So one thing I would like to explore is the conservation of medicinal plant germplasm. Cryopreservation is outside of my capabilities at this time but might be worth investigating in the future. Tissue culture is closer to realization but that requires a lot more research and development. That leaves ex situ cultivation and seed banking. Genetic erosion is something to research.
Ideally, the plants I collect would live forever, maintaining pureline genetics. Many plants, however, are annuals.
For each accession, there should be one inbred population designed to conserve the genetics of a single line. These should be prevented from interbreeding with other accessions. This can be done by physically segregating from other accessions or by installing a pollination-blocking mechanism (e.g. insect netting). Harvesting seeds should be done either by collecting all seeds and mixing or by random choice. The number of plants should be sufficient to prevent a loss of diversity.
In addition, all accessions of a single species should be grown in one mixed population designated for open pollination. This group is meant to increase genetic diversity. This group can be artificially selected for desirable traits.
There doesn’t seem to be an easy answer to “What is the effective population for x species?” The short answer is that more individuals is always better.
Up to PPPM9 now. 50g fertilizer because of 20% recycled.
Useful fertilizer calculator.
New potting mix. 5% recycled. 60g fertilizer. PPPM7
New potting mix. No recycled. Used 50g fertilizer because of the proportionally smaller batch size. PPPM6
New potting mix batch. No recycled. Used a new bag of peat and perlite. PPPM5
Made a batch of “cacti seed starting mix” CSSM1
The choices were based upon things I already had around, not about what was ideal. I was aiming for about 1:1 organic:inorganic. I measure a pH of 6.4 (1:1 v/v distilled water) before adding the oyster shell dust.
Made another batch of potting mix. Same procedure. About 33% recycled. PPPM4
Ooof. Need another batch of potting mix. Same as before. About 50% recycled this time. PPPM3
Found some spider mites in the grow tent. Everything has been given a neem oil dunk. A few plants have been moved to the closet to make room for new seedlings.
Prepared more potting mix. Same as PPPM1. About 20% was recycled potting mix. PPPM2.
The spring planting season has officially begun!
Mixed a batch of potting mix today. 1:2 perlite:peat plus a handful of sand and a Tbsp of wollastanite and calcium carbonate. That was combined with recycled potting mix (mostly peat/perlite plus a bit of vermiculite) and pasteurized in the oven for 4 hours at 80°C. Fifteen liters in total. Then I added 60 grams of extended release fertilizer (4 g/L; Spring Ahead 15-5-10). It was the only thing I had that had polymer coated nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. It was also on sale. Mixture is dubbed PPPM1.
Well shoot. I think I accidentally used 10% bleach to top up the water level in my germination chamber. Both the bleach and regular water are in similar bottles, but labelled. It smells of chlorine and many of the labels are degraded. I guess that explains why the basil plants that were direct watered have died.
It is annoying when peer-reviewed journal articles have glaring mistakes or omissions.
Started 38 seeds “pachanoi” from LLI, 18 seeds of “peruvianus” from LLI, and 12 seeds of “IKAROS DNA Peruvian Torch” from ES. Disinfected each with 1 minute in 70% ethanol then 5 minutes in 0.6% sodium hypochlorite. Rinsed 3x then sown on sterilized 1:1 sand to sifted peat.
[GENUS] AND (germinat* OR seed* OR grow* OR cultivat* OR vitro OR culture OR *propagat* OR phyto* OR gene* OR *pollinat* OR flower* OR reproduct*)
Remade some plant labels. The thermal paper did not hold up to sunlight at all. I reprinted on the same paper but this time covered the labels with two layers of clear acrylic which advertises “UV resistant”. I also wrote on the back with 2B graphite pencil.
Finally got around to fixing the germinator.
For every species here, there is a specific medicinal effect to maximize. The goal would then be to develop a cultivar that maximizes the production of the compound or compounds responsible for the effect. The main tool in service of this outcome is artificial selection.
The feedback mechanism is the total yield of the target compound(s), ease of production/isolation/use, abiotic stress tolerance, stability, water/nutrient use efficiency, harvest speed, etc. Preferably these traits are quantified using surrogate markers.
The first stage of this process is obtaining sufficient genetic material. For a home breeder like me, this consists of ordering a bunch of seeds/plants from many different sources. Some “superior” cultivars are already available. Most, however, of these are just named after/by the person who owned the source and are not necessarily superior in any way (e.g. bumblebee kratom).
Sprayed my pothos (Epipremnum aureum) with 2.5 g/L GA3 to induce flowering. I used about 75 ml to saturate the leaves.[1]
I received the soil test results for my community garden plot. My pH, phosphate, and potassium are too high. That’s partially from the large amount of compost/decayed wood chips I added. The excess pH is definitely from the wood ash generated when I added charcoal. But my organic matter content is 14.6% so that’s awesome.
To correct these imbalances, the extension office recommends a nitrogen fertilizer and sulfur.
I have about a pound of “wettable dusting sulfur” in my closet of mysteries. I’ll use that. Sulfur requires conversion to acid via microbial action so it tends to take a while to work. I’ll use sulfuric acid to get a more immediate action.
The initial recommendation is 3 pounds of sulfur per 100 square feet. My plot is 150 square feet. Based on molar ratios I need 2.9 liters of 93% sulfuric acid + 1 lb sulfur. I’ll mix that acid with about 5 gallons of water to make 15% acid for easier handling.
It’s probably best to start with half and see what happens to the pH.
