a sealed, sterile environment, and has not needed any attention since being planted. So, that said, I intend to leave the olive seeds planted today in the test tubes until they germinate, or hell freezes over, whichever comes first.
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