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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