Since I have it, I’ll be using urea to adjust the nitrogen. The recommendation says 1/4 lb per 100 sq ft so I’ll be adding about 170 grams.
…In total I actually added the 1 lb of sulfur and 1L of sulfuric acid. I’ll pH test the soil sometime later, but now I have to get to planting.
One seed of M. pudica has germinated out of 12 (8%). That’s in line with the research literature (~5%).[2]
That seed will be placed into LECA kratky (MP-1). The other seeds will be physically scarified by snipping an edge with wire cutters and then placed back onto the petri dish.
I have spent about 12 hours over the last few days prepping my community garden plot. It was overgrown with what I think is Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), some Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense), some other grasses, and some dandelions (Taraxacum spp.).
I tilled/hoed the soil to make it easier to remove the dense mat of Bermuda grass stolons that had formed. This isn’t the best for soil mechanical properties but there was no other way.
I removed the dandelion tap roots, though this might be a losing battle since the adjacent plots have actively seeding dandelions yet to be removed.
On Tuesday, I burned about 30 lbs of wood pieces in a conical pit directly in the center of the plot to make biochar. This should produce 5-10 lbs of char, which is less than ideal for the plot size (~30 lbs). However, I have also incorporated 4 wheelbarrels full of leaf and woodchip compost. The char was covered in soil overnight, then spread evenly around the plot. I will have to go back in a few days and measure the pH and probably adjust with sulfur. The additives should mitigate some of the damage done by the tilling and precent later soil compaction.
Overall the soil isn’t in that bad of a shape. I don’t know how long the plot has been fallow. There was a lot of biological activity in the soil. A couple of bird stopped by to pick through the tilled soil after I was done.
https://keybase.rbg.vic.gov.au/projects/show/1
All but two seeds of the I. corymbosa trial have turned to mush. One seed has sprouted and is growing slowly. The other remains firm but ungerminated. That seed was scarified and returned to the germination media along with the first.
Started second trial with scarification. Four seeds were disinfected with 70% EtOH for 2 minutes and 0.6% sodium hypochlorite for 10 min. The seed coat was broken with a file. Soaked in tap water overnight in 30C incubator.[3]
I have rented a plot in a community garden. It is only 14 square meters (10 ft x 15 ft).
7.25ml neem oil + 5ml tween20 per liter + about 200ml of remaining insecticidal soap/spinosad solution. Tested on M. speciosa leaf for phytotoxicity.
Laboratory Evaluation of Tween 20 for Potential Use in Control of Cacopsylla pyri L. Eggs and Nymphs
Started a second group of Lactuca virosa. This one will be kept in the grow closet without incubation.
The first batch has been incubating on a heat pad. This is probably too warm for a Lactuca that germinates best at 15-20C.
https://wevitro.magentallc.com/magentabox/
B. serrata is contaminated again. This time I disinfected with 70% EtOH for 1 minutes followed by 5 minutes in 0.6% sodium hypochlorite. I hope this will be enough.
E. sinica, viridis, and californica and B. serrata seeds have extensive infections. Each seed was dipped in 70% ethanol for 1 minute then rinsed in water before being transferred to a clean dish. E. californica seeds have turned to mush and the entire tray was discarded.
Made a 10,000 ppm (8.6 mg/ml) GA3 stock solution in 70% ethanol: 0.43g GA3 in 50ml.
Started 5 Boswelia serrata seeds (TWF). Disinfected with 70% EtOH for 1 minutes followed by 0.6% sodium hypochlorite + Tween20 for 4 minutes. Put into 750 ppm GA3 solution (0.75 ml 10,000 ppm stock solution plus 9.25ml dH2O) and set in incubator. Soak for 48 hours (should have been 36 hours).[4]
Dip N Grow liquid hormone concentrate (w/w):
The rest is likely ethanol or some dilution of ethanol in water above 40%.
Typical treatments are 500 ppm to 10,000 ppm.[5]
If I want a 50ml stock solution of liquid in 70% ethanol (43.3g):
I think I also want to add 2% sucrose (0.87g sucrose).[6]
Well I finally made a 1000ppm NaCl standard for calibrating my EC meter. I measured 1.00g dry, crystalline NaCl then added it to 1.000 L distilled water.
The reading before adjustment was 965ppm. So ya… The really high readings for my tap water were mostly accurate.
Started a bunch of seeds:
Started a bunch of seeds on filter paper in petri dishes. These are all perennials.
Disinfected with 1 minute in 70% ethanol then 5 minutes in 0.6% sodium hypochlorite:
Not disinfected:
R. groenlandicum will be kept at room temp. R. rosea will be stratified in the fridge for 4 weeks. The rest will be placed in the 30C incubator.
Of course seed germination studies have more complexity than originally thought.
In the future, studies investigating the presence of abnormal seedlings caused by thermal stress in the ageing test, for example, suggest fitting the multinomial distribution using data from all components of the seed germination test.[7]
Received order from TWF.
Found my old TDS meter. A full-strength masterblend hydroponic nutrient solution made with my tap water reads about 1070 ppm. I need to calibrate it, or better yet, I should buy a new EC meter.
semanticscholar.com is a good resource that I have not taken advantage of.
Finally got around to writing a script to fix biblatex files so they are more compatible with html. Converting the \textbf{} to <b> and things like that.
I could probably just RE the whole text document, but I wanted to use pybibtexparser for future processing.
Added taxonomic family bibliographies and pages.
Although now it takes more than two minutes to build this site. jekyll-scholar is really, really slow. Especially when processing 1700+ bib entries, most of them twice.
I need to add a “Families” page.