Disinfecting seeds, Bleach or Consan

Kevin D. Preuss hyline@tampabay.rr.com
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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>



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