Disinfecting seeds, Bleach or Consan
Kevin D. Preuss (Thu, 11 Dec 2003 07:56:22 PST)

Yes, bleach does just fine. Also, we added a pinch of detergent, lab
glasssware detergent, Alqinox I beleive it was (real scientific, I know).
In fact I used this same 5% bleach sln' in micropropagation class at UF, as
well as in the lab I worked w/ tissue culture/foreign DNA bombardment of
cereal grasses.
This works well to clean up bulbs and w/ twin-scaling pieces that may be
contaminated.

Kevin Preuss

----- Original Message -----
From: <Johnson3591@aol.com>
To: <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2003 9:18 AM
Subject: [pbs] Disinfecting seeds, Bleach or Consan

Hi,

I soak seeds in 5% household bleach (1 part bleach and 19 parts water).

If

they are robust seeds (hard-coated or hard to germinate), or if they have

given

me fungus problems before, I use 10% household bleach. I stir several

times

and let the seeds stay in the solution for 10 minutes, stirring every

minute

or two. I use this to clean up bulb scales and cuttings too.

One other approach for keeping seedlings fungus-free is Consan or Physan

(I

generally use Consan Triple Action 20). I use 1 ounce per gallon of water

mist

the seeds and soil surface to full wetness. These gentle fungicides are
biodegradable and have no lasting effect, so I mist the soil surface 2 or

3 times

a week while seeds are germinating if I have a bit of fungus problem or if

I'm

dealing with a seed type that has had fungus problems before. I find

Consan

to be safe with even the tiniest seedling. Consan is a quaternary

amine-type

fungicide/bacteriocide, and essentially the same thing is used as a

surface

disinfectant in hospitals (floors, bathrooms, etc.).

I also use Consan to wash down surfaces that have mildew and algae growing

on

them such as windows that get a lot of moisture, or lawn furniture, etc.
Although a fungicide its toxicity is quite low compared to something like

laundry

detergent or even caffeine. I do take care not to get it in eyes or stay

on

skin, it can irritate.

LINK: Consan FAQ (manufacturer's page)
<A

HREF="http://www.consan.net/faq.html">http://www.consan.net/faq.html</A>

Cordially,
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